Several weeks ago, when I wrote an excessively wordy reflection about evil glee sledgehammering and other delights, there were many lovely reader comments — very thoughtful responses, which kind of got to the heart of the issue much better than I did. The issue being, how we can respect and show gratitude for our vintage homes and the tastes of their previous owners, at the same time we make them our own. Here is one such story: Dawn tells us about her house… its longtime owner Miss Jean… and Miss Jean’s rose bush. Dawn writes:
I absolutely love my house. Like, I am IN love with my house. To the point that most of my friends and family think I have lost a few marbles.
I have a great love and respect for her and the families she has served.
Built in 1959 I researched and feel I know BOTH previous owners. The original was the builder. And he indeed built a solid fine house. Seven years later he sold it to his daughter’s mother-in-law. Still in the family!
I bought the home from Miss Jean. This is what I call her. I absolutely feel she is in every corner of this house. She owned this house for 52 years. She LOVED this house. Her husband and she bought this house when he returned from the war. He had polio. And he died in this house in 1988. She lived here alone in the house she loved without her husband. By all accounts she was feisty and fiercely independent. I love this. For I am the same way! She was forced out of this house due to old age and Alzheimers. And it was so much a part of her that one year later, she passed away and her funeral procession went by the house.
In my heart, this will always be mine AND Miss Jean’s house. I share it with her willingly and with love. I have updated it slightly. Always thinking to myself, “I hope Miss Jean likes this!” I ripped up her carpets. And I felt bad. But I also asked her forgiveness.
Carpets do not fit my two dog and one cat lifestyle. Miss Jean is probably cringing up there thinking of my dogs in her house. LOL.
After living here a year I feel good. My house is a mix of old and new. Because that’s who I am, too. Jean was the old. I am the new. And I don’t think there is one thing wrong about blending our two lives and styles.
The point of this rambling mess is this. It IS my house, and I can and will do what makes ME happy, but part of what makes me happy is thinking about what Miss Jean liked and what would make HER happy. I honor her because she honored this house.
This year on the one-year anniversary of her death, I took a clipping from her rose bush out to her grave site. When I first moved here I started hacking away at the darn thing because I didn’t know what it was and it was horribly over grown. My neighbor came over to tell me to stop. She said that gets BEAUTIFUL in the spring!
She is right. It does. Its over grown. It sits to close now to the driveway so we can’t park there. But, well, Miss Jean planted it God knows how long ago, and it’s absolutely gorgeous in full bloom.
What I once hated I have now grown to love…
Actually, pruning your rose bush aggressively is good for it. You’ll want to read about how to do it right, but it’s not particularly hard. You might get your driveway back and have even more blooms on the bush next year.
Dawn, what a lovely story! But please don’t be cowed by your neighbor. That rose bush needs serious pruning to live a long and healthy life or it will choke to death. consult with a rosarian or arborist for the proper way to prune or have them do it for you, the bush can also be moved to a more suitable location. Enjoy your house.
Yes. I know it does need pruned. And probably moved.
Dawn, your story gave me the shivers, because I am the exact same way about my house, which belonged to Aunt Esther. My husband grew up with her nephew and knew Aunt Esther well. She had no children and doted on her nephew and his friends. When we moved in, the house and yard had been vacant and neglected for two years and in really sad condition overall. We didn’t change anything inside, at least not yet, but she was an avid flower gardener and the gardens were so hopelessly overgrown, we had to take them all out but saved and replanted whatever we could. The entire yard was a disaster too and we also had to remove all the ten foot high blueberry bushes that were too tall to pick and no longer fruitful. I apologized to Aunt Esther profusely. Soon after we moved in, I was searching for something in my desk and picked up a booklet and a piece of paper fell out of it. It was Aunt Esther’s obituary and I have no idea how it ended up in that booklet. I think she was sending me a message that she was glad we were fixing up her house. This house is not “new” enough to be retro and I am trying to work with it in the fifties colonial style that suits it, such as using a fifties maple dining room set and retaining the horizontal wood siding rather than going vinyl. I love retro the most but am doing what is appropriate to the house and that is how I will continue to work to restore and furnish it. So I love your story on the rose bush and good luck with the house.
I’m in a similar situation, Dawn! We bought our house from Mollie. She was the original owner and had lived here for 51 years. She was an avid gardener, all the neighbors tell me how Mollie used to work in the yard every single day without fail. It really is a gorgeous garden. But, it’s far too much for me to keep up with. I enjoy a little light yard work, but with a two year old and a four year old, even that is hard to get around to. So now I’m trying to plan how to make the garden more low maintenance. It makes me sad that much of Mollie’s garden will be gone, but I think she would understand. And I will keep the things that were clearly the most precious to her. There is a tree peony in the back yard that was clearly one of her prize plants, I will make sure that is taken care of, no matter what else I do in the yard.
Dawn, I love this story and I’m sure Miss Jean is smiling down on you! I think Miss Jean’s rosebush might be a rugosa rose “Hansa”. The mid-century ranch I grew up in had a huge bush in front of the living room picture window–it was planted by the original owners. The blooms were amazingly fragrant, and my mom used to float them in bowls of water all over the house. When my parents built a new house in 1972, my mom took along a cutting to plant next to the patio door at our new place. My bedroom was right above this, and I can still remember the smell coming in the window every summer. After my dad died, my mom downsized to a condo with no place to plant a rosebush. I was in college and couldn’t take a cutting when she sold the house. When I bought my own place, I started looking for a rosebush of my own. I didn’t know its official name (my mom had always called it a wild rose), but my local nursery eventually figured it out for me. I have one outside my back door now and the smell still reminds me of the houses I grew up in. The Cliff Walk in Newport, RI is lined with lots of rugosas. They’re very hardy and salt resistant. I wonder if these were a popular mid-century planting?
I would have to say yes. When we walk around our neighborhood MANY homes have one or many of these rosebushes. It must have been a VERY popular choice in the 60′s.
Thank you for giving us the name! My grandparents’ 1960s ranch house used to have a lovely rose bush outside that smelled absolutely delicious. So, since a very young age, I’ve expected roses to smell wonderful. Sadly, all of the roses you buy in stores are devoid of fragrance. I’ve started to think I just imagined how lovely roses used to smell. Now I know what to plant when I finally get a house!
Will someone please hand me a Kleenex? Beautiful story.
What a great letter- so sweet!!
Would love an update with more pics of the hosue!
Dawn- I feel very much the same way about our home! It does feel like a delicate balance-honoring the history of the home and the previous owners, while making it your own. I think the fact you are aware this means you will make decisions that are kind and good for the house in the long run. Thanks for sharing your story!
This is a wonderful story! I am so pleased to hear from other readers who feel a sense of stewardship for their homes.
We purchased our home almost 2 years ago from the estate of a 92 year old lady, and have since learned more about her and her 40 years in the house from neighbors. By all accounts, she was a tiny gracious lady with a big gruff hubby who loved nothing more than her roses….over 60 of them on a city lot!
While I adored cutting flowers that first summer, 60 pedigreed roses and a lawn was too much for us. We are strong native plant enthusiasts and lawns are pretty much against our religion, so to speak. We’ve done a very sensitive total landscape of our front yard (along with two neighbors) so we have a mini nature preserve on our block. We delight in seeing birds and insects return where once there were none. I was able to keep about 15 roses along the sides of the house, and love them.
My neighbors gave me a crash tutorial in pruning, which helps a lot. There are many, many video resources on line as well. My key takeaway is open them up to air and be somewhat ruthless. You’ll learn without making huge mistakes!
The 40 rose bushes in the tiny back yard would have to go. Once our trailer was parked, we couldn’t even hang laundry! These were beautifully maintained competition worthy specimens, and I knew they represented a good part of her life. I placed ads with our local neighborhood association and on Craigslist, and after a few false starts, gave them away to good homes.
The majority of them went to a delightful man from Taiwan, who is absolutely rose-mad. He tends an extensive collection because he feels it is uniquely American to have a rose garden and the space to do so. He was well aware he was getting prize specimens. As he drove off with the last bushes, I could absolutely feel our old gal smiling down.
You done good!
This reminds me, in a way, of my grandfather’s prized hydrangeas. He gave them to us, and we dug them up and placed them on the tailgate of the family station wagon, bare root. My dad had me hold onto them while lying down in the back of the car while the tailgate was wide open when I was about 14, and this seemed like quite the adventure to me! The bushes broke apart and after putting some of the smallest pieces back together, we got 4 out of Grampa’s 2. I expect that my sister and I will both take these with us again, though if we have luck dividing them again, I’d probably leave some behind for the next owners of my parents’ house too.
Dawn,
Your story brought tears to my eyes! My husband and I are waiting to hear back on a house we put in an offer for. It’s a 1956 ranch…one owner. It’s perfect. One bathroom is pink, the other sea foam. Yellow tile kitchen, original parquet floors. Beautifully lanscaped yard. The house is an estate…and me being the creeper that I am have already thoroughly researched it’s owner’s life story. I have already grown to love this woman. I know if we are lucky enough to get this house that I want to honor her just as you have done.
Today is the last day that offers will be accepted on the house. We should get an answer by noon on Monday.
Fellow retro renovators: please wish us luck! I couldn’t bear the thought if losing this house!
Oh Stephanie, of course you must share pictures of the house if you become the lucky (for you and the house) new owners. Keeping fingers and toes crossed for you!
Lauren,
Thank you for your kind words! I will be posting pictures! Lots of them! Pam will probably have to kick me off! Haha. I have always wanted to be part of the retro renovation group…but we currently live in a 1979 patio home. Not too much to brag about. I have made it feel as much like the 50′s and 60′s as humanly possible. But you can only put so much lipstick on a pig. I can’t wait to get into a home where all my mid century furniture will finally fit in!
Good luck Stephanie. We put in and lost out on two previous offers before we found this house. I had actually called my realtor the day before to tell her we were taking a break for awhile. Then I truly believe this house found me…I was not looking in this area at all…But that’s a story for another day…LOL. Whats meant to be will be…I truly believe that…Best of luck and great vibes sent your way!
Dawn, I feel like our house found us, too. My husband and I lost out on two bidding wars when our Realtor called us about a house to come on the market in a few days. We feel in love with this place, put in our offer and was outbid by$800. The deal fell through. Our Realtor asked us if we wanted to re-bid. Well, yes! We were ready to take a rest from looking after losing again, but we won this time around.
Our house came with over 20 boxwoods personally started by Mrs. Sheehy some 40 years ago and a large camellia I thought of as hers. The summer before she passed, I sent Mrs. Sheehy some mis-directed mail. She called to thank me for sending the mail and said her son had driven her by to see the old house. She said she could tell we were taking good care of it and told me how happy she was we hadn’t taken out the camellia by the kitchen window. I fussed at my husband when he gave Mrs. Sheehy’s camellia a hard pruning last Fall, but we were rewarded with beautiful blooms again this Spring.
Dawn.
You may want to send the family a short note letting them know how you love “their” house just the way it is and would leave most of it unchanged. Houses that have been in the family a long time are not always sold to the highest bid. They may feel better about the family home being loved as is.
rick
Thanks Rick. I have stayed in contact with Jean’s son. He was the one that sold the house to me on her behalf. I have told him that he and his family are always welcomed here!
Well…we LOST THE HOUSE….and I am even sadder than I thought I would be. All we know is that we were outbid. We are hoping and praying that the buyer will back out once they realize what the costs of “remodeling” an all original 1956 house might be.
For now…I am throwing a pity party.
boo hoo. it’ll work out though. it really will.
Thanks Pam! I know it will. We had our pity party and now we’re moving on!
Oh, I’m so sorry Stephanie! It sounds a bit cliched but I always try to remember that things happen for a reason. You will find your house … or your house will find you. Keep the faith!!
Thanks Lauren! The pity party is over and we’re on the house hunt again. We drove around in an area we’re not familiar with yesterday. It was filled with cute little brick houses from the 40′s and 50′s. It gave me hope! My spirit is renewed
Good luck getting the house!
I hope you’ve written a nice letter to the estate folks via the realtor that lets them know you love the house because you can feel the life well lived in it.
I’ve written more than one letter like that with great results!
I also have sold to folks with less $$ because of one.
Keeping fingers crossed, and hope to see pix….
Oh yes, we poured our hearts out in a letter to the trustees. Good to know that it might help! The house is priced at the top of our budget, so we have very little $$ to make a counter offer if it comes to it. I hope our letter brings us luck!
Thank you everyone for the comments! I do appreciate it. I have to laugh at some of them though because yard obsession must have been REALLY big with some of our previous owners.
I have been told by numerous sources that Miss Jean mowed her yard DAILY. DAILY!?!?! She loved her yard for sure. We felt bad when we moved in because we only mowed once a week. I laughed with my husband and said “Man. The neighbors are really gonna hate us!”
I do know the rose bush needs professionally pruned and it really does need relocated. Its gotten way too big for that spot. But, I just moved one of Miss Jeans Hydrangea bushes this spring and it did not do well. So now I am very hesitant to move the rose bushes…
We recently also removed several pine bushes from under the windows. They were not doing well at all. It really hurt me to remove them because I know she loved them and took care of them for 50 years, but, well, it was a compromise me and Miss Jean just have to make.
Thanks for all the comments. It is so nice to know I am not a lone in my thoughts and feelings for a house I love and a woman I never met. (I did meet her son though and her best friend and both of them assured me Miss Jean would have gotten a “kick” out of me!) Hah…
I’m typing this with tears on my cheeks.
Of course, I bought my 1956 house from the bank that foreclosed on the local meth user, and before he used meth, he repaired cars in the yard, so I’m busy sifting loads of gravel out of the soil so I can get a shovel into it.
On the other hand, I have a clean slate. Plus, I feel like I’m bringing life back, not only to my house, but to the neighborhood. And the neighbors are happy.
I am cleaning up a meth house too! Well, it was cleaned before we moved in, so we moved into a very very sterile house. We have been here two years. Slowly slowly life is returning.
Nice story. Could be mine, as well. The lady who built her “dream home” is now my “dream home”. She was a single lady – as am I. She had what must have been a nice day lily garden, as they come up ever spring. The neighbors say she did. I found the original house plans in the basement, with her specifications. I am the 3rd owner of this house (the 2nd owners were a young couple, only for 1 year). When the original owner passed away – I saw the notice in the paper, and wrote to her brother, telling him that the house was my dream home. He called and we chatted for about an hour. He said if he found any pictures in her remains, that he would send them my way. It’s been 2 years, and I don’t think he’ll send pictures – but it was nice to find out little details about how she used the house. The only changes are: new windows (which I regret I had installed- but that’s another story); some tree removal; and a new deck out back (which I would like to take out).
P.S. My Mom has a huge rose bush – from her Aunt’s house, that must now be over 100 years old – grows big and lush every year. Someday it’ll find it’s way over her as a shoot – to go with the snowball bush from Grandpa’s house.
Keep the rose bush alive & thriving
So beautifully written and thoughtful. I think that Miss Jean would be touched to read what was written here. I also have a Miss Jean. She lives next door to us and has lived there since she was a small girl in the 1940′s. She lived there with her parents and since their passing, she lives there on her own. We live in such an expendable society these days. I think it’s really touching to see homes loved and lived in for decade after decade and then passed down to be loved and lived in some more.
What a thoughtful and touching story! My mother was a Southern lady who had a green thumb and could be sentimental about plants, which I thought was odd as a child in the 1960′s but grew to appreciate as I got older. We lived in two houses as I grew up – one built in the mid-1960′s and the next in the early 1970′s – and she moved certain plants and cuttings from one house to the next. I remember thinking “Why doesn’t she just buy new?” and also remember the landscaper at the new house getting a little annoyed with her for wanting to include her transplants in his state-of-the-art design plan. We had altheas from her grandparents’ home, roses from her aunt’s home and spider liles from a friend’s home. All gorgeous but considered “old fashioned” in our comfortable 1970′s neighborhood. She didn’t care because all meant something to her – and reminded her of earlier times and people she loved. I admire her for that now. I’m getting teary-eyed thinking of her and those simple plants from a long time ago, all of which are probably gone. Thank you for thinking of Miss Jean.
I forgot to add that, like Miss Jean’s Rose Bush, the plants we had that she’d gotten from someone else were always referred to by that person’s name – as in “Go water Mama’s Altheas.” They were never ours! I suppose we were stewards.
I tend to talk to Miss Jean a lot. I am not sure why. I still call this her house and I always say “I hope you like that Miss Jean”. Its just a habit now. I am sure its an odd one, but I am an odd girl, living in a 1959 Pink stucco house, so it fits!
I love my house, too. We bought it from the builder’s wife, Mary. She is from Croatia and her husband built it for her. I luckily have a neighbor who grew up next door, watched the house being built and still lives there. Their children went to school and played together.
It came with a rose bush a good 8 feet tall. I pruned it heavily and it’s been flowering beautifully. It’s been here since the house was built in 1961. It’ll be here a good while longer. It’s a Mamie Pink rugosa, of course. Just a couple of weeks ago, my neighbor commented on it. It felt so good to have my neighbor admire the rose bush … I knew it was her backhanded way of saying I was doing ok with the house. I’ve added my mother’s white peony (all the way from Kansas, via my brother’s house then my last house), so our brick house, so similar to the one I grew up in back in Kansas, has a bit of my history and Mary’s.
I’ve finally just started (after almost 2 years) to think of the house as mine. I know I’ll never forget it’s heritage. And my neighbor has given me pictures of it’s history, that will be going on our wall.
What a beautiful story. My Miss Jean would be my grandmother, who loved her 1954 home, and kept her favorite rose variety growing in the back yard. When I inherited the house that rose had grown as tall as the roof line and fully covered a set of windows. (grandma wasn’t able to keep it trimmed very well in her declining years). We pruned it back so far I was afraid for a week or so that we may have been too aggressive, but it’s already growing again. Roses are pretty hardy, and I’m so glad it’s coming back. I even went looking to see if that particular variety is still available I was so worried.
Such lovely stories! It is so nice to know I am not alone in my infatuation not only with my house, but her history.
I researched the builder and Miss Jean. I think if I didn’t know how much she loved this place I wouldnt have, but I knew it from the moment I met her son at the closing. We have stayed in touch with him. I was so sad when I heard she had passed away just two months after we bought her house.
Her best friend Miss Wanda lives across the street from us. She too is an original owner. She is in her late 80′s and as feisty as ever. She tells me all the time that Miss Jean would get a “Kick” out of me. I hope so. I really do.
Its so nice living in an established neighborhood with people who knew my Miss Jean well. They have shared so much of her with me and that has helped me feel I really know her.
I am told Miss Jean mowed her yard DAILY. 1.2 acres, DAILY. When we moved in I could just hear the neighbors cringe. NO WAY am I mowing my yard daily. I am sure they were thinking “There goes the neighborhood” Hah…
Anyway, thanks for all the comments. I originally posted this in response to Pam posting about guilt and remodeling. And it just touched me so much. Home ownership is so different for everyone. And no one should ever feel guilty. I have found my balance between me and Miss Jean. I hope everyone finds theirs too!
Beautiful stories!
I feel the same about my 1963 time capsule built by Granddad (not my granddad, the sellers’ ). He and Aunt June lived there. We got all the original furniture, drapes and lighting. We immediately ripped out the worn shag carpet and took out a wall to rearrange the kitchen and open it to the living room, but once we did that, I wanted to make sure Granddad and Aunt June would approve, so I invited the sellers (the two grandsons) over to see it. They loved it.
Their parents had lived there close to twenty years after Granddad died and they didn’t change much about the house. Dad Bill was very fussy about his lawn and flowers, and those had gone away in the five years the house stood empty after he died.
So, if I do anything in the house, I talk to Granddad, and outside the house, I talk to Bill. I have promised Bill I won’t cut the beautiful huge magnolia tree no matter how much my lawn caretaker complains about the leaves.
One of the grandsons still comes by on Saturdays to feed the birds and squirrels in the yard. There are white squirrels about which he feels quite possessive.
People live their lives in these houses, it makes sense to me they leave something of themselves when they move on, even if it is only the thought they put into making the house their home.
Elaine! I am soooo happy I am not the only one who talks out loud to the previous owners! LOL
It makes me sad to know that in not too many more years it will be impossible to find mid-century, original owner homes. Those years were such hopeful, uplifting times. People were grateful and thankful for what they had. They worked hard for their homes, stayed a long time and TOOK LOVING CARE of them. Today’s discontentment and sense of entitlement keeps so many people moving out and up (at least until recently) so that many properties have had 3, 4, or 5 owners before they are 20 years old!
I absolutely agree! I feel lucky. About HALF of our neighborhood are still original owners. But they are easily in their late 80′s and early 90′s. The rest are newer, younger families. And sadly, a few have become rentals. In the next ten years I imagine all the original owners will sell for obvious reasons…And the trend among my generation is buy new. Buy bigger.
An interesting story for me was last summer we had a yard sale. A man stopped by and said he really just wanted to see our house. Apparently he and his wife looked at this house when it went on the market. He loved it. She did not. He said she could not get past the “Old” ness of it. The orange, yellow and blue carpets, the paneling and the pink stucco.
I told him then his loss was my gain because she could have changed every one of those things and it made me sad that she had absolutely no vision…But she probably would have gutted this place…
I have no doubt I got this house on the first try, for an unbelievably great price because Miss Jean wanted me to have this house…
We also bought our 1950 home from the children of the original owner/builder. Bernice was the lovely woman who made this house a home. I wake up grateful each morning…for this well built and perfectly designed, comfortable home.
My husband and I love the touches of sparkle that Bernice added to the house…the beaded curtains in the bathroom…the metalic floral wallpaper in the entryway…
She loved her garden too. and we have been carefully editing what had become crowded. We have been rethinking most of the landscape, so that it requires less water and maintenance, and incorporates more native plants to attract birds and butterflies. I often think of Bernice as I work on the garden design, and while some of our choices wouldn’t reflect her taste, I think she would like seeing more wildlife enjoying her yard.
One thing I did was to live with everything in the garden as it was for a year…to see how the seasons change…and how the light moves thru the space.
After a year, I decided to take out all 15 of the gorgeous tea and florabunda roses Bernice loved to tend and care for. I know…shocking…but I couldn’t see myself loving to prune and spray and feed and water them for the rest of my days.
I contacted all of Bernice’s children, I sent them pictures of each rose in bloom and asked them to come to a “Rose Party” one January. We dug up the roses and her nieces and daughters and son and grandchildren took them home to plant in their own gardens. A few went to neighbors who also dearly loved her.
I can think back to the stunning bouquets of the most fragrant and velvety roses I’d ever picked in my entire life. I loved caring for those rose bushes for one year and thinking of Bernice all the while…but one year was enough for me.
Now I like the smell of cleveland sage in the side yard, and the California wildflowers in the spring and the Toyon at Christmastime. Slowly slowly there’s more to attract monarchs and hummingbirds and glodfinches. These native plants and critters were here even before Bernice and her familiy…after all. And I like thinking of me in my future old age enjoying what nature brings to the garden.
What a cool story, Dawn! I really think it’s awesome that you have that much knowledge about who loved your house before you did, and that you feel like you are sharing with her still.
I wish we knew who lived in our house originally. It’s obvious that many parts of our place were hand built by someone who took pride in their handiwork, and we are leaving as many of those details in the house as we possibly can. It’s obvious too that someone, years ago, took pride in the now overgrown front and back yards. There are beautiful mature azaleas, gorgeous magnolia trees, and the biggest gardenia bush I’ve ever seen. The rosebushes that are in the back yard, unfortunately, I’m going to have to dig out. They have some kind of disease that is making them black and ashy looking, and they are taking up one of the few sunny spots which I want to use to grow veggies. The other bushes, though, just need some pruning and TLC. I agree with the other posters who are telling you that your rosebush does need to be pruned. I don’t know much about roses, and have never had any great success with them, but I remember my Papaw cutting his back almost to the ground every year and it was always beautiful and covered in blooms in springtime. He was a serious rose lover and won contests with some of his roses. There are lots of great resources out there that will show you how to take care of your roses, the same way I’m having to read up on how to take care of azaleas.
Good luck!
When my grandparents were alive, my grandfather retired and started a nursery for many years. At one point there were over 200 rose bushes in the front yard and the slides I have that he took show some incredible pictures. Anyway….my grandfather died in 1977 and my grandmother passed in 1988. The house sat vacant for awhile and I would go over an hang out on the weekends to make it feel like “Grannie” was still around. After a few months went by the house finally sold and one the day when we all left the house, I noticed something way out in the front yard and walked over to it…..it was a volunteer wild rose bush growing about 12 inches up. It has been years since there were any rosebushes in the front yard and I thought perhaps my grandparents were somehow telling me a final goodbye. I took a shovel from my truck and carefully dug up the small rosebush and when I got home planted it at my mothers house. By the end of the next summer the rosebush was massive and covered in beautiful dark red blooms. I cherished that rosebush for many many years…….
What a lovely tribute to a loved house and its inhabitants. It’s so refreshing to see such pride and love of home.
I completely understand how you feel about your house… we got our 1925 house and cottage in a serendipitous fashion, and though the property was completely overgrown and trash-filled when we walked down the driveway, one of the first things I said to my husband (after the chills washed down my spine – I knew it was meant to be ours) was “someone loved this place once, and it just needs some love to bring it back”. We dug up and carted away five flatbed trucks’ worth of garbage out of the ground, rehabilitated what large plants we could, and lovingly planted grass and flowering plants, bringing the place back to itself. The amazing thing is that after all those years of neglect, flowers and plants that we didn’t put in are still springing out of the ground in odd places… they stayed hidden all that time, waiting until it was safe to come out again. Every house has a a spirit, and old houses retain and combine the spirits of all previous owners. The harmony, when it’s right, is nothing short of delicious. Thank you for honoring Miss Jean, and thank you to all the other commenters who are honoring the spirits of their homes.
What a beautiful story.
I had a longer comment and a story to add, but it never showed up, even though I made it a few days ago. For some reason, half my comments never seem to post, it’s extremely discouraging. Makes me not want to comment at all