When your house speaks
I loved watching the show "If Walls Could Talk". It focuses on clues to the past lives of the home owners found during renovation. This week they talked about a receipt dated from the late 1800's for $300+ of lumber used in the house which was a very large sum at the time. The millwork in the house was extraordinary!
An old painting of a beautiful woman and a silver hand mirror found in the attic of another house lead to some fun speculation. It was determined that a previous owner was an artist. Was this a self portrait? Did she use that mirror in capturing her delicate features?
Another house had a well inside the house indicating that they had been very well to do. Not having to go outside the get water was a luxury indeed.
I love that people are celebrating the legacy of those who had lived in these homes before. I believe that homes contain the energy of those who came before as well as that of those who live there now. You know how some houses just feel good when you enter them? How you instantly feel at home? Well, part of that is the result of a well balanced design and the relationship of room to room creating a fluid sense of connecting. Part of it is a structure designed with a strong sense of arrival. A home with a well defined entry space, a porch, and a strong front door,welcomes you with more confidence than one that is a box with a portal that you merely pass through. But once inside, a happy house knows who it is, what it was meant to be.
Our house is a farm house. I would love to have fancy European antiques. But using those design elements would not be fair to this house. In a sense, grandly ornate furnishings would be telling this house it is plain and needs to be embellished to be made into something it was not intended to be. As we honor the spirit of this simple farm house, my husband and I choose things that a farmer would choose. The baseboards in the original part of the house are 1 x 6 painted boards with a gently eased top edge. Located in a rural area, this makes sense. Fancier woodwork would have been available in the city but the long trip into town for fancy baseboard lumber would not have been a priority for a farmer who had livestock to tend to, fences to build and repair, chickens to feed. So as we make our way through the house upgrading the quality of materials, we are replacing the 2 1/2" shoe base with 1 x 6's. The light over the dining table is a Tiffany style pendant. Each piece of art has a story.
We chose our furniture with the comfort of our family and guests in mind. This house is about sincerely welcoming people in to enjoy the authenticity. Books on tables are meant to be picked up and read. Tea pots are at the ready. Wine glasses and bottles of wine are right there on my grandmother's Victorian dresser, which would have been in this house when it was built over a hundred years ago. If I offer you a drink, you know it is no trouble at all.
Furniture , art and accessories relate to one another at our house based on the principles of design but nothing matches. Our house is about the stories and the history. I see hand-me-downs from clients and family in every room. My daughter's wonderful house is a very different story which I will tell you about in another post. Yours may be about your love of color or your intrigue in all things contemporary.
Think about where and how you live. Don't try to make it something it was never intended to be. You will lose that battle. Add to or improve what has been but make it about who you are really. Reflect your passions. You will find that the result is a home that draws people in. Maybe, like our house, people will keep coming back because it's just so you!
An old painting of a beautiful woman and a silver hand mirror found in the attic of another house lead to some fun speculation. It was determined that a previous owner was an artist. Was this a self portrait? Did she use that mirror in capturing her delicate features?
Another house had a well inside the house indicating that they had been very well to do. Not having to go outside the get water was a luxury indeed.
I love that people are celebrating the legacy of those who had lived in these homes before. I believe that homes contain the energy of those who came before as well as that of those who live there now. You know how some houses just feel good when you enter them? How you instantly feel at home? Well, part of that is the result of a well balanced design and the relationship of room to room creating a fluid sense of connecting. Part of it is a structure designed with a strong sense of arrival. A home with a well defined entry space, a porch, and a strong front door,welcomes you with more confidence than one that is a box with a portal that you merely pass through. But once inside, a happy house knows who it is, what it was meant to be.
Our house is a farm house. I would love to have fancy European antiques. But using those design elements would not be fair to this house. In a sense, grandly ornate furnishings would be telling this house it is plain and needs to be embellished to be made into something it was not intended to be. As we honor the spirit of this simple farm house, my husband and I choose things that a farmer would choose. The baseboards in the original part of the house are 1 x 6 painted boards with a gently eased top edge. Located in a rural area, this makes sense. Fancier woodwork would have been available in the city but the long trip into town for fancy baseboard lumber would not have been a priority for a farmer who had livestock to tend to, fences to build and repair, chickens to feed. So as we make our way through the house upgrading the quality of materials, we are replacing the 2 1/2" shoe base with 1 x 6's. The light over the dining table is a Tiffany style pendant. Each piece of art has a story.
We chose our furniture with the comfort of our family and guests in mind. This house is about sincerely welcoming people in to enjoy the authenticity. Books on tables are meant to be picked up and read. Tea pots are at the ready. Wine glasses and bottles of wine are right there on my grandmother's Victorian dresser, which would have been in this house when it was built over a hundred years ago. If I offer you a drink, you know it is no trouble at all.
Furniture , art and accessories relate to one another at our house based on the principles of design but nothing matches. Our house is about the stories and the history. I see hand-me-downs from clients and family in every room. My daughter's wonderful house is a very different story which I will tell you about in another post. Yours may be about your love of color or your intrigue in all things contemporary.
Think about where and how you live. Don't try to make it something it was never intended to be. You will lose that battle. Add to or improve what has been but make it about who you are really. Reflect your passions. You will find that the result is a home that draws people in. Maybe, like our house, people will keep coming back because it's just so you!
Cannot wait to add My Momma's gift to your farmhouse/milk house/!
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