31 Mar 2010

Our Study

So here it is for those who wanted to see it - the study. This is where we do school - when we're not in the garden on the deck or at the kitchen table or sitting together on a sofa somewhere. If we're not in any of those places then chances are you'll find us here. Except when we're not, of course.

This is what you see when you enter the room - the whole thing at a glance as it were. The chair closer to the camera is where I sit to read our read alouds. Sometimes Jemimah sits on the other chair, the one with the ikat tube sarong from Ngela in Flores on it, but mostly she sits on the floor at my feet or on my knee. I like that best. The glass table almost always has a cup of coffee on it, only it is holidays at the moment, so it is somewhere else - like the kitchen bench. Rest assured, it isn't far away... The Imari plate is a heirloom inherited from hubby's grandmother.

On the mantle piece you'll see a silver Miao headdress from South West China, still worn by young girls on festival days. To its right is a silk felted apron worn by the Miao in the Zhouxi area of Kaili county in Eastern Guizhou.

To the right of the door as you enter you'll see the black bookcase pictured above. The three black boxes from Ikea hold electrical gear and chargers. These shelves hold reference books - dictionaries and books about books - as well as easy books for Jemimah to read. My Donna Hay mags find a home on the bottom shelf, and my Mrs Beeton cookery book presides over all. As she should. The other pic is a close look at my desk. Should have hidden the electrical cords better, shouldn't I? Wry smile. You'll notice Santa brought the much coveted map...

On the desk you'll find Jemimah's school books for the current term neatly stored along the back, with photos, flowers and other mummy ephemera in front.

On the other side of the sideboard is Daddy's desk - a copy of mine. That's where the computer sits, but I don't think Daddy would thank me for displaying it to the world! The iPod is here. Today it's playing Sojiro - 土の笛のアヴェ・マリア. You'll need to imagine that while you're reading. We always have music playing in this room, and otherwise you'll get a false idea. Mostly it is classical or world music or acapella metrical Psalms. Amongst the IT gear stored on his desk you'll find a lovely Caithness Glass paperweight and an antique Japanese calligraphy brush that he uses for cleaning the computer screen. Otherwise this desk is fairly utilitarian, really.

The chest under the window also comes from hubby's grandmother. Inside you'll find old Bible Study materials mainly. The books at left are a series of Time Life books called Myth and Mankind. They're pretty good.

We use the top of the chest to display interesting things. At the moment that includes a flowers from our autumn garden, a recently framed tapestry completed by Jemimah, our parala game board and an antique Japanese box drawer containing Japanese incense sticks. The white thing is a whale vertebrae. Yes, a real one. We found it washed up on a Yemeni beach and carried it home.

The other wall - the one to the left of the door is taken up by the bookcases that I showed you recently and haven't bothered to include again. You can view these here if you want. They take up the entire wall, except the bit behind the door. It is a cut-out floor to ceiling window bit that allows light into the room. It looks like this:

It is a bit washed out, but it's a beautiful sunny day today, which made it a bit hard taking a pic of a window. Probably there's a better way of doing it, but I don't know what it is. Anyhow, in this photo you see the games chest containing marbles, card games, jigsaws, knuckle-bones and other interesting little games for rainy days. The light looks fantastic at night, because you can see it from much of the house. Through the window is the link where you can see our Go game board, and beyond that the pool. That's our view, and we love it!!

And that's our tour finished. I hope you enjoyed it. I always like knowing where people are when I read about their day-to-day lives. I'd love it if you'd post pictures of your school room, and I hope you have enjoyed having a bit of a look around ours. Oh, if you click on the photos you should be able to see them bigger if you want to see even more!

Have a safe, healthy and happy Easter break everybody. we'll be back next week!

24 comments:

  1. Hi Jeanne,
    Wow - what a study - a place for everything and everything in its place!

    But where are the curtains? Here in winter, you wouldn't survive with no curtains on the windows - it reaches -8C (that's minus eight!).

    Have a wonderful Easter break,
    Love and blessings,
    Jillian ♥

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  2. Yes, our climate is pretty similar to yours, Jillian. We're just not curtain people, I'm afraid. We do have blackout blinds in the bedrooms, but all our other windows are bare!! Gotta love central heating and cooling :)

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  3. How delightful! I love looking at people's treasures. Can you guess my favourite of yours? My brother and I searched and searched for ambergris on our beach walks, but a whale bone would have made us happier probably, even if not as wealthy. (Or so we believed.)

    I also totally understand the thrall of crochet. In those many long hours of playground duty, I would stroll around with a huge bag of wool over my shoulder, trebling a double blanket. It started as a square and i couldn't stop. Let that be a stern warning!

    Hope you all have a lovely holiday!

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  4. Gorgeous Jeanne!
    I am picturing you in your camp chair with granny squares piling up.
    Have a great weekend and we'll catch up next week.

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  5. Yes, but only if I can get to the wool shop!!

    Right now I'm trying to work out Revelation Chapter 17 & 18 for Home Group tonight. Any help much appreciated!!

    Have a nice long weekend, Ruby!

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  6. Hmmm, Susan, I'm not sure. The books, I guess, or the Miao textiles - or maybe you're actually telling me it is the whale bone! My favourite thing in this room is the apron on the wall, I think.

    I hope you're not going to keep me in suspense!

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  7. Love this charming room Jeanne...you have set it up beautifully and I must speak out to the other ladies that I have walked into this room and was totally captivated by books, books over here and books over there, here a book, there a book everywhere a book...

    Jemimah is a very blessed young lady! Miss you! xxx

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  8. Thanks for your kind words, Sarah. I miss you too. Wish you could come visit again :)

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  9. Lovely space...it has...space! And the map...to drool over. Where did you score that one? Is it detailed enough for all your readings?
    Enjoy,
    Butter Fly

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  10. Beautiful room Jeanne. I'm trying not to be jealous of all your space.
    Thanks so much for revealing yourself to us in this way.

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  11. Oooooh! What a beautiful wonderful study! I love the colour on the walls too!!! And the books. Books soooo make a room feel like home! I love all the light too! And I am so sorry I haven't been to stop by in so long! I do think of you often and hope to be back again soon!!!

    Love in Christ

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  12. You'd probably flee our house in horror! Your study is GORGEOUS! As an American, I'm always taken aback by maps of the world that don't have the US in the middle and Asia divided in two!

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  13. So clean and tranquil- please tell me that it isn't always so clean and spotless and uncluttered. Actually, don't tell me. I'm just going to go see if I can find my floor under all the dust.

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  14. It's beautiful. Calm and serene. But I could never bring my herd of young'uns into such a lovely room and have the room escape alive. I'll just have to drool and dream from a distance.

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  15. Holy cow, Jeanne! Do you actually LIVE there? Looks like a showplace. :-) My study, on the other hand, looks a disaster most days. So I've hung long, pretty toile curtains from shower rods across the open doorways to hide the mess. Clever, eh?

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  16. Butter Fly, you can find our about the map by clicking on the orange words. They'll take you to my previous post on the droolworthy map. It is good for a lot of the stuff we do, but obviously not as comprehensive as our atlas is. We use both.

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  17. Hi Stephanie,

    No, it is not always this spotless - remember I've just spent two days tidying it!!

    It is always uncluttered though. I hate stuff everywhere. A home for everything is our plan!!

    Spesamor, you and your young'uns are always welcome, you know that. There's always the sandpit and the cubby if we think they're having too much fun inside :)

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  18. Oh, you've done it - it looks beautiful!

    I actually promised my husband I would clean the study today and then we had company stop by and stay - which was much more fun but...

    He would have my head if I posted before pics :)

    xo Happy camping! xo

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  19. Jeanne: That is a lovely, lovely room. I particularly love the bay window with it's stained glass. [I have a thing for light & what is does ~ as my friend Siano will testify]. We don't do curtains either except for the downstairs bedrooms. We don't like shutting out our view.

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  20. I love the room - what wonderful space and light and so tidy. I love the stain-glass windows - always wanted some in my house but it is he wrong era for them. I have curtains in my house to keep out the cold, but not every one are curtain people!!

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  21. Gorgeous! Just as I imagined it (from various other pics you've posted in the past). Not sure if you want to see my pictures or that I want to post them!!!!

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  22. Jeanne,
    Don't let anyone ever sit on your glass table...my friend is a nurse, as is her husband. In intensive care this week, while her husband was on duty a man came in who had sat on their glass table which they had had for 15 years, and was completely sliced up. He is gone. I just want to warn anyone who has one, to be extremely careful....
    Sincerely,
    Butter Fly

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  23. Wow, I must say that I am gobsmacked. These pics look like something out of House Beautiful or similar, certainly not like any house that I've ever lived in, sadly.

    It's not just the quality that astounds me but the sheer organisation - I could live there... for awhile, until I messed it all up and would start to drown in the chaos, lol.

    Thanks for showing us around your study Jeanne :)

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