The House of Arden, Part 4 - A mid-winter dream continued

I have arrived at the House of Ardenand am greeted at the front door. Please come along on the journey as I tour the upper level of the House of Arden.

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As I step into the foyer of the house, an open stairway going to the upper level beckons me and a quick glance reveals the living room to the left, a dining room off the living room, and a group of people sitting and chatting in the screen porch through a set of French doors from the dining room. Straight ahead I get a glimpse of the kitchen where some wonderful aromas are being generated. Just then, my hostess directs me to the left, where there is a window, flanked by two wardrobes and a bench. I sit on the bench to remove my shoes and hang my spring jacket on a hook. As I stand up, I can feel the warmth radiating from the quarry tile floors. The tile is a natural looking blend of earth tones in a chaotic pattern that I cannot quite make out. This creates a pleasant contrast with the white painted bead board wainscot, just as the white stair spindles stand out against the cherry stained handrails, steps and risers of the stairway.

My hostess gently guides me toward the stairway saying, "Let's start the tour on the upper level, and work our way down."

[Note: Click on the image to the left to enlarge the floor plan.]

Going up the stairs, we are guided by a burgundy and blue stair runner that takes us through a "U"-shaped stairwell to the second floor. As we are going up the first string of stairs, my attention is drawn to the window at the landing, which has a stained glass window like the one I saw in the front of the house when I first arrived. My hostess explains that these stained glass windows were salvaged from an old house and were mounted on the inside of these new windows as decoration and to give the feel of an "older house."

At the top of the stairs, I am directed to the right into the front bedroom, which sits above the living room. Stepping into the room I am met with light and color. This bedroom duplicates the bay window of the living room (but without the stained glass), with an additional window high up in the east-facing wall that extended into the vaulted ceiling of the room. An additional window sits on the north wall. So, there is lots of light! But there was also color. This room was only pretending to be a bedroom. In reality it is a sewing studio where intricately designed quilts are being lovingly created. There actually is a bed in the room – a trundle bed – that is covered with a pile of newly made quilts. The white cutting table has a neat pile of cut pieces of brightly colored fabric waiting to be sewn together. The large white sewing machine table has piles of quilt squares on one side and piles of quilt strips, waiting to be sewn into squares, on the other side. A rainbow of colored fabrics are stacked in cases and on the oak wood plank floors around the room and in the "his and hers" closets flanking the both sides of the bed. The stacks of fabric in the closets yield just enough space for a visitor to hang a few clothes during a short visit. I was caught up in a moment wondering what it might be like spending the night in the "quilt room."

Adjoining the front bedroom is the guest bathroom. The bathroom carries the bead board wainscot theme from the foyer; only the tile is a miniature hex pattern, with spots of color to add interest. The guest bath has a tub shower, toilet and sink. Over the sink is a mirrored medicine cabinet with a pair of white ceramic sconces with half-round fabric shades clipped on the bulbs to reduce glair.

Leaving the bathroom, we move along the hallway to the middle bedroom, which is across from the stairwell. This is a fairly small bedroom, just big enough for a single bed, and it's current use is a home office with desks, computers, book shelves, and so on. In the northeast corner, there is a window and bench, where one can sit and read. On the wall in common with the front bedroom is one large closet.

As we re-enter the hallway we head for what is called the tropic room, which is a small solarium. This room first caught my attention when we came up the stairs as the room is well lit by windows on two sides and the walls facing the rest of the house are all glass. Entering this room I find myself surrounded with green plants. The south-facing end of the room is filled with plants of various sizes and shapes – many of them fragrant herbs. The plants sit on marble tile counter tops on cedar cabinets and also down on the quarry tile floor, which reminds me of the floor in the foyer. Hanging from the ceiling near the windows are growth lamps used to extend the daylight hours in the wintertime. In the northeast corner is a space for potting plants and opposite it in the northwest corner is a sink.

Leaving the tropic room, we move past a laundry area as we go further toward the back of the house into the sunspace - A sunroom with five south-facing windows. These windows, like in the tropic room are also lined with plants and overhead grow lights. The difference here is that the display of plants is a salad garden.

On the wall adjoining the topic room is a marble counter top with a sink and microwave. Under the microwave is a small refrigerator. On the opposite wall, (facing west) are a tall cupboard and a corner cupboard, where a television sits. The furnishings for the sunspace are casual and fun. A place where you could curl up with a book or do needlework on a cold but sunny winter's day. I ask if it might become overheated when the winter sun is shining directly through the window, the hostess says, "No, not with the thermal mass of the ceramic tile over a gypsum concrete floor, the extra thermal mass installed under the window cabinets, and the water continuously flowing through the floors." Then, she pauses, and continues, "Well it does get a little warmer in here than the rest of the house, and I love it. This is our favorite spot in the mid winter."

She then turns through the double doors into the master bedroom and I follow. This is a nice-sized bedroom with a queen-sized bed, covered by a brightly patterned quilt. The head of the bed is against the north wall and flanked by windows. The master bathroom is to the east of the bedroom. This bathroom has a whirlpool bath, toilet, sink, and large shower area, and copies the bead board wainscot, hex tile, and white ceramic sconces of the guest bathroom.

Then, we cross the bedroom to the east wall where we enter the closet, which turns out to be huge. My hostess apologetically explains that they tried to fit a closet into the bedroom space, but that made arranging furniture impossible. Then, between the builder and the architect, they figured out how to liberate the space under the roof of the one-story part of the house by using attic trusses instead of standard trusses. Only about a third of the closet is actually used for clothing, the rest (you guessed it) is used for storing fabric!

As we headed back toward the stairway, I asked what she did with all of the quilts she made. She replied, "Oh I just give most of them away," as she bounded down the stairs. I stopped and wondered a while before following after.

***

The Mid-Winter Dream continues with a tour of the main level of the House of Arden.

© 2006, Gary L. Engstrom