We weren’t able to bring very many personal items with us to China.  We chose to leave our furniture in the US and will probably buy a home in Boise, Idaho to be near our family in the future when we visit the U.S.  That means we will have to try to make our new house our home without many of our favorite items including most of our family photos, the wall hanging of the Flat Iron building, the Noblesville throw, our autographed photos from the many concerts I’ve been to with my job, and so on.  We saw a beautiful old phonograph (see left) but we couldn’t pull the trigger to buy it despite haggling the price down to $200 US. 

So, as we set out to take this blank canvas of an apartment, I am wondering how to quickly make it our own and make it feel like home.  On moving day, crazy me made our driver go to Ikea and help me load a huge floor plant into the mini van (picture at right of the leaf-filled van).  The Ikea security guard got a good laugh out of our efforts to stuff it in without damage.  I know having lots of plants will help with the air quality (in addition to our large Blue Air cleaner) and give color to the white walls and marble floors.   I had to give away all the plants that I had managed to keep alive for years, truly a miracle, and our wonderful dog, Izaak, went to stay with our daughter due to cost and the anticipated stress.  Boy, do I miss him!

I splurged on comfy plaid sheets and duvet cover from Muji, a Japanese store that is one of the few places to carry quality linens.  I had no idea it would be so expensive and so hard to find good sheets but very few places carry any except Ikea which primarily has scratchy cotton.  We also bought LOTS of candles to help with the strange odors that pop up with regularity from somewhere.  I got some lovely silk pillow covers including a Mao classic head shot–when in China!

Over time, we will go to the antique alley markets and buy what speaks to us.  Thom takes beautiful photos and we plan to get those blown up and put on the walls.  Over time, it will start to feel warm and inviting like our other homes.  Now, what to do about the lack of man’s best friend???  Time will tell…