Houses of Surprises

So this weekend Tom and I went to an estate sale at my ultimate dream house.

Happy sigh. (The houses in this post are not that house, but the house, above, looks much like it.)

Well, technically the house needed a bedroom or two downstairs, but otherwise it was perfect. Surprises everywhere! Built probably around 1920, there were closets around every corner, even a real walk-in linen closet and others beneath the eaves upstairs. A darling alcove below the stairs, a small pine-walled library with built-in shelves, two corner hutches in the formal dining room, and a 'secret room' off the kitchen, above the garage. Two of the large bedrooms upstairs had their own private old-fashioned tiled bathrooms (one was yellow, the other, pink), there was lots of wallpaper--all different sorts and textures, but all coordinated, and there were three stone patios, one off the main hall overlooking the sloping backyard surrounded by woods.



Well, stop me before I go on and on. Honestly, it felt like time-traveling at the house of my dreams, nighttime dreams certainly, because I often dream of walking through houses where I discover rooms I didn't know to be there and lots of cute, private places to sit and 'escape'. And this weekend I actually got to walk through one in real life.

Now, Tom wasn't too thrilled with the house, but what does he know? heh... Just kidding. For him, I realize all those stairs didn't make it a dream house for him, especially without the aforementioned downstairs bedroom. He doesn't do stairs so I told him I'd have to squeeze a bed for him in the tiny library. But no, I argued with myself, I want the library to be used as a library.

Tom rolled his eyes and said, "You can squeeze me into the dining room, instead."

But alas, I stepped out the front door with no new purchases, but rather, lots of ideas of how I can make my own house a house of surprises. Maybe I can't add-on rooms or closets (at least not right this moment), but I can add some wallpaper because I realized that for me, wallpaper adds charm and magic to a home (I ordered some online this afternoon). And I can add some shelves to my own 'linen closet' and make my little blue library at the top of the stairs more special, too (if I ever finished painting it, that would help). I can add a long carpet runner to our stairs and paint the walls around them and hang pictures, too, and display what I own cleverly, unusually.



Basically, I can keep doing what I can--and not complaining about what I can't--to create a unique home where others will discover and enjoy the surprises I've created room after room. Even if I cannot build a wall or a room or a closet there will always be things I can do.

Now, if I can just remember that and stay inspired and stop whining about what I do not have long enough to create all those surprises!