Saturday, February 5, 2011

The Old House that we Built

Several of you have joined a party showing how your styles have changed from back then to now.  This got me to thinking if I was brave enough to show my old barely any style style. 

 But....then I got to thinking maybe I would just show you my old house.  I am not joining any parties just sharing my love for our old home.

My husband and I built our old house ourselves.  We had a builder, but we used a cost plus contract where we had control over the finances and decisions.  This was the way we wanted it since I myself had drawn up the original house plans.  For years I painstakingly took notes and sizes from home tours about what I would like in my own dream home.  Then one day I sat down and drew up a house plan.  When the dream became a reality we took those plans to an architect and had him draw up the actual blue prints.  There were several things I wish we had done differently but there were soooo many things we did then that I miss now. 

 We purchased the house we are in now and did not build it.  I know it is where we should be at this point in our lives but there are times that I miss my old house so much.  This post is dedicated to my old dream home.  You were such a beautiful place to live our lives for 7 years.  I cannot believe it is almost 8 years ago now that we left.

This house was built after we inherited land and my FIL developed a small one cul de sac subdivision, with huge lots.  We were involved in building the whole little neighborhood as well as our home.  This gift from my FIL allowed us to build our old house and one we will be forever grateful for even though we no longer live there.  If you want to read more about that you can read an old post I did on my old blog here.  Let's move on,  it's time to take a peek into our past now.

There she is!  This was the dream we created.  I still have those same gnomes by the walkway here at our home now.

I hope you will overlook these photos.  They were all taken some time ago.  I had to scan and crop them all in the computer.

We had over 9 acres here back behind our home.  I really miss that flat yard and good old fashioned brown dirt.  I have red clay now!   This is my youngest son waaaayyy back when. 

This had to have been taken shortly after we moved in because I still had my old redwood furniture given to us when we first married.  As you can see I painted it to try and keep it lasting a bit longer.

This is one of the features I miss the most.  My front steps.  I had these rebuilt twice before the brick masons got it right.  I really wanted to be able to have a place for my annuals.  Yep, that's me enjoying a cold one after working in that brown dirt somewhere.  You can see it on my knees, ha ha!  I loved gardening outside back then.  It was sooo much easier!

Let's take a look inside.

Here was my foyer.  I was in love with mahogany back then.  The floor was a dark red mahogany.  As you can see there is our old foyer table and mirror.  Were going to look to the left of this door now.

This was my formal living room when we first moved in.  It was longer and narrow.  It had 5 floor to ceiling windows, three on the right side and two on the back wall.  There was a built in bar on the left corner that you can barely see here in between the living room and the dining room.

It wasn't long before we accumulated a little more furniture for this room.  Sorry these are the only photos I have.

I always put the tree in this room.   Even though we didn't use this room often I do miss having a formal living room.  Actually, I think I just miss having that one extra space to relax and for people to gather on special occasions.

Let's peek at the dining room.  The color was not quite as blue as the photos show but more green.

Here is the china cabinet that I had built in.  I just loved this thing so much!  It really was quite larger then it looks here because it was very deep.  I miss the wainscoting we had in the dining room and really want to do that here too.  The pocket door shown leads to the kitchen and den.  Let's head in there now.

This was my favorite room of the house!   It was totally open, just like all those wonderful beach house's you rent.  We had so many wonderful parties in this house.  Do you recognize those bar stools?  They are now the legs for the tables on my front porch between the rockers.

To the right we had an area built large enough to accommodate our large claw foot table comfortably.  This was my husbands family kitchen table growing up so that's where we knew it would eventually be.  We spent a lot of time getting this space right to maneuver around the table.


Behind the long kitchen island was our den with the built in bookshelves.  Lots of storage here that I miss too!  I probably would not build them this way now but I sure loved it then.  The french doors on the right led to a deck and the door on the left led to the screen porch and the garage.

Here's the only photo I could find of the screen porch.  Whew!  What a mess!

Let's go back inside and take a look at a few more photos I was able to drudge up of this space.  Please don't laugh at my decor style.  I really did love that royal carpet until it started to buckle then we wondered why we didn't extend the hardwood into this little area when we had it everywhere else downstairs.

You can't see it in this photo but the hardwoods were in the kitchen and the eat in area and stopped right behind this chair.  Yes, I was a good wife back then and allowed the leather lazy boy for my hubby.  Unfortunately our two sons wore it out before we moved.  Love my boys!

Not sure why my oldest looks so sad here.  As you can see I loved plaid even back then and made these drapes myself.

Ah!  That's better, eventually I found the right location for my pictures above the fireplace.

This photo shows the mirror I now have above my fireplace.  When I first got this mirror, it was a frame only and I had the glass made to fit it.  Then I painted it the green you see here.  It wasn't until later that I painted it the white it is now.  I really did like the green!

My Christmas style!  LOL!

Okay what was I thinking with this mantle?  LOL!  I have my wizard of oz dolls displayed.  I also had faux greenery mixed with my live plants.

Here's a few more random shots from the prior years.  I loved my long island that separated the kitchen and den.  It was a great place to put out dishes for get togethers.

My short hair days back when I was skinny too..  Oh, the days!

Who was that woman and why did she paint all the foyers with that faux finish?  She sure didn't look very happy up there on that makeshift scaffolding. 

Aww!  Look at my cuties!  I miss this tub somewhat too.  I do have a large jacuzzi tub for two now but it is a pain to clean.  This one was was an extra long jacuzzi tub for one.  You could totally stretch out in it!  Yes, that was a mauve tile floor I put in there, sure wouldn't do that again.

The backside of our house shortly after moving in.

Eventually it became this.  I wanted a pool so bad back then and we could not afford an in ground pool so we bought this one and dropped it in the ground a bit.  It was a 30ft round so it was quite large.  I so miss having a pool and would love one here.  The Mr. says no pool until we can afford an in ground.  I'm with him on that one, but it seems it may never happen.  When we sold this house we had built up decking all around this pool connecting it to the house decking.  With the cost of all the decking we built up to make it more comfortable we could have saved quite a bit for an in ground pool.  Live and learn right. 

 That's what all of this is about, living and learning and growing and changing.  Don't get me wrong we are in a very good place in our lives.  I guess I am feeling so reflective now because as my FIL is nearing the end of his life it is closing the door on our past yet again, but we will always have such good memories.

That's all I'll bore you with for now.  This post really was for me to reflect on where we've been and who we are!  I love looking at old photos of my children and our dreams.  My, how quickly things change.  Thanks for coming along on the trip down memory lane!

I always appreciate your visits!
Mary







16 comments:

  1. Wonderful post my Dear friend..Look at your cute self..I loved your home giel and you can tell the love and hard work you and your hubs put into making your dream come true..I'm so sorry about your FIL..
    And is life not just a learning process...I feel if I could have a do-over on my house things would be so differ..But I'm just so Happy to be where I'm am in my life at this age now..Just waking up makes me feel good ha ha!!
    I loved seeing your boys..I have always od my kids to make good memories of their life as taht is all they have as they get older is memories..You have made good ones girl..Hugs and smiles Gloria

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  2. Hi Mary! How proud you must be to have had such big part in building your home! It's beautiful, and your new home is too! Enjoy:@)

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  3. Oh I am with you , it is so fun to go down memory lane. Love your house. It is beautiful. Life does move us along sometimes. Wonderful memories are always there. Hugs, Marty

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  4. Count me in as another one who loves a stroll down memory lane. I really do LOVE your old house. It has so many features that would fit in my own dream house category. The kitchen and dining rooms are my favorites of all, but I do love your foyer. That's ONE thing that I've never had to my satisfaction, a foyer that I loved.

    This was a fun post, and you look pretty smashing down memory lane, too.

    Now you have me thinking about our first house, and I'm all sentimental. Sigh.

    Just getting a chance to catch up on blogs from being gone all week. I'm really glad to have stopped and spent time in your old house tonight.

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  5. Isn't it fun looking back. I love your home you are in now and your decorating has come a long way baby!

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  6. This was such a wonderful and fun post to read Mary!
    I love your old home! I can see you took a lot of time and care in designing and putting it all together. And your as cute as can be,(still are) and you had such adorable little boys!
    Thanks for taking us along,
    Cindy

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  7. What a wonderful family home! I love your old photos, especially of your boys! So much fun going down memory lane :)

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  8. Wow! What a gorgeous home, but oh my how your style has changed!!! I love the Wizard of Oz Meets Santa look!!! Classic!!! I love that you designed it just the way you wanted. I know it had to be hard to leave. I loved my last house with all my being. It was everything I wanted in a house. I hated leaving it not because it was a perfect house, but all the memories of bringing Jemma home to it and all that goes with that. I like this house, but I don't love it. We have dreams of building our own house one day just the way we want!

    By the way, you are gorgeous!!!! I don't think you have changed a bit!

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  9. Memories are always wonderful. Your home is beautiful. What a treasure to built your own home. Your boy's photos are adorable. Isn't it fun to see how our decorating has changed through the years? I am your newest follower. I would be delighted if you followed me back. have a wonderful day! Linda

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  10. So much fun to see a look back in the past. I love it! Hey I wrote an email out last night I am not sure if you got it I had a glitch in my blog and had to recreate a new one will you please come follow me there its noplacelikehomeally.blogspot.com

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  11. I really enjoyed your walk down memory lane. Home decor colors and styles change just like clothing. It keeps us spending, but also keeps us being creative, I think. I just have to tell you how cute your blog header is. I love the animation. Would love to know how to do that.
    CAS

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  12. I loved the tour through your old house that you built. It made me a little sad that you no longer live there, but time goes on and things change. Are you going to give us a tour through your present house?

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  13. I enjoyed the stroll down memory lane with you. What a beautiful home you built for your family.. Thanks for taking us along..hugs ~lynne~

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  14. super post, m. loved every word. every picture. you're lovely... then, now. so is the house. love it.

    sorry for the wonkiness of this post. my computer is sticking keys. it's got to be fixed so i will be gone for some time. will be back to visit when it's fixed. keep the light on for me...

    xo,

    s.

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  15. Your home was lovely, even way back then, Mary. I can see how you would miss it, especially the memories with the boys at that age. And you were so cute!...Christine

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  16. Awww...Mary, I enjoyed my trip down memory lane. What a gorgeous house you had. Such nice memories, and great pictures. I have my boys in the tub together too...those are my favorite. Thanks for the old tour..it sure was fun! XO

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