Her home is full of stories. Books collected over decades. Art, sculptures, fabrics, crockery and objects gathered through a life well lived. Each has its own place, and many have a memory attached.
Our client, a fiercely independent woman in her eighties, knows that one day she would like to move from her large home into an apartment by the beach. But she is not moving tomorrow, and she does not want to be hurried.
So we started where she felt comfortable: one room, one cupboard, one shelf at a time. Not with a removal truck at the door, but with time to consider what she genuinely wanted to keep.
In the study and pool room, we helped rearrange bookcases with Adam’s assistance. Books were brought out onto a desk and a trestle table so they could be sorted comfortably. Some were rediscovered with delight. Others prompted a decision about where they might go next.
There are pieces to keep close, things that might find their way to family overseas, and objects that could be offered to a gallery, museum, charity, buyer or auction house. Nothing needs to be decided all at once.
“I cannot believe how much we got done and how my house has changed. I love that bookcase in my study and I’m having the most wonderful time reliving a whole lot of books that I had forgotten.”
On another occasion, looking at the newly arranged room, she said, “It really does look very elegant.”
The work continues, at her pace. The eventual move matters, of course. But so does feeling at home, and in control, in the place she lives right now.
