Welcome to the time travel post. Today, we’re hopping into the Way Back Machine…to revisit our first home,
We’re headed back to a time when the amazingly crafty Carol Duvall was the queen of HGTV… when Room by Room‘s Shari Hiller and Matt Fox inspired affordable, achievable makeovers; Michael Payne designed for the sexes; and Kitty BartholoMEW had the cleverest cat name, cool hair, and gorgeously romantic designs.
The Property Brothers were likely finishing high school around the time some blindfold-wearing crafter was inspired to gold-swish this serpentine dresser into the furniture equivalent of Norma Desmond…
I can’t claim responsibility for that hideousness (although I still love the redo), but I did dab a slew of old t-shirts to create a budget-friendly, mauve-colored, rag-painted bedroom back in the day.
Many of us had young kiddos, big hair,
were newly mortgaged, and were making the most of our Decorating Cents.
Tuitions, vet bills, the need for a second car, and the belief that a little innovative DIY could solve a multitude of problems…. that’s where I was in the 1990’s, when we lived in our first house.
The inside was draped in the mauve and mallard green colors that were de rigueur when we built it in 1988. (I shared a little bit about that house, along with other places I’ve lived, in a prior “Where Bloggers Live” post,. This month, we’re sort of revisiting that topic, but in a different way.)
Mr and I were living the big ’80’s dream and were definitely “house poor.”
Our empty living room was a great play room for the kiddos until we budget-decorated the crap out of it. We chose to parlay the then-trending cabbage rose chintz into a “garden themed” room.
Mr built a potter’s bench that I hand painted to match the Waverly wallpaper border print in our foyer. I used it to display photos, books, and do dads. You can catch a glimpse of it here:
I had also hand-painted a poem around the room where the walls met the ceiling. Our kids were very little then and it seemed like they would be that way forever when I wrote these lines:
Our children grow as flowers in the garden of our lives.
Their roots are firmly planted so each fragile seedling thrives
And grows into a blossom that stands straight and strong and tall
So one day each can stretch its stem beyond our garden wall.
Apparently, I had a thing for writing corny quatrains called “Fourteeners,” because I wrote quite a few of them. And yet, little did I know how much that particular gold-lettered exercise in literary massacre did indeed profess my hopes for our little family.
We eventually grew into our mortgage, replaced the potters bench with a piano, and when it was time to sell the house, our realtor didn’t much appreciate the allegorically poetic homage to my hopes and dreams (along with much of our other decor). “If you want to sell it, make it plain,” she instructed.
And so, to my children’s horror we stripped the house of wall paper, took down the family photos, and most devastating of all, painted over the poem that encircled the living room. “It’s not even our house anymore!” one of them told me through tears.
We moved and moved on… and one Mother’s Day a year or two later, my Clairebear gave me a garden tote filled with tools. And at the top of it, she wrote the poem as she remembered it from our living room. Somewhere, I may have a picture of it taken when the bag was freshly crafted, but this is how it looks today:
I have used and loved that bag for probably a dozen or more years. Most of the letters and decorations she drew on it are faded, but the memory of her sweet gift has only gotten more vibrant over the years.
When this year’s Mother’s Day rolled around, I opened a relatively weighty envelope. And in it was a bench plaque from my kids with the poem, as Bear now remembers it, printed in black letters on a brass plate. She had tried to google it for the words, but of course couldn’t find it and hadn’t realized that I was the one who wrote it, haha. Ironically, she had forgotten it was on the bag she made for me, sitting on a shelf in the garage.
Although her version is a little different, it was a lovely gift for me to learn that they still carried any version of those words with them, now that they have indeed grown straight and strong and tall. And while I haven’t been as thrilled that this past year brought about the inevitable stretching “their stems beyond our garden wall,” Mr and I are blessed beyond measure as they continue to show us–despite storms, squalls and squabbles–that their roots were very firmly planted.
_____
My WBL friends are also posting about a place where they’ve lived. Stop by and visit:
Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Bettye at Fashion Schlub
Em at Dust and Doghair
Leslie at Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After
Iris at Iris’ Original Ramblings
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style
Welcome to the monthly edition of Where Bloggers Live, the brainchild of FashionSchlub’s Bettye Rainwater. It’s kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…Bloggers! Who doesn’t like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes? Join us every second Friday of the month as this group of six bloggers shares their stories, spaces, homes, and more!
Make sure you visit everyone to see where the magic happens!
Aww I love this! Your kids loved your poem so much that one of them CRIED when you painted over it. I love when kids cry.
Well, that escalated quickly… 😀
I remember all of those old shows! Matt and Sherry were such dorks, but I loved them. There was one show with two ladies who would rearrange and steal furniture and accessories from other rooms in the house to transform a space. I actually Googled to try to find the name of it for a post I wrote a few months ago, but I was unsuccessful. I used to love Trading Spaces too, but that show didn’t age well. I didn’t realize how awful most of the designs really were! Ty Pennington though… grr
Oh wow…two families in our neighborhood traded spaces, I don’t think it went well. I mean, “let’s staple thousands of fake flowers to your wall and get rid of the one thing you said ‘had’ to stay.” What could possibly go wrong?
Followed over from your comment on My Crappy House – you had me at Carol Duvall!!! Liked this a lot – lots of heart strings pulled and I don’t even have children, though I just increased my personal cat population by one – now have 3 and very dubious about how the integration of the new kitten will go if I ever get brave enough to try. The kitten will probably force the issue and sneak quickly through the door into the fascinating interior that is being denied to her right now. Anyway, looking forward to exploring backwards – or not, since I seem to be having trouble keeping up with all the reading.
Well hello, Barbara! Welcome and thx for giving me a spin!
That VickiAnn is the real deal! She truly does have all the stuff to be big time. 🤞🏻
Been finding it hard to keep pace with blog reading as well this summer. I am doing the dog version of your cat situation these days. Three in the house rn, which has been quite chaotic. We had three before, but two were oldies and it was a breeze…. We have two that are young now and are very into wrestling so Ive become a reluctant referee.
Anywho, you’re welcome to browse as your convenience! I totally get it!
I have to say, I started to read your post last night but PC was wanting to do sit-ups (gross) and go for a walk so I knew I would be rushed. Came back tonight and I am so glad I had the time to enjoy every single precious word. You have such a wonderful way of touching and warming my heart with your words. I LOVED this post. Of course your babies treasured that poem around the tops of the walls in the living room of their early childhood home. They were a bit of your sweet soul And I know they adore you; adored you then, and adore you now.
Love that you have that perfect garden bag to carry the poem outdoors with you and into the garden. And it is certainly fitting that the children put the poem on the plaque for the bench. Look at the beautiful bouquet of children you have raised!!
Well done, my friend. Well done.
P.S. I had a couch reupholstered in very similar chintz. And then my Siberian Huskies, on a bored day stuck at home while we were out, ripped it to shreds. I thought it was lovely. But I was overruled.
Oh my goodness! You brought back so many memories. I remember watching those shows while tending to my babies and dreaming of my own home.
Your writing is so lyrical and magical, I can see why the poem stuck with them. And I love that each version is a tad bit different… I think that shows your poem growing outside the garden walls. The tote? Way to make me tear up this early in the morning.
Thanks, Daenel. Funny how some things stick with them (unlike the pleas to pick things up off the floor, haha, or change the roll of TP 🤣).
Oh, loved your poem – and the fact that you wrote it around the living room wall. It’s things like that that make a house a home (I think – but then what do I know). I’ll take that and family pictures way before I take the stark decorating of today.
And what delightful gifts for you to get. See, that poem meant a lot to them. Enjoyed the tour.
Iris
Thank you, Iris. My MIL, who often focused on all the wrong stuff, used to say that in life we focus on all the wrong stuff. Now that you mention it, the most popular accounts I follow have realtor-ready decor… mostly very plain and stark. I wonder if that’s likewise so people can envision themselves living there. They’re all great to look at, but you’re right…not very homey!
Em!! I didn’t realize you were such a poet. I guess I should have known although it’s usually camouflaged in humor. That poem and the fact that your children loved it so much just brings tears to my eye. Seriously.
I admit I knew none of those early decorating gurus you mentioned. Then again, I was (and still am) rarely watching much tv (except for an occasional movie).
Thanks for such a heartwarming post. Isn’t that what the world needs now?
XOOX
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
Thanks, Jodie! I think everyone’s post was heartwarming this month! I so enjoyed everyone’s memories, all of which shook the dust off some of my own.
You’d have loved the early HGTV…they even had knitting shows. All those early hosts were so accessible, even answered emails! But the best part was that every project wasn’t an out of reach renovation. Just simple ideas that real people could try on a budget.
Oh! My! Gosh! Carol Duvall! I loved watching her! I loved HGTV then! It was much more…affordable, approachable…now it’s all like LET’S REDO THE BATHROOM WITH ONLY A $50,000 BUDGET! CAN WE DO IT?? Sigh.
I remember all the people you mentioned…and even the Grandfather of them all, This Old House with Bob Vila. That was even before HGTV. I’d watch that and The Galloping Gourmet on Channel 13 and there was my pre-HGTV HGTV.
And oh, Waverly, you had my heart! And my dollars! I made swooshy valances for all my houses back then with Waverly fabrics…and I’m sure some sofa pillow covers, as well. I keep meaning to find pictures of the valances, they were pretty cool, if I do say so. My sister was an interior designer so I was always getting scraps or small yardages of pretty fabrics, so fun 🙂
Whoa, the hand-lettering around the room. You have far more patience (and skill!) than I!
The tote with the quote (hee hee) is darling 🙂
What great memories, Em! I love this one so much!
Bettye
https://fashionschlub.com
Well thank you for inspiring it, Bettye! Excellent prompt!
My mom and I used to watch Graham Kerr, too! He was hilarious. Mr loved Bob Vila, but I would get annoyed because Bob had a Norm and we didn’t. You really needed a Norm if you wanted to be a Bob. That’s how we realized we could adore old houses, but could never keep up with one. No required skills, patience, cash, and no freaking Norm!
But the Waverly…sigh. Every print was beautiful and charming. Your valances in those beautiful houses with their beautiful windows must have been gorgeous. And with your eye…mustve been very charming.
“tote with the quote” haha…see! Gifted!