Making a Home

Do you ever have something that sticks with you and you keep thinking about it and decide you want to share with others?  I have this happen a lot, it could be a project, an idea, or a conversation.  

When I was at the doctor office the other day, the receptionist asked another patient her address.  She provided it and said, "You know I have been there 69 years?"  The younger receptionist replied, "Wow you must really like it there then."  She said, "Well dear, we made a home there" with a big smile on her face.  Her comment has been running through my mind for the last few weeks.  Her unspoken words, why would I leave when we made a home together?  From the conversation, I gathered her husband was no longer living and she is living there surrounded by the love they created within their home together.  

When hubby and I purchased our home, we had the same idea, we will live here forever.  We still plan to do the same thing, several years later.  I love each project we work on together.  We are pouring our love into this home and making it ours.  

When we made the cabinet for the kitchen, I left a note on the top of the cabinet in case it is ever torn out.  We left our mark and to let the next people who live here know it is not original to the home, but we did keep the integrity of the kitchen, we just removed the plate rack and made it a cabinet.  

You never know what stories your home will reveal to you when you start to do things.  When we stripped the walls of wallpaper in our home, we found a few notes on the wall...    

Bobbie and Harold Hummel must have wallpapered all of the walls, all of the notes are from them.  1988, 1989, and 1992 is when the last remolding had taken place here before we purchased it in 2013.

  

The walls had always been covered in wallpaper.  When we purchased our home, we stripped the walls bare and found they had never been painted.  I guess that is a good thing since we did not have to worry about lead paint.  All of the walls have since been painted, except I have 2 closets that have been wallpapered.  You know me and my need to make the smallest things in our home "fancy pants".  I like unexpected things and surprises to pop up.  When you open my closet door, do you really expect it to be wallpapered?  Chances are, no... you can also read about our bathroom closet make over here and the bedroom closet here.  

We still have a ways to go, but we plan to do it the old fashioned way, a little bit at a time.  We will not take out loans and have the entire home completed all at once.  We will make plans, save, work on what we can, and hire someone for those things we cannot, but we will always put our love into this house, making it a home, just like the woman at the doctor's office.   We have a lot of love to give this old home and we plan to do so until our time here ends.  Do you feel the same about your home?  Do you plan to make it your forever home, raise your family, spend your golden years there?         

Mr. and Mrs. Vintage Style on our wedding day...