last week i got to dream a little. it was actually perfect timing because we recently sold our first home (not the home we are living in now, but our first home that we purchased together a few years ago).

it was a little bittersweet.

we had dreamed of owning our own place, whether it be a fixer upper or not. when we finally got it, my husband and i put our heart and soul into that little home. we did almost all the work ourselves, minus the hardwood floors. it was a wreck when we first purchased it as a foreclosure property. we worked night and day for three weeks straight and had it like shiny new before we moved in. fast forward five years and a kid later, and we had outgrown the little one bedroom condo.

this is how we made it to Old Towne Orange. besides being my hometown, it was also a dream of mine to live in the historic section of the city. a friend of ours (who also happens to be our real estate agent) mentioned that there was a little house for rent next door to where she was living, so we high tailed it over to the property to check it out

it was adorable. small and quaint and old. all of my favorites. it even had cute little original door knobs and old hardwood floors. but you see, after living in this adorable, small, quaint, old house for the last couple of years, i have learned that living in an old house comes with some sacrifice. no air conditioning, no dishwasher, small rooms, and even smaller closets.

this brings me to my dilemma. i love old houses and all of their quaintness, but i also love new houses and all of their squeaky, clean surfaces.

sometimes (or almost every night actually) i love to look on the internet at all of the houses for sale and dream about having more space, or a newer home.

so, this last week, my friend, the real estate agent, took me on a tour of a very cute old, but new house in our neighborhood.

it has the best of both worlds. old and choke full of character, but a new squeaky clean that lets you dream of just moving right in and not needing to do a thing.

no projects. no demolition.

just a chance to move in and start enjoying the space and dreaming of all of the meals you’ll make.

or the naps you’ll take.

and the long soaking baths you’ll get to relax in.

and then my mind wanders to the backyard and how it would be so fun to have grammy and papa come stay in the guesthouse.

and be so close that we could send our son to their little house in the backyard to play

or make cookies.

or take a bath in their bathtub, while we are taking naps in the big house.

then i start dreaming about painting furniture in my own little studio.

and planning a party in our spacious backyard,

where all of the plants are still alive and thriving and haven’t been killed yet from my lack of watering.

i think about the swing set i would like to put in for my son and his friends.

and all of the vegetables and fruit we would eat from our very own garden.

and then just as i am headed back to my house to start packing my bags, i remember that though this spacious old, but new house would be perfect for our little family, and though it is completely out of our price range (probably the most important detail), i remember that i love me a good project. i love to be able to fix things up and love them back to their original. i love a good before and after. i love an old home that has some patina scratched into the floor. i love an old house that’s not squeaky new and clean. i just like an old house that has life in it. the place our family calls home.

i’m not sure where God is leading us. whether he wants us to be renters or homeowners, but one thing is for sure: he is in control and he has a great plan for us. and for now, he answered our prayers and provided us exactly what we asked for: a home that is quaint, small, and old. so, i think i’ll keep dreaming….after all, God is listening (but maybe this time i’ll dream of the closets being a bit bigger). 😉

hi everyone!

welcome, to our little family cabin. while this is not Old Towne Orange, it is still in Southern California in our local mountains.

this little cabin has a lot of history. at least to our family.

see, my great-grandfather built it with his own two hands in 1937. he had bought the land for ten dollars (yes, TEN dollars! what a steal! can you imagine if we could buy land today for ten dollars? WOW-za!).

my great-grandfather was a contractor, so he used leftover materials and scraps to build the cabin. (i love that tidbit of information….a man after my own heart!)

(this little black and white sign was a nod to his last name, which was also my grandmother’s maiden name. it has hung on the outside for as long as i can remember.)

and though the cabin is small and quite rustic, it has made and stored many years of memories. when my great-grandfather became elderly, he passed it down to my grandmother, who will eventually pass it down to my dad and uncle and so forth. it has been threatened by forest fires a number of times, but luckily always escaped unharmed.

when i was little, we would often pack the cabin so full of people that you could hear laughter echo in the valley behind it. my dad told me that once they had forty people come stay in this little one bedroom, one bath cabin.

the grown-ups would always stay up late playing games (usually rummy) and the kids would talk or read comic books in the bunk beds (a memory so ingrained in my mind, it feels like yesterday).

when i was little, my dad would tell me stories about how he and his friends would sleep on cots on the back porch if there were too many people and not enough beds.

occasionally, pine cones would fall from the trees and make a loud CR-ASH through the forest. it’s a sound that strangely brings me a sense of nostalgia now.

and the bugs. OH the bugs. we always have a bed check before you climb into the sheets. gross, i know, but necessary when you’re out in the wild. (no, we never have found a stink bug in our bed. just the occasional spider. ew. my father, however, is apparently not afraid of the stink bugs. i decided to take this picture  standing from the safe distance of the back porch.)

(this painting was done by my great-aunt years ago. you’ll notice that there is a tree coming out of the porch. my great-grandfather built the cabin around it. for some reason, the tree was removed, but i can remember playing around it at a young age.)

the inside of the cabin, is similar to the outside: simple and rustic.

the decor is a bit outdated and most of the furniture is left over pieces throughout the years from various family member’s homes.

despite the dated decor, i love the simple details the cabin has….

old door knobs, tongue-in-groove wood pine planking, and old family memorabilia like a quilt my grandmother made with her mother.

throughout the small space, there are various quotes that have welcomed guests throughout the years. there are even guest books that have been filled with loving messages of the people who have stayed here. it’s so fun to read the words of past family members; some of which i never knew.

the windows are all original from the 30’s. if you go up closely, you can see little bubbles that have formed and stayed in the window panes; a sign of their age.

out of all of the cabin, i think the kitchen nook is my favorite. it holds the most memories for me, and also my first memory of the cabin. i’m not sure how old i was, but it was most definitely one of my first visits (from what i can remember). the entire table was surrounded (or more squished) with family members eating dinner. there must have been at least eleven people crowded around the table. there was laughter interspersed between the talking.

after the dinner dishes were cleared from the table, the cards came out to play! i always loved to wash dishes at the cabin. such a strange delight because it does not have the same effect as when we are home. maybe it has something to do with the fact that doing the dishes at the cabin was always a family affair. you never had to do them alone. someone was always the washer and a few others were always the drier.

while we were up at the cabin this last weekend, my dad mentioned that we should clean out some of the closets and cabinets sometime, because there might be some treasures.

little did he know, that i would get to work right away (“sometime” seemed too far away). 😉

so, i spent some time looking through the bedroom dresser and found some old long johns and slippers.

not quite the treasure i had in mind.

and then i remembered the hidden cabinet in the kitchen nook. it was where we kept all of the games and toys we used to play with when my brother, cousin, and i were kids.

so, i started to pull out game after game after game. i had no idea there were so many, but some of them were from the 1930’s! the packaging alone is so cool!

and then at the very bottom, i found these: old tootsie toy cars and trucks from the 50’s. most likely my father and uncle’s toys. my dad was pretty excited.

so was this boy. he could hardly wait for me to take the picture of them, so he could start playing.

so, although it may be small and rustic, i love this little cabin and all of its priceless treasures.

happy tuesday, everyone!

welcome, to another tour of an Old Towne Orange home.

i’m excited to share with you all, a home that just makes me feel happy.

when we first moved into our neighborhood, i was taking my son for a walk and walked by this house. to my surprise, someone called my name and when i turned around, standing there was one of my old students (from my first year of teaching).

i was so excited to see that they were our new neighbors!

now, when i was trying to think of what to title this post, a few names came to mind. the happy house. the colorful house. and then i decided that the fun house, was most appropriate. that’s not to say that i think it’s like a circus (although my friend, J, might feel like she lives in a circus at times because it is filled with bubbly, laughing little kids, puppies, a cat, and a guinea pig).

nope, instead this house is just plain fun. (i think you might agree)

it is colorful, vibrant, and just happy. it breathes energy into me, every time i walk through the door.

when i first toured the home a couple of years ago, the thing i noticed first and just LOVED was their brightly painted furniture.

(they were the very first people to buy one of my oversized ruler growth charts. i have them to thank for starting that lil business. thank you!)

the space just oozes personality, which makes sense because the people that live in the home also ooze personality.

they are cheerful, smart, warm, down-to-earth, and fun people.

they are also very real.

when i first arrived at the house to take pictures for this post, my friend was a little nervous. (i’m calling you out J!) 😉

she was worried her home wasn’t clean enough, decorated enough, perfect enough to be shown on the blog.

now let me just say, that i didn’t start out doing this weekly tour of houses, so that i could see perfect homes.

i’m not interested in perfect homes. sure, i love design and i love to see how people have decorated their homes.

but what i’m interested in are real homes.

homes that are lived in. that show history.

homes that tell me a story about the people that live and thrive inside.

see, i think a home is more than just a place where we eat, sleep, and drink our coffee (the last being the most important, of course).

it’s a chance to express who we are.

and how we see the world. or how we want our world to be. (in some cases, it’s a bright orange kitchen with ikat curtains! how fun!)

it’s an opportunity for us to show what we believe in.

and what matters most to us.

our homes show the details of our lives.

it’s how we put our spaces together that show what kind of people we are.

maybe your home is neutral because you like it to be quiet (figuratively speaking). maybe it has striped curtains or ruffled pillows. or dishes in the sink or laundry on the table (or maybe that’s just my house?). or your grandmother’s old hand-me-down furniture. maybe it’s all blue because blue makes you feel peaceful.

or maybe it has every color from the rainbow because bright colors just makes you feel happy. or maybe it’s not decorated at all and that’s okay.

(btw, they found, yes, found this awesome yellow cabinet just like this in their back alley. what a find!)

whatever your home is, it is your very own. to let perfection go. to be real.

whether you are renting or owning, it is the place where you get to tell the people that visit, this is ME!

so, whether your home is quiet, simple, elaborate, colorful, neutral or just plain fun.

be proud of your space. and remember that people usually want to come back not because you have shiny, clean floors, but because of how you made them feel.

or because you have cute little puppies running around that lick your toes.

so, thank you, B family for inviting me into your home. for being you. for being real. and, of course, for being fun!

ps. my son wants to come back to your fun house, again, soon! 😉