The other day I was talking to a friend who is looking to sell her house. She was telling me that the realtor had an interior designer come in and tell her everything in her home that was wrong and what she needed to change. She felt not only overwhelmed with what the designer had said she needed to do, but sadden that the designer told her to either redo or take down a lot of the decorations in her home that she had personally made.
Today I was looking around my house as I was cleaning. I thought I would be screwed if I had an interior designer come into my home.
When you walk into my home, on the wall I have a sign that says, "Bienvenidos. Mi casa es su casa." It means, "Welcome, my home is your home." Ya, it's kinda ugly, but I love the message. I purchased it when we went on a family cruise to Mexico. On that same wall, I have four pieces of paper with stickers on them. These are my "Manners BINGO" charts for the children I tend. This has helped teach them manners and to be kind.
You walk over to the entertainment center, which in itself is a design disaster. I have a clay hand print with a heart painted on it and next to that I have a long, wooden block that has "I love you MOM" written in pen. My little, artsy Hannah-girl made these for me. Down from that, I have a wooden block that has a small town carved in it. I bought this off a little boy who was selling them in Mexico, on that same cruise vacation. Next thing I know, I had a bunch of little kids surrounding me. I was holding a piece of lemon pie at the time and I gave it to them. They stood around it fighting over a bite of it as I walked away, giggling. Under that shelf, I have a boy and girl porcelain doll that are kissing. My great-grandma gave this to me because it reminded her of my husband and me. The boy has dark hair and the girl has blond hair with curls in it. It was always on my Grandma's mantle growing up and now when I look at it, I think of her.
If you walk over to the stairs in my home, I have 4 screws underneath an opening in the wall. The screws are where we hang our stockings every year at Christmas time. On the other side of that wall, I have two screw eye-lits which are still there from when we had to put the baby gate up when Emilee began walking three years ago. At the bottom of the stairs, are two bleach stains. Those are from when my sister was living with us and was cleaning out her hamster cage. By the way, she snuck that stupid hamster into the house when we told her "No Pets!"
If you turn to the kitchen, my fridge is overloaded with artwork and wedding invitations. Next to my sink, are some really ugly, ceramic frogs that have chipped away over the years. They were also my great-grandma's who gave them to me because she knew I loved frogs.
In the corner by the couches, is a three drawer artbox and toys for my children and those I take care of to have access to at anytime, so they can express their creativity.
If you look on my back doors, I have hard water stains because this summer we bought a trampoline and set up the sprinklers to spray on the tramp....well it also hit the doors.
As I looked around, a smile came across my face.
Screw the interior designers! Ya, my house is no Pier1, but every decoration, item and stain in my house is there for a reason, good or maybe not-so-good. But it is what makes my house my home.
My house is well-loved but it is what my family calls their home.
There are two signs that hang above my couch:
One says "Sterzer: Home is where the story begins."
The other,
"Home Sweet Home"
I guess I won't be moving anytime soon!!!
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