A Tribute to HOME

Almost 9 years ago, our little family moved into this home.  It was a dream house for us at the time, moving from a townhome with no garage or backyard.  We didn't gain much living space, but we felt so blessed to own a single family home where we could continue to raise our children - in a great neighborhood in our hometown, right across the street from the school! 

Our oldest was 2 at the time, and I was expecting our son, who arrived 3 weeks after we moved in.  We scrimped and saved every penny we could to make ends meet.  We were essentially "house poor" for quite a while, but it felt worth it to live near family and in a place we loved.  We are frugal by nature anyway, so we found ways to make our home a beautiful place that we could enjoy.  This home may only be 1153 sq ft., but it's loaded with love, memories, and some elbow grease.  It's hard to say that this structure is "just a house".  It has been way more than that to us and we're going to miss it.  

The chorus in the song "Little Houses" by Doug Stone sums it all up:

Love grows best in little houses,

with fewer walls to separate.

Where you eat and sleep so close together, 

you can't help but communicate.

If we had more room between us, 

think of all we'd miss.

Love grows best in houses just like this. 

I won't be able to post this saying in our 4000 sq ft. home that we're moving to, but there's a lot of truth to these words.  We can appreciate being close as a family and having to 'make-do' with the space we have.  Is a bigger home going to feel great?  Yes.  But I already imagine that we will have to make a bigger effort as a family to stay close since we'll have a more 'personal' space to avoid some of the communication opportunities that you get in a really small home.  (On the flip side, it will also be beneficial that we will get to keep some of our conversations to ourselves in a bigger home!)

Whichever way you look at it, there's so much to appreciate.  This is an exciting change for our family, yet I would never take back the experiences and memories that have come with this home. We've had several birthday parties, after school play dates, co-op preschool, and family gatherings in this place.

I may have mentioned before that I have a tendency to rearrange furniture often and redecorate my spaces more often than my husband cares for.  As a kid I constantly rearranged my room and deep cleaned it as I went.  I find it rejuvenating.  The only problem had been that there was very little space to change, but that didn't stop me.  Here's a visual of how many times the  2nd bedroom changed in the last 8 years.  I guess most of it had to do with the beds changing, but this kind of sums up my need to change things.  

It only took me 6 years to convince my hubby that we needed to knock down the wall between the family room and kitchen.  It finally happened 2.5 years go.  We've never looked back.  It changed my life.  I will forever love this part of the house!  Here you can see the transformation take place...

 ...A Tribute to our HOME.  We will miss you!

                            

                            

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