Home
We’re moving again this week, since our landlords decided to sell this remarkable house for a cool £2.5 million. We’ll miss the big private garden, the fireplaces, the view, and the Downton Abbey feel of it. I’ve loved living in a house with so much character, surrounded by art and antiques. There are things we won’t miss, though, like the temperamental heating and the fear of breaking something priceless!
Our view- Holyrood Palace, Arthur’s Seat, and the water on the left is the Firth of Forth
The back garden- the little door at the back leads to the big shared private garden (ala Notting Hill)
The new house is very different- large and modern, in a charming part of the city called Dean Village and right on a river called the Water of Leith. The British are marvellous at naming things, don’t you think? The house has its own charms, but it’s very neutral, and I do love homes to be quirky and full of character. I guess we will have to bring the quirky character! 😊
Looking around at all the chaos and boxes, I’m realising how much we’ve accumulated. We arrived 16 months ago with suitcases and 2 boxes, and now require three men and a moving truck. We suddenly have bikes and ski gear and Christmas decorations, kitchen gadgets and board games and a record player, dollhouses and weights and a lawnmower. I also seem to have an amazing ability to amass clothing and books… there are a dozen boxes of books- so many we also had to buy bookshelves. I can’t imagine getting it all back to the States next summer.
The drawing room, dahling
My latest acquisition is a painting that hangs in this house; I’ve grown so attached to it, and am thrilled to be taking it with me. No, I’m not stealing it 🤣 The artist is one of the owners of the house, and he’s giving me a break on his gallery pricing because 1) it has a small smudge of paint, and 2) I begged, shamelessly. He seemed flattered that I love it so much. I’m using money that my Grandma left me; I’ve been trying to think of what to do with it, and this seems perfect- the painting is of trees in Yorkshire, near where she grew up, and will always remind me of Edinburgh. A bit of this place to bring with us wherever we go. I’ve never had a ‘real’ piece of art before- I feel like such an adult. (BTW- I now say ‘add-ult’ without thinking about it- funny)
Moving for the third time in a little over a year has made us rethink our idea of home. Living amidst someone else’s furniture can feel foreign at first, but it does gradually become your own nest. We’ve been surprised at how portable we really are, and how it really is people that are home. And books, of course. One mustn’t forget the books.
