Fireplace mantel in our current 200-year-old maisonette. Click photo to view detail. French gilt and mercury glass mirror circa 1830 (found at Marches aux Puces at Clignacourt, with bits of the frame missing; restored in 2001). From left, 19th-century French beaded handbag; Raku pottery from Northern California; 18th-century Tibetan monk's worn turquoise-lined copper and enamel food bowl and woven carrying basket with leather strap; 18th-century French books; Pomegranate pottery from Whitney Smith, Oakland, CA; small Dutch pottery piece; framed butterfly; pottery bowl handmade by Riley Salyards, Amsterdam; early 20th-century French Art Nouveau iron candlestick; 19th-century French carved wooden easel holding hand-tinted postcard illustration of Reales Alcázares de Sevilla.
You may recall we've been searching for a house, as our current abode has been sold. On Wednesday, we met the owners and signed the papers to purchase the lovely house just north of Amsterdam that caught our fancy! The charming owners graciously are donating the rowboat, which they say "belongs with the house." So barring any unforeseen catastrophe or bureaucratic muddle, we should be moving in late January.
There's no fireplace, but the house has ample room for our global treasures. At last I'll have a proper office, complete with balcony and canal view. We'll make one bedroom a dressing room, so we can find the clothes we need (without searching through suitcases, due to one tiny closet here). We'll also have a guest room with its own balcony, for family and friends!
On Thanksgiving day (!) we'll complete more paperwork to help make the dream a reality. Am hoping and praying all the seeds we've sown come to fruition. My daughter Jordana reminds me to "visualize, visualize." Meanwhile, your good wishes will be much appreciated!
Many congratulations, hope everything goes well. I will certainly be looking forward to seeing more of your interesting collections when you get to your new house.
Posted by: horse care courses | 20 November 2011 at 00:24
Good wishes? You have them -- and congratulations -- in spades! I'm so delighted you have found a wonderful spot and I'm off to check the link as soon as I hit "post!" This IS good new, and just in the nick of time. And a rowboat, too! Perfect! Oh, you really ARE making me smile today!
Posted by: jeanie | 19 November 2011 at 18:03
Wonderful! So happy the right place for you is happening. Love the rowboat!
Posted by: RD | 18 November 2011 at 15:10
First love the Raku piece from California. All sitting on your mantel are beautiful.
How exciting to find your new home. You much be beside yourself with thrill and excitement. What a lovely place to settle. The view is just perfect with the tiny row boat and deck and a whole room for a closet. Lovely! Congratulations to you and D.
Posted by: Marilyn | 18 November 2011 at 00:04
Delighted for you that you secured the house on the water - that rowing boat alone would have done it for me! I wish you many years of happy living there. (And I love that collection of blue-themed objets from your travels - fireplace or not, it's obvious you will make a lovely home).
Posted by: Karen@PasGrande-Chose | 17 November 2011 at 21:05
I`m back in the blogging worls and have to catch up with all your wonderfull posts...can`t believe you`re already settled there in The Netherlands....best of luck and congratulations on the purchase...I hope you will be so very very happy there!
Posted by: Gypsy Purple-Chamara | 17 November 2011 at 20:00
Cheers to your new house and may it slowly, patiently and beautifully transform into a home!
Posted by: Roxanne | 17 November 2011 at 19:46
Anjie, that would be fabulous! And thank you! xoxox
Posted by: Tara Bradford | 17 November 2011 at 19:44
so thrilled for you! i just know it's going to work out wonderfully well. and someday i hope to visit you there. maybe even next summer on my honeymoon? much love from oregon!
Posted by: anjie joon | 17 November 2011 at 19:31
Visualizing Tara and David surrounded by empty moving boxes and all settled into their new home...Congratulations!
Posted by: Mary H. | 17 November 2011 at 15:27
Congrats on your purchase of a house-- and a rowboat. What good fortune to have views of a canal, eh?
And what a smart girl Jordana is. I like her idea: "visualize, visualize."
Posted by: Ally Bean | 17 November 2011 at 14:32