Settling In

It's been 19 days since I last posted, and a lot has happened here at Ciderbrook.  For one thing, I have my desk and my computer set up!  We have moved all of the chaotic piles of furniture out of the middle of the floor, and set up some basic living areas around the house.  (You'll have to excuse the messes everywhere.  We're doing the best we can right now.)

(Click on images to make them bigger) 

Coming into the house from the front door, you'll see the dining table, the hutch, a bookcase, and a desk.  Also a giant pile of empty totes waiting to go back to our old house.

The same side of the dining room, looking at the other corner, where you can see the the desk better, the corner hutch, and a little bit of our coat closet/armoire, and of course the doorway to the living room.

On the other side of the dining room, you can see the doorway to the kitchen (and Chad), plus the closet door (left), the upstairs (middle next to the kitchen), and the bedroom hallway (right).  Doesn't the floor look pretty?  It cleaned up fairly well after taking up the carpet, though we will need to refinish it someday.

Many of the items in the living room are placed temporarily, especially my craft room furniture.  I have it scattered all over, mostly acting as places for cats to sit and look out the windows.  

Because the living room is so big, we have four basic areas set up: the couch and tv area, the little table by the window to drink our tea and eat lunch, the desk/work area, and the cozy nook around the wood stove.  This next picture is a side view of the couch/tv area, just as you walk into the room from the dining room.

This is another angle of the couch/tv area, and you can see the teeny tiny Christmas tree we got out to acclimate the kitties to the idea of Christmas decorations.  They're 3 years old, and just now beginning to calm down.

Behind the couch and next to the big window is our little table.  We decided to use our little bistro set we had on our front porch at the other house, until we can get something more permanent for that spot.  There are also two cat trees because they just love looking out the windows.  There are so many pieces of furniture along that wall that they can walk from one side of the room to the other without touching the floor!

In the corner opposite, we have our two computer desks.  Chad's is a large L-shaped desk that helps to divide the room, and mine is in the very corner.  And yes, those are lighted curtains.  My mom gave those to use during the Covid lock downs, and they bring me so much cheer in the darker months.

And finally, we have our cozy wood stove area.  The futon is a lovely place to sit to watch the fire, though it's usually occupied by cats.  We brought one of our adirondak chairs in and covered it with one of my quilts to make a cozy place to sit and drink coffee.  And next to the window is my little craft space, my drafting table where I've been writing letters to my penpal and making some simple Christmas cards.

We're busy decorating for Christmas now.  We figured it would be easiest just to put up Christmas decor, since we haven't put any of the normal decorations up.  And it will make it lovely and cheery too.  Look out for a Christmas update soon!