A Home's History

Granny, Megan, and I go to the Parade of Homes every year to spend time together and get home decorating ideas. One house on the tour was located inside Pepperwood, a gated community, and required shuttle service. The home Megan and I grew up in was in Pepperwood, so we were excited to get a peek at our old school bus stop, neighborhood pool, and homes that had been so familiar. The shuttle was packed, so we stood in the center unable to see where we were headed. 

We arrived and found ourselves on the very street we used to live on. 

Rather than heading into the Parade home, we rushed up and down the road recognizing our old neighbors' houses ...and thinking it was strange that we couldn't seem to find our own.

Strange.

Finally, we looked at the numbers on the houses. Ours had been #9. We were standing directly in front of the brand new Parade home. 

Number 9.

Did they really level a well-built 6,000 square foot house?

My bedroom; the Western saloon doors into the kitchen; my parents' huge rectangular bedroom that made their king-size bed look like doll furniture; the empty dining room where we used to make up dances to 8-tracks of the Rocky theme, the Osmonds, and Sun, Shade, & Rain; the blue double sinks in the kids' bathroom; the never-used craft room turned bedroom where cousin Jenn stayed for a year; the ghost-town basement kitchenette; the library with its wall of books—my dad's favorite room in the house....

This is the new home that occupies that lot:

 Our old backyard

 View

Megan actually broke into tears.

Anyway...

Might as well include a pic of our home before that one. That's Grandpere on the porch with Jenny.

 And so...

I'm more grateful than ever that I've documented our family home over the years. I hope the kids will look at the pictures and remember what it was like to grow up together in the same house. Their bedrooms, the catwalk the boys jumped off, dunkball in the graffitied stadium, the sandbox and swings, Elle's hideout under the stairs, testimonies in front of the fireplace, horse races down the hallway, haircuts in the kids' bathroom, naps in Mia's hideaway, movies and popcorn in the Zone, Bananagrams on the back deck under the lights, Cookie Friday across the street, shave ice and the pups next door, "bite toes" in the family room, sliding down the stairs in sleeping bags, "Dinners with Fire" in the dining room, fireworks on the top deck, early morning scriptures in our big bed, the daily schedule board in the pantry, country music in the kitchen with Dad, tubbies with Elle in the Master bath, chin-ups in Mom's closet, Parents vs. Kids with the lights off... 

(Actually, that's just all good stuff... I could add the wrestling matches in the kitchen that get out of hand, blanket wars, Getty's creeping around in the dark to scare the daylights out of Cy at bedtime, the main to top floor yelling conversations, the naked boys running through the house, the punched-in wall, you know that stuff....)

Here are the latest changes I've made around the house since both girls moved out in August  

Address numbers on the door

I liked that front door so much, that I latched onto the stair numbers idea on Pinterest for the back stairs.

 I love that it's an inexpensive way to add detail

I did the elevator floor trick and skipped #13 :)

Saw the framed "You & Me" version on Pinterest and personalized it

I love collections like these (most from Utah Valley Parade of Homes):

 I had a lot of candlesticks, so I added a collection to our entry.

And a pencil collection to the library :)

Added a lamp to Elle's quilt corner.

Found this ladder for the pantry for $15 in the classifieds, and Rob put some rubber stoppers on the bottom. No toddlers anymore, so no worries! 

MK's bathroom is now the guest bathroom

Except that Getty uses it and leaves his boxers on the floor, even when there's a hamper right there...

Not sure what to do with Mia's room. She took her bed and dresser to her apartment, and MK said she and Mia will probably live together next summer when the rent is cheap. Is this the end??

Once I realized those stairs (above) hadn't been vacuumed in a year, I decided I'd better find a real slide in the classifieds to replace that heavy table we'd used (irreverently and inappropriately) all that time.

This is just a picture from Parade of Homes of an idea we could do sometime to upgrade our stadium in the cheapest way possible: low-profile carpeting, some white baseboards and trim, concrete sealant on the walls, fluorescent lighting, and a black ceiling...

And lastly, I love the idea of naming your house. The best name for the house we raised most of our littles in is probably Silly Dilly Towne, after a funny video MK, Mia, and Getty made there.  

Our current house already has a significant history in just the 7 years we've lived here. It's been the best of times; it's been the worst of times. And so, I hereby christen this house the Dickens house.