The main house on the farm was built in the mid 1800s and is what’s called, a “Four on Four” — in other words, four small rooms on top of four small rooms. Most rooms had fireplaces, and just about everything was built in heart pine to avoid termites. Over a century has changed this house significantly: wings were added and walls were removed. Fireplaces were covered and even the stairway was moved. The stewards of this place before us had their own visions, and thank goodness, each had quite good taste…so the opening of the main floor into one large room was a major change — and a good one. The distressed cypress paneling is exquisite — and next to impossible to find now. So I guess what I’m saying, is that we have a lot to work with when it comes to decorating this great old house — and this week, it received the love it deserves.
We organized this party into three venues (what were we thinking?? One party…three venues? OK, it was a labor of love.): the pheasant shoot and the tent in the field, then on to cocktails at the main house, and then dinner in the barn. In the posts over the past week, you’ve watched the transformation of the barn (links to the steps we took are at the bottom of this post), and this post will fill you in on a few of the things we did in the main house. (Let me add that we had a team of the best: ladies that really know their stuff — and everything used came off the farm except for a few flowers that had been given to us after a church brunch — they were a little tired, but added the color we wanted!) These ladies proved once again that you can do an amazing job of decorating by looking around and making the most of what’s right around you — our mantra here at Alligator Hall.
Here’s an idea of what was done — and let me say the pictures don’t do justice to what was done. Nothing like hosting and trying to snap photos (with the iphone!) at the same time…next time, we’ll bring in the big guns — the REAL photographers!
Local cotton was the base of this arrangement.
At the center of his was on old lichen-covered oak limb that was lying in the yard.
A friend found these in a gift shop in Richmond in a Thanksgiving themed corner. She cleaned the store out…
We put them by the food, in arrangements, everywhere we could — within reason.
My favorite. The tired church-brunch flowers coupled with the hawk feathers the kids found in the woods. The rest was literally pulled out of the pond…
Tomorrow, the event itself.
If you want to see other posts about the pheasant shoot event — go to:
The Pheasant Shoot and How it Happened…
Our Tablecloths — from Times Square…
The Contributions by Goodwill…