Yesterday as we drove away from Balboa Park, we drove by our old house, which is only three miles from the park by road but only a mile away "as the crow flies." Quite often we could hear the park's bell tower chiming away from our front yard.
We spent ten years restoring this 1914 Craftsman, and this is where we brought home all four of our babies. Keith did such a wonderful restoration job: matching new oak floors to match 50-year-old floors in the front of the home (I miss wood floors!), adding a new master bedroom and bath, totally gutting and restoring the kitchen (oh, how I miss that stunning kitchen!). I had planted some of the flowers in the yard here, but most were planted by the new owners (second owners after ourselves). We were surprised to see T's old tire swing, a gift for his third birthday nine years ago, still hanging from the branches of the camphor tree in the front yard.
The newest owners also repainted the home from the gray, white, and burgundy we had it to the bright colors you see here. As we were painting the house in order to sell it, we didn't dare paint it so colorfully, but Keith and I both really like it, even though our former neighbors HATE the new paint job. What do you think?
5 comments:
Beautiful house. I know you have so many sweet memories of life in it. Is it hard to se it again? The colors are bright! I don't mind them but I wouldn't paint a house those colors myself. What are the rest of the houses in the neighborhood like? Are they more muted or brightly painted?
It really stands out on the block. Most of the houses are beige stucco or light-colored wood exteriors. People had always noticed it for the architecture; now they notice the color more than the architecture.
I miss parts of the house, and I miss the memories of the house itself. And I miss our next-door neighbors, whose father was raised in our house. But the neighborhood isn't safe for kids. It's a busy street, and despite having a double lot, there just wasn't room for the boys. The neighborhood has definitely come up, but it's still not a place where the kids can play without supervision. The house is in the inner city of San Diego, near downtown.
In our small town now, the boys have half an acre of ours, plus ten acres outside our fence. And I can let them ride their bikes around town (in pairs). It's a much better place for kids to grow up.
Now if we could have moved this house to our present lot, THAT would have worked.... :)
I adore that house and the colors they painted it. I really like the Crafstman style! Hardwoods floors, I grew up with them too, just say "Home" to me.
Susan
Well of course I love the colors! Right up my alley. So cheerful and sunny. Very California beach community. Nice shot.
It is a bit bright for me, but the house is really pretty. I love fun colors, I just tend towards purples, reds, and darker greens. It was neat reading your memories. The one house all of mine were little in is now a parking lot for Churchill Downs, and the next is supposed to be torn down to make way for a rail system in the next couple years. This might be a good time to get a picture of it before it is gone....
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