A brief description of the layout of the Eye, so that those joining will have a sense of place: The WestEnd Eye is an old flour warehouse near the harbor in WestEnd, not far from the remains of the old Oak and Ash. It is a four-story structure. Guests will enter from the side entrance off the street. For the evening, there will be someone at the entrance letting people in and directing them to the stairs. The family lives on the fourth floor.
First Floor
The first floor houses a shop, Les Quarantes Voleurs, which will be closed and dark at that hour. A help wanted sign is posted discreetly in a corner of the window facing the street. The backside of the first floor houses storage and loading docks.
Second Floor
The second floor contains offices and additional space sed by the shop.
Third Floor
The third floor, when it is open, houses Fionna's studio, The Studio at the Eye. It also houses some space with climbing ropes, nets and boxing equipment the family uses.
The roof
The roof contains a working garden, with a chicken coop and run, a small koi pond and places for meditation and for producing small amounts of food. Everything has been winterized, the koi brought inside, and like the other floors, it is closed for the party.
Fourth Floor
The fourth floor of the Eye is the family's home and the setting for the party. The general layout of the place is as follows. The setup of the hallways is a basic square, with offices, library and shrine down a central column, the dining, kitchen and master bedroom and bath up the left-hand hallway as one enters, cutting across to the right hand hall that housed guest room and bath, the children's rooms and shared bath, and empties back into the central living area.
The party will be hosted in the areas comprised of the living room, dining room, kitchen and the guest bath between the two childrens' rooms. The doors to Ali's study and to the shrine across from the nursery will be locked and unaccessible. The bedroom will be closed. An attendant will be on-hand to take guests' coats and hang them in the library.
The general decor of the open space is as follows:
The living room is a mish-mash of styles that work, but are out of the norm. A trid screen on the west wall and the WyseBox powered-controls speak a glossy word or two to Ali's and Lirssa's love of technology. Antiques and trash finds had been painted or turned into foundations for mosaic work Fio has done.
In the center of the room, across from the Trid, is a deep blue sofa which backs against a long row of tanks that are the winter home of the koi from the roof. The rug is Persian, in earth tones. An old bronze astrolabe stands in one corner by the tanks; there is a scarred but sturdy set of tables on either side of the sofa and before it, and a leather chair draped in a quilt Fio has made. Additional chairs have been brought in for the event, and arranged in groupings throughout the large space.
Along the north wall, a bank of windows that slide open to a small balcony stand where the old overhead doors used to open for loading from the winch still affixed to the building. A large yule tree is gaily decorated and brightly lit in front of it. The corner of the north and west walls hosts a large fireplace, merrily blazing.
Three of her paintings ring the room - a portrait of Lirssa and Rekah, one of Lir and Raza, and a large landscape of the river and the city on either side, from the vantage of one of the watchtowers. In the northeast corner of the room, a glossy black piano watches over a cello on its stand.
The south of the living room opens into the dining room, where an antique table and sideboard are laden with food and drink for the evening. Another of Fionna's landscapes and a mosaic framed mirror decorate the walls.
The kitchen is long and open, and the backsplash is a vitreous glass mosaic Fio installed in shades of rich greens with glints of copper and gold, and bits of mirror. The floors here, as throughout the living space, are the old wooden floors of the warehouse, which have been restored just enough to make them beautiful without erasing the signs of age and character.
The entirety of the Eye has been decked for the season in garlands of evergreens, ivy, holly and candles of every shape and size, each a pale ivory. And Lirssa has done her mischief, hanging big sprays of mistletoe decorated with shimmering ribbons in all the likely places.
First Floor
The first floor houses a shop, Les Quarantes Voleurs, which will be closed and dark at that hour. A help wanted sign is posted discreetly in a corner of the window facing the street. The backside of the first floor houses storage and loading docks.
Second Floor
The second floor contains offices and additional space sed by the shop.
Third Floor
The third floor, when it is open, houses Fionna's studio, The Studio at the Eye. It also houses some space with climbing ropes, nets and boxing equipment the family uses.
The roof
The roof contains a working garden, with a chicken coop and run, a small koi pond and places for meditation and for producing small amounts of food. Everything has been winterized, the koi brought inside, and like the other floors, it is closed for the party.
Fourth Floor
The fourth floor of the Eye is the family's home and the setting for the party. The general layout of the place is as follows. The setup of the hallways is a basic square, with offices, library and shrine down a central column, the dining, kitchen and master bedroom and bath up the left-hand hallway as one enters, cutting across to the right hand hall that housed guest room and bath, the children's rooms and shared bath, and empties back into the central living area.
The party will be hosted in the areas comprised of the living room, dining room, kitchen and the guest bath between the two childrens' rooms. The doors to Ali's study and to the shrine across from the nursery will be locked and unaccessible. The bedroom will be closed. An attendant will be on-hand to take guests' coats and hang them in the library.
The general decor of the open space is as follows:
The living room is a mish-mash of styles that work, but are out of the norm. A trid screen on the west wall and the WyseBox powered-controls speak a glossy word or two to Ali's and Lirssa's love of technology. Antiques and trash finds had been painted or turned into foundations for mosaic work Fio has done.
In the center of the room, across from the Trid, is a deep blue sofa which backs against a long row of tanks that are the winter home of the koi from the roof. The rug is Persian, in earth tones. An old bronze astrolabe stands in one corner by the tanks; there is a scarred but sturdy set of tables on either side of the sofa and before it, and a leather chair draped in a quilt Fio has made. Additional chairs have been brought in for the event, and arranged in groupings throughout the large space.
Along the north wall, a bank of windows that slide open to a small balcony stand where the old overhead doors used to open for loading from the winch still affixed to the building. A large yule tree is gaily decorated and brightly lit in front of it. The corner of the north and west walls hosts a large fireplace, merrily blazing.
Three of her paintings ring the room - a portrait of Lirssa and Rekah, one of Lir and Raza, and a large landscape of the river and the city on either side, from the vantage of one of the watchtowers. In the northeast corner of the room, a glossy black piano watches over a cello on its stand.
The south of the living room opens into the dining room, where an antique table and sideboard are laden with food and drink for the evening. Another of Fionna's landscapes and a mosaic framed mirror decorate the walls.
The kitchen is long and open, and the backsplash is a vitreous glass mosaic Fio installed in shades of rich greens with glints of copper and gold, and bits of mirror. The floors here, as throughout the living space, are the old wooden floors of the warehouse, which have been restored just enough to make them beautiful without erasing the signs of age and character.
The entirety of the Eye has been decked for the season in garlands of evergreens, ivy, holly and candles of every shape and size, each a pale ivory. And Lirssa has done her mischief, hanging big sprays of mistletoe decorated with shimmering ribbons in all the likely places.