Bushel & a Pickle

Old House to Heart Home #1

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Old house to heart home has been a big challenge for me!  My family made me see it was home!

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back of the house

Sunday afternoon my 13 year struggle to love this old not perfect house came to an end.

It’s not the house I imagined as home in this phase of my life. I wanted a fireplace with open spaces and a spectacular kitchen. Yes, and would Sarah Richardson please decorate it?

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Our dog, Boomer & back porch that needs sprucing up

It is big; I’ll give it that!

Instead I have a big old house with challenges.

Did I mention it is a 216 year old house?

Oh, yes, there are challenges.

After retirement from the army and a life of moving, we moved our family again for a 2nd career back overseas. Soon, we knew we needed a house in the states for our college kids to come home too and a place to live for our family during our trips back. an anchor home.

summer fun

summer memory making

We needed an anchor home. Our TCK (third culture kids) children needed it. We all needed an anchor home.  A home for our hearts.  We hadn’t had one since my folks’s beloved home sold after my mom died and Dad remarried..

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swing for golf & fun

I call it a heart home for this side of heaven. 

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setting up a simple dinner of leftovers!

Sunday was a magical day.  Lunch at Nancy and Nathan’s home then naps in our own homes.  Dinner in our anchor home yard.

focused on floats

focused on floats

Floats. Nothing says summer like floats!

getting simple settings ready

getting simple settings ready

As we carried out the table, blue ball jars with the colorful straws, leftovers and fixing, as the girls laughed and played, I knew. It had been creeping up on me with increased intensity for weeks.

front porch

front porch

Sunday, as I listened, I realized it had happened.

We had our heart home.

This old house full of memories in the making with

the tumbled mess of an attic                                                                                                                                                                                    five exterior doors for rousing games of hide and seek running in and out                                                                                                          brick walls, funky paneling

The “Avocado”, the girls’ special spot, an unexpected closet

beckoning porches                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 creaky and creepy in the dead of night original wood floors                                                                                                                                    a slanted roof for star gazing                                                                                                                                                                                        tire swing

still swing

Sunday still swing at dusk

It’s not elegant or beautiful. It is creaky and old.  It is home.

There will still be design stuggles for me and maintance struggles for Jim.  It will never be “perfect” and Sarah will never darken my door.

It’s okay because…

we have our heart home.  

What makes your house a home?  

linking with

www.savvysouthernstyle.net

shabbyartboutique.com

betweennapsontheporch.net

Reader Interactions

linda

Comments

  81. Such sweetness. It brought tears to my eyes. Could you feel your house hugging you? My house isn’t near as old as yours and of course the age of the house doesn’t matter, but I think it helps when we realize it is our heart home..

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