Monday, December 17, 2007

On Fun Monday #4, I Break the Rules a Little


This week, our Fun Monday hostess is kitten. She is interested in finding out more about our homes. Her assignment is:

I think it would be neat to hear about the story behind your home and the road you live on. It doesn't have to be historical, maybe just something that stands out to you. It would be nice to have pictures to go with your little story. I also would like to know who has the oldest house. Whoever has the oldest house will get a little Christmas treat from little ole me.

I've written about my home before. In fact, finding a new home was a significant focus of my blog back in the early days (not so long ago). There are posts about searching for a place to live, and posts about the move. I even wrote about the day I found out we were going to have to find a new home. I think I've exhausted this subject.

Instead, I'm going to write about the little house that was our home for twelve years.




I had just turned twenty-seven a couple of weeks before we moved in. It was the first home I'd owned in Oklahoma, my home state, since moving to Kansas at the tender age of 22. We had moved frequently, making our home in places as diverse as Topeka, Kansas, Lee's Summit, Missouri, Newport News, Virginia, and Aiken, South Carolina. The older two children were small, my little boy still in a crib. Even though they were small, the moving was already becoming difficult, and it was time to settle down.


The little house was painted a garish, 1980s country blue when we bought it. Inside, the walls were covered in wallpaper in the style of the time, with even the light switch plates covered. The paper in the kitchen was done in two matching prints, a large version below the chair rail and a smaller one above it. There was more country blue in the background for the wallpaper of the main bath, which was covered in dusty rose colored posies. It was hideous. The wallpaper in the master bathroom was the only one I could stand, and even that was outdated, a cream colored paper printed with flowers and a shiny stripe. It looked like a country magazine had thrown up all over the walls.


The house was located in an excellent school district. It was on a large corner lot, with trees in front and back. The high vaulted ceilings made the living areas and the master bedroom seem larger than they were. I loved the bay windows that looked out into the back yard. The open floor plan was exactly what I was looking for, and despite the horrid wallpaper, the bones of the house were good, with upgraded countertops in the kitchen and baths, gorgeous built in bookshelves and woodwork and a lovely master suite. I moved in thinking that we'd stay a few years, maybe five, tops.


I got to work, stripping wallpaper, painting, and replacing light fixtures that dated from about 1986. They were uglier than the wallpaper. There was a large dog run along the back of the house that I tore down one summer day while the children napped. My husband tore up carpet in the main bath and linoleum in the kitchen. He replaced it with tile he laid himself, learning how to do it from a book we bought at Home Depot. We ripped ugly, neglected bushes out of the flower beds in front of the house, enlarged the beds and reshaped them. We replaced the bushes with lovely double flowering azaleas. Then replaced them again with something else equally ambitious. And finally settled on boxwood,crimson barberry and a little ornamental peach tree with a carpet of creeping jenny.



Our lovely daughter's room went through several incarnations in that twelve years. The ones I remember most vividly are her garden room and her "grown up" room. I can't find a picture of the garden room, but imagine white French furniture with gold accents, linens reminiscent of a Monet garden painting, palest pink walls and a rose vine trailing its way from the base of the door up to the ceiling and around the whole room. The grown up room, which she loved, wasn't very girly at all.




The boys' room started out life as a red and white nursery for one and ended up a jungle room for two. My little guy still asks to see pictures of their jungle room and has selected animal print linens for his new room here.




We put our hearts, our sweat and our tears into that little house. Up until we moved in August of 2006, it was the only home my children had ever known. Our youngest came home from the hospital to that house we had remodeled and reshaped with our own hands.

We never did get around to replacing the horrible carpet. When we first moved, my lovely daughter told me the thing she missed most about the house was the old, ugly blue carpet. It was our home. We still miss it. But now I think it's just the idea of the house we miss.

And I, for one, don't miss that blue carpet at all.

30 comments:

kitten said...

Gosh! You have a beautiful Home!

Kim said...

Thanks, kitten.

nikki said...

Death to wallpaper!!! Who wallpapers light switches anyways?!

nikki

coloursofdawn said...

You did an nice job in your home. We had a home we did tons of remodeling to when the kids were young. We lived there for 10 years, and the kids really missed it when we moved. We had always planned to move from that house because it was in a location we were not happy with. We moved to where we wanted to into the same house design, but mirror image, then a year and a half later bought our acreage home we are in now. I miss many things about our old homes, like the space, but I love where we are now, and the rest is just fine.

the rotten correspondent said...

You did all of that stuff yourselves? Damn, I'm impressed. The house is lovely and I can see why it's so dear to you.

But I'm sure your house now is drop dead gorgeous. And not a blue carpet in sight.

Michelle said...

Country blue and rose!! I despise those colors. They are so dated!!! I feel your pain on the remodeling!! I also had to rip out blue carpet and was glad it was gone!! Great story.

Crystal Jigsaw said...

What a lovely post. Your pictures are great and give us a special insight into your family life. You obviously spent much quality time in that house and will do so in your current one.

Crystal xx

wakeupandsmellthecoffee said...

That was your childrens' first home so will always have a special place in your heart.

By the way I've nominated you for an award.

Karmyn R said...

ha ha!

I did a lot of tearing down of icky wallpaper in my last house - and yes, all the switches were covered with the same wallpaper. (metallically flower stuff).

It's hard to leave a home when you put a lot of work to it - but it is true it is more the "idea" of the house.

Dreaming What Ifs...

Gattina said...

Geez ! you moved a lot of times ! I only moved 2 x in my adult life ! Your "ex" house looked very cosy !

willowtree said...

You had it looking pretty good, too bad you moved.

Kim said...

I don't know who the heck started wallpapering switchplates, Nikki, but it was quite stupid!

Thanks, coloursofdawn. I loved that little house.

Yeah, RC, hubby is very handy and I'm always game to learn a new skill, so it worked out pretty well for us. You're right, no blue carpet here. Thank goodness!

I hated it, too, Michelle. I hated in in 1994 and I hate it even more now. But I do miss the little house.

We did, Crystal, and that time was precious. I think my older kids will always remember it as the house they grew up in.

You're right, WUASTC. I think that has a lot to do with how much I loved a little house that was far, far too small for our family.

It was hard to leave behind, Karmyn, but as much as I miss it, I don't think I'd want to move back. I don't think we'd fit anymore.

Gattina, I never moved the entire time I was growing up, but between the ages of 18 and 27, I moved ten times. Between 27 and 40, just twice. That was much better.

It did look nice by the time we moved, Willowtree. It was hard to leave, but I am happy with our new home. I think mostly I miss the idea of that house, rather than the little house itself.

the planet of janet said...

impressive!

and i'm sure there is a teeeny tiny place in your heart where you miss the blue carpet... :-)

Pamela said...

It must have quite the thing when it was decorated. Do you wonder if 100 years from now, people will try to restore their 1970's bungalow???

elizabethm said...

Any house where do you so much of the work yourself will feel special, particularly when you have lived there so much of your children's lives.
I'm sure your current house is great too and in a way I think it does children good to move once in a while - it shows them that you can remake home, which is a good lesson to learn.

Tiggerlane said...

Wow...such a neat home! I remember the days of wallpapered light switches - yuck! and blue carpet can SO go away!

You may have to come spice up my bland new home with your decorating skills!

laurie said...

no wonder you missed it, and love it still. it became a part of you.

laurie said...

hey!!!! pay attention!!!!

sickeningly sweet award for you at my place!!!!

Kim said...

Oh, no, Janet. Hate. Blue. Carpet.

I'm sure it was a very trendy little place when it was built, Pamela. But by 1994, it was a bit passe. Surely no one will ever want to relive that 80s country era. I could be wrong. A lot of lovely daughter's friends are into anything 70s.

I suppose you're right, Elizabeth, but I wish we had decided to do it instead of more or less being forced to move. But we have remade our home, and our kids know it's possible.

Hey, I'll come right over! I love that kind of thing. Arkansas isn't that far away, you know . . .

It still is a part of me in some ways, Laurie. I go by it every time I'm in Tulsa, just to see how it's doing.

Kim said...

Damn, Laurie! I always pay attention to you.

Especially when you are passing out the awards. ;)

Kaytabug said...

Wow, I am impressed with all the work you guys did. It looks like a very lovely home. Your new current home is very stunning!

ChrisB said...

Reading this has brought back memories of the house we had before this one. I really loved it and had fought to keep it when my marriage failed and it was where my daughters grew up, we lived there for 16 years. It took me a long time to feel my present house was 'home' but after 21 years I guess it is, although sometimes a little bit of me yearns for the quiet road with cherry trees and large garden we left behind!

kitten said...

I have our winner post up.

Jenni said...

I laughed out loud at your description of the 80s style wallpaper--"Like a country magazine threw up". Too, too funny! I'm so sick of country blue and dusty rose. It does make me wonder what people will say years from now about the way we decorate our houses today. It's a wise idea not to pick anything too trendy unless you like to change things around a lot.

We have very fond memories of the house we lived in before this, too. We lived there for 11 years, and I have never lived anywhere longer. There are a lot of memories there.

lisaschaos said...

Looks like you guys did a lot of work and had a lot of happy years there. :) Moving is so much fun isn't it.

Chris at 'Chrissie's Kitchen' said...

Hi, Kacie, just catching up to say hello how are you and enjoying your memories. Do have a lovely family Christmas & New Year. Look forward to hearing from you soon.

Love Lizzie x

Kim said...

Thanks, Katyabug. I loved that little house, and I am quickly falling in love with this new one.

I know what you mean, Chris. I think there are things about my old house that I'll always miss.

I'm glad I could amuse you, Jenni. I'm here to serve. ;)

I hate to move, Lisa. I hope I won't have to change homes again for a very long time.

Lizzie! It's so great to see you here. Merry Christmas to you and yours as well.

Cynthia said...

I love do it yourselfer stories. I learned to do tile in the last few years. A book would have been useful. I was given a 30 second description and let loose. It looks okay...

-Ann said...

You are so right about loving the idea of a former house. I wouldn't trade the life I have now for the one I used to have, but I do so miss that little house. And we were only there for 3 years and only had 1 ambitious home improvement project. I can't imagine quadruple that time and way more effort.

sirdar said...

You sure did a lot of great work. From you description to the pictures are a major change. Good job!!