Bedroom with a view

I can see a world (but the world can't see me!)

Last week I moved from Asheville to Sylva. The house is on the Tuckasegee River. It’s not a perfect house, it’s impractical in certain ways, but I must say it does feature views. It offers views from the living room, views from the upper deck, the lower deck, the study, and the bedroom. Now, when it comes to the bedroom, you may be wondering about privacy. Generally bedroom views involve walking out to a deck or strolling across the room to a window. If  there’s a big picture window, you’re pulling blinds down or curtains across at least some of the time.

But the way the house is situated here, I can sit in my bed and look out to trees, river, and hills without worrying about that problem. How wonderful to sit up in the morning with the pillows plumped up behind me and enjoy the view! The trees appear in layers of pale green stacked one in front of the other, going off into the distance. The river is the color of slate with brush strokes of white where rapids cascade over the boulders. Rounded hills, furry with multicolored spring growth, give way to sharper hills and then two mountains on the horizon, one conical and the other the shape of an animal’s back.

The house is perched on the side of a hill. The sightlines are such that the angle from the road is too steep to see into the windows. Anyone inside would have to press up against the glass for someone outside to see them. From the driveway, the angle is even steeper.

The house as seen from the driveway

I’m glad I figured out the best bedroom layout. At first the movers positioned the bed crossways to the window, making the length of the bed parallel to the longer dimension of the room (which would be the sensible way to do it most of the time). But it hit me that the bed would just fit across the small room, and I asked them to put it opposite the window. As soon as they pushed it into that position, these guys were saying, “Cool! You can wake up and look out the window!”

Getting my things into the house wasn’t easy—I’d warned them about that ahead of time, but they were still surprised when they saw the pathway from the driveway to the house.

No easy way to reach the front door

And they were flabbergasted when they saw the stairs to the second floor.

You wouldn't call this a handicapped-accessible place

The house doesn’t have a basement or attic. I had designated one of the upstairs rooms as a storage bin (it’s the only room that doesn’t have any kind of view), so the movers were lugging a lot of things up these steep steps. But I have to give them a lot of credit. They realized that the place is beautiful, and they took it in good spirits. Plus, I helped out by carrying as many of the smaller items as I could.

I wonder what it will be like to live with these views over the seasons. Will I get bored with it? I don’t think so. No, not at all.

Living room

Upstairs railing

The washer and dryer are in this outbuilding

View from the deck

You can hear the rushing sound of rapids all the time.

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