Sunday, September 14, 2014

OUR HOUSE JOURNEY

Last week we celebrated our 56th wedding anniversary, which made me think about all of the houses we have lived in over the years.  From the beginning, we have been nesters - always working on our homes -- gallons of paint, yards of curtain fabric, etc.
Our first apartment -- we were newly-married teenagers, in college, and no money.  We rented this furnished basement apartment for $45 a month.  We scrubbed the two rooms; I made new curtains; and then instead of a honeymoon with our wedding money we bought our first automatic washing machine (we didn't own another stick of furniture). We were proud of our first nest even though it really was a dark little dump.
September 1958 - February 1959
 We then moved to this nicer basement apartment closer to campus.  I made more curtains for tiny little basement windows.
February 1959 - June 1961
After graduation, we moved to Denver and a second floor apartment - no more basements.  These metal kitchen cabinets were the turquoise color popular in the 1960s.
June 1961 - January 1962
We tired quickly of second floor living and moved to a duplex where we could again have our own washing machine.  I made more curtains.
January 1962 - November 1962
 Our dream finally came true to buy our first house.  We bought this cute little house with the smallest kitchen in the world on a half acre in Lakewood, Colorado.  What fun we had -- painting, refinishing floors, making more curtains, and having our first garden.  Remember these portable dishwashers?
November 1962 - November 1964
 Grad school was beckoning, so we sadly sold our first house, moved back to Ft. Collins, Colorado, and bought this little house for $12,500.  I can't believe that we painted these kitchen cabinets pinky-orange.  I made white dotted-swiss curtains -- it really did turn out charming!
November 1964 - December 1966
  After graduation (again), we took a job in Sidney, Montana. We couldn't find anything to buy, so we rented this house for nine months (I made more kitchen curtains). 
December 1966 - September 1967
We were expecting our first child, and finally found this house to buy.  It had the world's second smallest kitchen.  We became a family of three here.
September 1967 - November 1971
But, oh, how I missed Colorado.  A job opportunity presented itself to move back to our hometown of Rocky Ford, Colorado.  Along with the job of City Engineer came the benefit of living in the city house by the water plant rent free.  It was a lovely old house built in 1899.  We tried to buy it as we missed owning our own house, but the city declined.  We became a family of four in this house.
November 1971 - December 1973
The urge to own our own house again was strong, so we built this new house and included a built-in dishwasher.
December 1973 - April 1976
Finally the city decided to sell the 'house on the hill' to us for $25,000.  We sold our new house and moved back to the old house -- who does that?????? -- leaving a brand new kitchen for a tiny remuddled 1940's kitchen. (Which I had found impossible the first time we lived in this house.) We had to buy a portable dishwasher again!
April 1976 - March 1980
And, the work began.  Bob began stripping the paint off the woodwork - there were eleven doors and windows in the living room alone.  The house had a total of 61 windows -- we added wood shutters to several windows, but I also made lots and lots of curtains. 
Once again a new job opportunity called us to move.  We sold the 'old house on the hill' for twice what we had paid for it and we bought this tri-level in Canon City, Colorado.  We lived in this house 10 years; and I still couldn't find a single picture of the kitchen after we changed out the avocado appliances and painted the dark kitchen cupboards a pretty blue.
March 1980 - February 1990
All of a sudden we had an empty nest, and we were yearning for another old house to work on.  This house deserves a post of its own - I have so many good before and after pictures of all of the work we did on this house.  However, all of the ladder work and the stairs finally got to me; I had both hips replaced while living here.
February 1990 - November 1997
The bungalow sold quickly and we bought what has become our forever house.  I've never lived in a house for this long my entire life; but it has become the perfect retirement house.   After 56 years, we're still nesting big time -- always coming up with new projects.  We renovated the kitchen last winter, and Bob just finished painting the screened-in porch floor this last week!  He's the handy, energetic one - he can put the paint on or he can take it off - I'm lucky as all I have to do is ask!!!!
November 1997 - Forever
Each one of these homes hold special memories from different stages of our lives. 
 I've always loved moving, and every move was made with great anticipation; but we are really quite content now right here in our forever house.

I'm joining the following:
Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday
The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Monday
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia for Inspire Me Monday
Coastal Charm for Show and Share Tuesday
Kathe With an E for You've Gonna Love It Tuesday
A Stroll Thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesday
Savvy Southern Style for WOW Us Wednesday
Have a Daily Cup for Share Your Cup Thursday
Imparting Grace for Grace at Home Thursday
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating for Flaunt It Friday
The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday
Pieced Pastimes for Saturday Sparks

13 comments:

Tina said...

Happy Belated Anniversary!!Love the walk back through memory lane. Thank you for sharing.

deb said...

Love the story!

Mila said...

Wow, that was quite a journey!
xx
Mila
milawayable@gmail.com

bj said...

Hi, Sally. gosh, you guys moved A LOT....hahhaa
We will have our 55 anniv. in April and we lived in one rented house a year and bought our first little 2 bedroom house...had our little baby boy there...then sold and moved to a larger house in the same town and our baby girl was born there.
Sold it and moved 45 miles away and bought what I thought was our FOREVER house and then you know the story of where we are now.
What a wonderful life....
Happy Anniversary

Unknown said...

I really enjoyed seeing all your homes...I wish I had a picture of all of our homes we lived in.

I would say you final house is the best one of all...but I do love the old one on the hill!

Kathy Olson said...

I enjoyed your journey through the past! Happy Anniversary!

Marty@A Stroll Thru Life said...

Oh I have moved a ton of times too. I love seeing all your previous homes, how fun. Thanks so much for linking to Inspire Me.

Leslie said...

What a fun post!!!! I love that house on the hill.

Pat@Life At Lydias House said...

What a great story and Happy Anniversary!

Curtains in My Tree said...

I enjoyed that so much thanks for sharing

brings back memories of all the times I have moved
I loved the turquoise appliance back in the early 1960's still do

Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson said...

Sally, I enjoyed the journey so very much! Brought back a lot of memories of our previous apartments and homes. We had one of those portable dishwashers growing up. Mom called her, "Hazel". I can still hear her saying, "Whose turn is it to load Hazel?". Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann

Richella Parham said...

I LOVE this post. What a wonderful trip down Memory Lane! I'm impressed that you have such great photos of each place.

Thanks for joining Grace at Home--I'm featuring you this week!

JoAnne said...

This was really fun, Sally. I loved seeing all of your homes. That sure was a lot of curtain making! Happy Anniversary. Today is actually our 21st anniversary. We're on our 4th house and I haven't made a single pair of curtains yet! : )