Where we all want to be. The place that holds our hearts, our loves, our tears and triumphs. Home means all the good feelings. How does your house feel?
Do we think our home and our house are the same? Is Home a feeling and House a dwelling? We all love our Home. Do we all love our House?
Our house is an average house with some surprises! Upstairs, 3 bedrooms, none large, 2 bathrooms (one is a master bath). A very usable kitchen, U shaped, a dinning room, living room, office and mudroom on the first floor. Downstairs, a rec room, small guest room, bathroom and storage room. The surprises? A pool (tucked behind that large wall on the right side of the house) and large back deck and a man cave garage!
Our average house was home to our 2 girls, cats, dogs, fish and birds for the last 20 years. Now, our house is just for us. The girls are married with their own homes. Where once our house was almost too small, it now seems large.
If you are like me, you gaze in awe at the houses on Instagram, Pinterest and in glossy magazines. I love to look at these stunning homes. Kitchens as large as 2 of my rooms put together with islands larger than my bathrooms, master bedrooms with en suites roomier than my master bedroom. All decorated in the trendy and chic farm house look, sophisticated southern style or glittery Victorian glamour.
Do we judge our houses because they can never compare? Do we wish our houses were more designed and less lived in? Do we only see how small our kitchens are, how tiny our shared bathroom is and how old our sofa is? How worn our house is from the years of family love?
Are you still living in your house as you did before the children left? I did, for a while. What if they came back? This is how I have always lived here. Yes, me too. Then one day I thought (again):
…I wish I had a bigger closet.
…I wish I had an exercise room.
…I wish I had a bigger master bath- sharing this small bathroom is hard.
…I wish I had a craft room.
…I wish I had a china closet ( I love china and serving pieces and have quite the collection!).
Move? Not a chance. Put on an addition? No. Only option left…re-purpose and re-design how we lived in our house. Here is what we did in brief. Other posts will show the details!
I wish I had a bigger closet- converted one of the bedrooms into the most magnificent walk-in closet worthy of my wish!
I wish I had an exercise room- yup, there goes the second bedroom!
I wish I had a bigger master bath- sharing this small bathroom is hard- why were we sharing a bathroom when we had a second bathroom in the hall? I moved into it!
I wish I had a craft room- who really needs an office, right? Not us, out with an office, in with a craft room.
I wish I had a china closet- we do not need a coat closet in the front hall- conversion to a china closet!
Other changes followed as we re-thought living in our house. I will share those on the by and by!
Now our house is feeling more like us!
Now for Us 