I have been getting free magazines in the mail; the publishers hoping I will buy. One is Real Simple, which is normally a go to magazine when I fly, a splurge. The editor always writes a short piece on the first page calling to mind the many great articles you are about to read. This month she was queried to contemplate what she loves about her home and in turn challenged the reader, me, to figure out what brings me joy in my home.
To me, a home is a place where I feel comfort, a place I can be myself, a place of positive energy, a place where my heart is at peace.
My house does make me happy. Every wall, every space has something I love. We have lived in 3 houses in 42 years and each one was our forever home, each one we thought we would die in, each one was thoroughly loved and yet so very different.
In Vermont I wanted a house with dark weathered wood; I was fairly certain I would be dead by the time that happened so we stained it black. We built it ourselves with the help of one man, it was a traditional New England Salt Box and many times a visitor would ask "what was this before you made it into a home?" It was very traditional with a Bay window/window seat in the dining room, was heat with wood, had an amazing loggia (covered porch) and gifted us every day with open floor plan before open floor plans were a thing.
Our Bayfield, CO house, a move that took us to everything new...friends, environment, elevation, culture, away from everything we had 'lived' our whole lives, from New England to the west. The house we bought was a bit of a dump. Actually on our first time viewing, Russ barely made it 3' in the door and announced "the is shit, we're out of here". But in the end we bought it. 10 acres of meadow and Ponderosa pine. A house that Russ made so unique, not only every wall had something to love, but every space... character floors, wall niches, creative railings, door pulls and new everything - doors, floors, windows, decks, siding, bathrooms, kitchen, guest house, main entry, the 'ol Homestead, grounds, fire mitigation. We worked for 15 years on that home and loved it.
And now? Again, a move we never anticipated. We needed to move to an ADA home to accommodate Russ' Parkinson's and a wheelchair. Yet again, we fell in love with our home. Is it the home? Or is it truly that we can live anywhere with our best friend? Whichever it is, there are smiles & joy throughout this house.
In answering the rhetorical question, what brings you joy in your home, I began to wander about setting my gaze on joy after joy...
Jackson
Owen Winter Matt
Gardner Michelle Andrew Joan
I loved the 'fun' in that Heaton/Furtsch photo so decided to do the young/old version of Russ and his sister Jane and me with all my siblings. These photos ALWAYS make me smile as I walk by: family
It was hard to stop once I got started... what about the front and back porch, the family hay rake from the 20s, the Nantucket Quaker Heaton tables, our sliding barn doors into bedroom and office or the furniture Russ has built? Our home IS a place of joy, filled with simple pleasures. What in your home brings a smile to your heart?
And that reminds me of a favorite song Simple Gifts, it fits my home space perfectly.
Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free
’Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
’Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come ’round right.