Prepare To Be Inspired

I often remind myself that I've liked something about every single house I've ever lived in. I have to remind myself of that because each time I get ready to move I kind of get freaked out. Each house has special memories and I fear the new thing - what if it turns out to be awful?



I will probably never live in a house this big again. We got it in a sherriff's sale (because my husband is a genius) and it was the ugliest, awfulest thing you ever saw when we bought it. Stunk of smoke. Green and blue stained carpet everywhere. Dark, gross....it had a bathroom on the main floor I didn't enter for months (a year?) because it was one of the last rooms my husband got to (now I love it). It's so much better now, but it has two issues we can't fix.

One - it's huge: 3500 sf. Lovely to have so much room, right? Each child gets his own room, my husband has a separate office, I have just as much "office" space in the bedroom plus room for yoga and exercising. We have a huge rec room downstairs and a huge livingroom upstairs. I've had 25 people sit down to dinner in my dining room with room to spare. But I also have to keep all that clean; swept, mopped, vacuumed, sorted, tidied.....bleah! And there are vast amounts of space not really used for anything at all - cupboard after empty cupboard, etc.

Two - it's a big box. Nothing we've figured out seems to change that fact. Outside it looks like a big box. Inside it looks like a big box. Lots of my walls are completely empty because I can't afford art big enough to fill it. I don't want art that big - then I'll have to worry about it and move it around with me, too!

So when we decided to think about putting this house up for sale today I had mixed emotions. There are things I really like about this house - especially its location - but I wouldn't mind getting another chance to fix up a funkier place.

I curled up tonight with one of my favorite books HomeWork, by Lloyd Kahn. If you've never seen this book, go find it right now - it's gorgeous, the pictures are so inspiring. You'll want to pack up and move/build your dream house right now, too. I went online to see if he had put out more books and found his blog/website here. You'll want to go back and look over and over again. Turns out the world is full of people building amazing places to live. I'm thrilled he's blogging now. I'm sending my husband a link as we speak. Our next house probably won't be our forever house, but it will be a great one to practice on. I need to make sure his mind is moving in the right direction!