And in defiance of all reason, the house had begun to feel like theirs by the time she had gone floor to floor, opened every closet and explored every nook and cranny, and figured out which rooms to put the children in. They were going to sleep on the same floor with their children, which she liked. And she earmarked a room on the floor above, with a sweeping view, as her office. She began making lists of what they needed, electronics, Wi-Fi, Internet connections for all of them. She noticed that most of the antique curtains were still in surprisingly good condition, since the windows were boarded up and sunlight hadn’t touched them, and she decided to continue using them. Surprisingly, other than the practical basics, and all the usual kitchen equipment they could get at IKEA, the house didn’t need any work, just paint and a lot of furniture.
The following afternoon, she and Blake went to the storage company the bank referred them to, to see the furniture and art objects past owners had acquired with the house and preserved but never used. There was some very handsome furniture of the period, much of which they liked, and some art.
An executive of the bank who seemed fascinated by the house’s history had told them that a woman named Lili Saint Martin in Paris was the last member of the family to own the house. She had inherited it from her mother, Bettina Butterfield de Lambertin, and sold it immediately upon her mother’s death in 1980.
The couple who had originally built the house in 1902 for themselves and their four children were Bertrand and Gwyneth Butterfield, and Gwyneth had sold it in 1930 after her husband’s death during the Depression. Their oldest daughter, Bettina, had bought it back in 1950 and lived there for thirty years, until she died at eighty-four and left it to her daughter, Lili, who sold it. Lili Saint Martin had grown up in France, after leaving the house as a baby with her mother. She had been married in France and had a son, but she had no particular sentiment for the house. Since then, it had gone through a number of hands. No one had kept the house for long, and it had been unoccupied now for a dozen years, and looked it, abandoned and unloved, though not damaged. It sounded to Sybil, when she heard it, as though the history of the house had originally been a happy one, and the house and the families who owned it had subsequently fallen on hard times.
Bettina Butterfield had lived in it the longest, and she had apparently been very attached to the house. The woman at the bank mentioned that Bettina had written a history of the house and family, just for private purposes, and a copy of her book and many family photographs were in a box at the bank and would be turned over to Blake and Sybil. The female banker confirmed that there were no Butterfields left in the area, no one who cared about the house anymore, and the once-important family had moved away or died out. It made Sybil sad to hear about, and made her love the house more. It deserved a happier fate than to stand empty, forgotten, and unloved. She was suddenly glad Blake had bought it. She felt inexplicably protective of the house and the family that had lived there.
It was Lili who had left all the furnishings in the home, to be sold with the property, and subsequent owners had put it in storage and left it there, as a legacy no one seemed to want, although the furnishings had been both purchased and made for the house originally. But Sybil thought the new owners must have thought them too old-fashioned, perhaps couldn’t sell them, or felt guilty selling them or throwing them away, so they all went to storage and stayed there.
It was dusty work when Blake and Sybil pulled everything out and examined it all. It hadn’t been touched in nearly forty years, and Blake discovered that all the chandeliers were there, and he and Sybil agreed to have them reinstalled. Everything had been carefully packed, and nothing had been damaged since Lili Saint Martin had abandoned it. There were handsome pieces, and some antiquated ones, and many Sybil thought they could use. She planned to re-cover some of the upholstered pieces with new fabrics. There was a beautiful antique dining table that looked English, with twenty-four matching chairs. There were several very large-scale Victorian couches, which Sybil planned to re-cover in better colors. There were side tables, credenzas, and a great many pieces they both thought would work well in the house and be useful, and they could always replace them later if they found things they liked better. But for now, what had been stored would spare them the need to rush out and buy furniture, and some of it was really elegant, and just right for the mansion. The original owners had exceptional taste. There was a lovely bedroom set for Blake and Sybil’s bedroom, all done in pale pink satin, and despite her usual preference for all things modern in her home, Sybil loved it.
And even the pieces that seemed old-fashioned were perfectly chosen. Blake and Sybil were very pleased with their exploration at the storage facility, and decided to use most of it. It would suit the house better than IKEA. Sybil scheduled an electrician to hang the chandeliers and sconces. She located a good upholsterer, and had the pieces delivered to them to keep until she found fabrics for them. They went to IKEA after Blake finished at the office to get what they needed for the kitchen. And Blake got the name of a painter from someone he worked with, and hired them to paint the two main floors before the family arrived on New Year’s Day, and paint the third-floor rooms, where Sybil would have her office. Blake thought he might set up a home office too, if he needed to work on weekends.
They had decided to turn the servants’ dining hall in the basement into a playroom for the children with a pool table, comfortable couches, and a large flat-screen TV to watch movies.