It felt a bit like Christmas . . . opening one box after another and carefully removing and unwrapping one object at a time.

What treasure would I find inside?

Sure, it had only been a few weeks since I’d packed our things for their long trek across the country . . . and it wasn’t as if I’d forgotten what I had, but somehow . . . all of our things looked  different to me here in this, our new HOME.

Before I forget my manners I want to give you all a WARM WELCOME to our new (to us) home in South Carolina!

I’ve already shared with you the front “portico” all decked out for Fall in my post A Grand Fall Porch!  . . .

. . . but I haven’t taken you inside.  So please, come on in and see what I’ve been up to in the Entry Hall.

As you come in the front door the dining room is to the right and the living room is to the left. The hallway leads to the kitchen and the den.

The staircase leads up to the bedrooms and bonus room, which I’m still working on getting decorated.

I said in my intro that my things look different here than they did in my old house and as I unpacked each item I became excited to see that they actually looked better here!

My decor is a mix of things both old and new . . . ornate and shabby!  A casual sort of elegance.

Many of my things have been handed down to me by family members or I’ve found them through Craigslist,  thrifting, antiquing or just plain careful shopping.  In my new home there are a lot of home décor items that you’ve never seen before on this blog.  They are things that I didn’t highlight so much when I lived in my lake house.   There you saw more of my thrifted and painted furniture and coastal decor.  I actually sold a lot of those things to the new owners and to friends before moving, knowing that my new home had a very different style.

So this is my Entry Hall decorated for Fall.

Birchwood candles on shabby garage sale candlesticks,

a grand old mirror from one of my favorite junk stores in Washington State, The Second Hand Rose, a treasured picture that my mother bought from an antique store when I a child . . . because it reminded her of me,

an iron lamp that she bought at that same antique store and painted a creamy white,

some precious family books, including my mother’s own well-worn Bible,

rusty old keys tied with twine,

dried rosebuds from the garden at my lake house,

a favorite cloche filled with velvet pumpkins,

(My tips for creating gorgeous velvet pumpkins tutorial HERE)

and an old basket filled with hydrangeas and pumpkins.

So this is only a tiny glimpse inside my new home . . . but I’ve been working hard at pulling things together and I promise . . . there is much more to come!

It feels to me as if our things have come home . . . to the place they were meant to be.  I think you’ll see as I decorate and take you through my new home, one room at a time, that my furniture and home decor fits quite well here.

But what about me?  As I work on each room, placing and arranging, then moving and rearranging, I’m feeling pretty good here, in this place that at first seemed as if it might be too grand for me . . .

the jeans girl . . . the lake girl . . . the girl who used to feel like she was never quite enough (and who under pressure still has twinges of those feelings today) . . .

When I told my friend Deanna that I wasn’t sure if this house was my style she said that when she saw the pictures she knew it was exactly my style.  And who would know better?  She is the one friend that I’ve spent the most time with shopping through home decor stores, pouring over magazines in Barnes and Noble’s coffee shop and discussing home interiors (to see one of our amazing shopping trips you can link back to Inspired in Seattle Part I, Part II and Part III  I just went back and took a look myself and I’m inspired all over again)!

Deanna is right of course.  I was actually raised in a home very much like this one, a grand old brick in a beautiful Seattle neighborhood, so some of my treasures actually have “come home”.  Truth be told, I’m not feeling much like a stranger here either.  In fact, it is beginning to feel a bit like I’ve come home, after a long, long time away.

Blessings,