My Home, Sweet Home

The home that my husband and I have raised our kids in is the home I moved into with my mom and dad when I was 17 and a senior in high school. We moved here from Corpus Christi where I'd lived all the life I remembered. When I was in college, my dad's parents moved up the street from my mom and dad. Dave and I married in 1983, bought a house in the same neighborhood in 1985, and began our family in 1987. In early 1992, we sold our home and bought my mom and dad's after they moved in with my grandmother, Honey, to care for her. Dementia had stolen Granddad, and he could no longer live at home.

When we bought the house, we made cosmetic changes of paint, curtains, flooring, and carpet, but for the most part, it's remained the same all these years UNTIL NOW! We made the decision in May to make a wish list, and we found a wonderful couple to do the work. Over the next two months, we made changes that we LOVE. Until you come see us, enjoy the pictures. :)
Along the way, I'll share some of my sentimental treasures with you, too.

This is the view from the entryway. To the right are the stairs, and David's office is the loft area upstairs. The living room is to the left with the dining room adjacent and the breakfast room at the back of the house. We had all of the ceilings, walls, doors, and trim painted throughout the house. The red wall in the dining room had wallpaper, and it's GONE! :)

This picture is taken from the loft and shows the living room. Most of this furniture had been Honey and Granddad's. The framed and signed DeGrazia over the piano had been my mom and dad's.



It's kind of hard to see, but in the left corner of the dining room is a potbelly stove that had been in Granddad's home when he was growing up in the early 1900s.

The stair wall had also had the wallpaper like in the dining room. I originally thought about painting this wall the same red as in the dining room, but I was afraid it would really shrink the area if it were so dark. I like the lighter color, but it is darker than the other walls.

The mirror had been Honey's, and the hat had belonged to Granddad. The bench was from my great aunt and is from the early 1900s. It's made of apple wood and still has the original straw 'stuffing'. The quilt is a picture quilt I made of old family photos.

This picture is taken from the breakfast room entry into the dining room with the entry way in the background. This glass case had been Honey's and is filled with things from her home. The birds on top were my Mamaw's, my mom's mom, and David brought the jug to me from Tanzania.



The picture above is again taken from the breakfast room entry into the dining room.





The china cabinet is full of American Fostoria that I inherited from both Honey and Mamaw. I also bought some of it, and my brother has been great about tracking down serving pieces for me. Some of the pitchers on top also belonged to my grandmothers.

The carnival glass set has a cool history. In the 1920s, Honey sold items door to door from a catalog to help her parents whose crops were struggling. Her grandmother, my great-great grandmother bought that carnival pitcher and glass set from her. Somehow, the great aunt from whom I got the apple bench had ended up with the carnival glass set. She gave it to me one year for Christmas when they came to celebrate with our family. Honey, who had been legally blind most of her life, could see well enough to recognize the set when I opened the gift. She was thrilled to see it again and for it to be mine.