A Surprise

Today, I was given a homework assignment. Cathie asked me to right up a funny story or two about things that happened in our house. She also requested pictures of the family, in the house. In particular, she would like a picture of Caitlin in her fantasy bedroom, where she has this big mural of fairy woodland. Cathie is going to put together a board that tries to bring our family back into the house.

And I have to say, I am so surprised (and tickled to be welcomed back into my own house). Every thing I've heard from realtors and seen on the tv staging shows is that you want to remove yourself from your house, to depersonalize it. For over a year, we had spent hours depersonalizing the house, and taking down family pictures, and packing away our quirky treasures. Then we moved out, and haven't been a presence in the house for over a year. Back when we started this, I had thought (after a flurry of cleaning for a showing) that it would be much easier to sell the house if it was empty.

But it just looks cavernous. It's funny how the open concept can backfire when there is nothing to define the spaces. I look at this picture and I don't even recognize the space. It looks so angular and harsh. This house is so comfortable, so livable. It is so full of quality materials and smart design, and when you see this picture, it just looks, well, vacant. It looks so harsh and angular. You don't see the way that this amazing kitchen works, with the huge breakfast bar so folks can gather around while you and your spouse are cooking. You can't appreciate how you can still be part of the party in the great room where the guys are watching the football game, yet separate in the kitchen. On the left side of the picture is a whole, dedicated baking center that is hidden in a second walk-in pantry, so that your bulky appliances like your mixer and your bread machine can be used but not sitting out, and if your daughter makes a big mess making cookies before your guests get there, you can just shut the door and be presentation ready.

When we designed this kitchen, my dream kitchen, I had been studying the Fit House plans in the Cooking Light magazine. In fact, the whole house was designed with healthy living in mind. For example, there are hardwood floors throughout, to simplify cleaning to fight allergens. We also installed not just a central vac, but throughout the house their are the vacuum dust bins, so that you can just pop the little cover and sweet the dirt into the vac. It makes cleaning sooo much easier. We also put in a Recyclit, which is a little door that goes through the main pantry into the garage, so that you just drop your recycling into the door and it goes into the bin. The six burner stove with the indoor grill was a must, and I miss it dearly. In Wisconsin, it is wonderful not to have to head out to the back deck

to grill up a healthy meal in the middle of February.

Anyways, I am having a tough time finding a picture of Caitlin in her fantasy bedroom. Even with the one decent picture of the wall I could find, the computer desk and the bookcase in front of the mural ruin the whole effect. Truth is, that room was usually a mess, with toys covering every inch of floor space! Cathie... I think staging is even required here!

As for my cute story, well I have to try it out here first: One that captures both the nature of the house and the charm of living in Savannah Village took place in the kitchen pantry with the recycling center in it. We always kept our cereal and snacks in there. It's really almost a room in itself, and it is fully lit, so when my then five-year-old son, Thomas, wanted a snack and didn't want to ask permission, he would just go in there, close the door, and help himself. Sometimes he and his best friend would both hang out in there, snarfing down the junk food. Then one day I had been at a meeting all afternoon, and when I got home I went to start supper. I opened up the panty, and there's the neighbor boy, eating a bag of popcorn. I said "Hey John, what's up?" He just said "huh", cause his mouth was full. I asked him "So, where's Thomas?" "He's over at the park." Ok, I said, and closed the door and went about making supper. About five minutes later John pops out and runs out of the house to the park!