Little Red House

Our first 1955 red brick ranch style home with red shutters and a red front door was located in a fantastic tree-lined neighborhood and close to a cute all-American downtown.  We have fond memories of strolling through the neighborhood and being near shops and parks.  This home was purchased during our dating days while I was finishing college.  It was the home that I moved into after our wedding and the cozy home that we welcomed our three daughters home from the hospital to.  These firsts also include many DIY projects.  I learned to garden and cook in this home and I learned my role as a wife and mother in this house.  I also learned to remove wallpaper, paint, refinish hardwood floors, and design and revamp an entire kitchen. This "little red house" that we called home for three years of our marriage will always have a near and dear place in my heart.

We never called it the "little red house" until after we moved into our current home.  At the time our two year old daughter was having too many changes in her life and would ask at the end of the day, "when are we going home to the little red house".  It would literally move me to tears because I was missing "home" as well.  See we moved into a home twice the size of the "little red house" because three months prior to our move we added twin daughters to our family and 1,000 sf with 3 tiny bedrooms and 1-1/2 bathrooms felt snug.  If there was more space in that house we would have retired there.  However, over time we have come to love our new home because it really is true that "home is where the heart is" and it has every feature that we dreamed of.  By the grace of God we were able to sell "the little red house" to a young artsy couple in 2008 just before the real estate in Michigan bottomed out.  We still occasionally drive by the "little red house" because it is en route to church and joyful memories always come flooding back.

This is a stipple (all dots) drawing that I made as a gift for Ben while we were engaged to be married.

Here are me a my girls.  This photo was taken about two months before we moved.  This was an extremely, unbelievably stressful time in my life.  Looking back, I am amazed that we all survived!  Thank God we have because the future just keeps getting brighter and better.

In the next few weeks I plan to share a series of "little red house" remodeling adventure stories.  Follow me!