As our plans evolved to fill our small wooden house with rich fabric, ornate light fixtures and formal furniture, I kept thinking about the country home in Dr. Zhivago.
Of course, that house was grander than ours but I remember it was a wooden house in the country that was decorated in the Russian aristocratic style and called a Dacha.
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| Peter The Great's Dacha |
The original Dacha's were gifts of small estates in the country from the Tsar to a loyal member of the aristocracy.
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Well, our little river cabin was not given to us by an emperor, and it is not in Russia. However, coincidentally, it is located at Russian River which was named after the Russian immigrants that first settled in the area. In addition,since we are furnishing with an eye toward splendor, we are calling ours a Dacha.
Nowadays, dachas are much more similar in size and construction to our cabin. They are owned by working class Russians as well the privileged. During the Communist Era, the government allowed people from the cities to build small summer houses in the country and permitted them to farm around their homes. While the state owned the land, the people were allowed to possess their land and when the government fell privatization of land occurred and ownership followed. Consequently Russia has one of the highest percentages of any country with its population owning second homes.
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| photo source:unknown |
Our diminutive getaway may not be a true dacha, but our goal is to transport us to what we imagined was the look and feel of the dachas of yesteryear when we open the door. The challenge is to achieve this on our not-so aristocratic budget.
Cabin update:
This week the back hallway and bathroom floor / shower tiles are scheduled to be installed. Keeping my fingers crossed. We are two weeks behind as the company hired to do the installation lost 2 of their installers pushing everyone's schedule back. Once the hall and bathroom is completed, we can finally move to put down the floors in the dining,great and bedrooms.
