I read through my email this morning and noticed that a photo of my sideboard turned kitchen island was featured at Houzz today. It is in a feature entitled “What to do with a Sideboard.” I was very surprised and pleased!
I’ve reached ‘S’ on the Where Bloggers Create list. Amazing studios out there in bloggerland!
Today I took a little trip in the car – a nostalgic trip – to take some photos of the apartment I lived in when I first moved here and the house Don and I lived in for 6 years.
It was good and bad.
The apartment building looks the same as ever –
This two story apartment building had 7 or 8 apartments and mine was the one you see on the ground floor.
See those steps? Don kissed me for the first time on those steps after an opening night party. Ah, memories…
Now for the house. We rented a Craftsman house in a charming neighborhood for 6 years. I planted a garden, mowed the lawn, pruned the bushes – it looked lovely. Since then it has been rented to a succession of people, including students. My garden is gone.
The grass is dead, the maple trees (rare for San Diego) have a lot of dead branches on top, the siding is dirty and hasn’t been cleaned in years.
An ugly security door has replaced the charming wooden screen door that was there before. Behind that ugliness is a gorgeous, dark wood, extra-wide door. Now it is totally hidden from view – in a neighborhood that is quite safe. Do you see all the plants that look brown in the front of the photo? Those are alliums. They surround the front and the sides of the house. In the spring they have the most beautiful pink blooms. People used to stop and ask me about them.
I guess this is what happens to a home that is neglected. My old next-door neighbors, on the other hand, have planted a beautiful xeriscape garden in their front yard, built a small natural stone fence – it is gorgeous.
Well you know the old truth, “You can’t go home again.”
On a brighter note: Happy Birthday to my husband!! I miss you, honey. I’ll be home in a week and a half and we will celebrate.
Hi Claudia,
I love your old Spanish style apartment building, that architecture speaks to me, my husband always says I’m crazy. My take is I was a Marilyn Monroe type starlet in another life that lived in one of those apts/houses – lol! I’m so sorry about your old home. It makes my heart sick to see homes like that left “undone”. I think someone will come along soon and love it so much and bring it back, they’ll care.
Have a good rest of your week, I still have quite a ways to go with the party, my mind is in awe of all the wonderful ideas and talented folks out there sharing their spaces. Did you have your other Drumstick yet? And most importantly, Happy Birthday to Don, bet Riley and Scout are partying with him now!
xo~Tracie
Gosh that sounds lousy, I just read it… I bet Scout, Riley and Don are waiting for you to come home and have a HUGE, HUGE party!! Please forgive me.
xo~Tracie
Dear Claudia:
It’s true that you can’t go home again. I’m sorry that your old place looks so sad. It’s obvious that it has no loving touch, let alone not YOUR loving touch!
Happy Birthday, Don!!!
Soon you’ll be home again Claudia, and then all will be right with the world.
xoxo
Donna
Your former apartment looks so charming! I’ve always tried to leave any place I’ve rented better than I found it so sometimes it’s hard to see something that was once cared now being neglected. On a happy note — sounds like you’ll be home very soon — I suspect you must be counting the days. :-) -amy
Claudia, I love your former apartment… it is charming, and I can tell that this bungalow is charming as well. I hate that the people have let it go, but hopefully it will find its way into better hands so that the next time you visit, it will be well tended.
Happy Birthday to Don! I didn’t get to celebrate Mr. Magpie’s birthday with him, either, so I know how you feel. Hopefully you two can have a wonderful celebration when you get home! And the good news is, that’s not long now! :-)
Congrats on your feature!
XO,
Sheila :-)
What a lovely apartment building, and that little house needs love again. It makes me sad to see houses in neglect.
A sweet hello from Frog Hollow Farm. Sometimes places and things just lose their sparkle – thank goodness you have wonderful memories of those beautiful gardens! How exciting to have lived in such a different part of the country – I’m an NJ girl through and through except for a summer in Lubbock where my husband was finishing up his graduate work at Texas Tech. A week and a half – YEA!!! Ciao, bella!
I think when you get home to your husband the two of you should re-enact that first kiss on your current front steps….. Oooooh, wouldn’t that be fun and romantic!!
Di
(You are right about the ‘can’t go home”.
Yay, your side board was featured! The Spanish style apt. is quite lovely. The Craftsman is run down. Too bad about that. It is hard to return to these former places in our lives. Chin up..MHC bound very soon! Happy Birthday to Don!
xo,
olive
How exciting to be featured on Houzz :-)
The apartment looks wonderful Claudia. Such a shame about the house :-(
Happy birthday Don !
Sending happy birthday wishes to Don– you’ll have to celebrate big when you get home! (That’s soon, isn’t it?!)
Congrats on being featured on Houzz! That’s very exciting!
Love your apartment– love, love, love it! I’m so sad for the house– I can just picture how charming it was when you and Don lived there. Houses can have so many lives… hopefully someday, that house will have a new and appreciated life.
Hugs,
Jill
how sad about your old home- I often think that is what will eventually happen to my garden one day but secretly hope a gardener will live in my home after me and make my garden even better than it is now :) congrats on being featured on Houzz- how fun! Only a week and a half- it will pass by in a blink now and you’ll be winging home to your loved ones. Hope it really goes that fast ♥
You’re right about not being able to go home again, sweets. When we moved out of our home in northern Calif. and drove away I never looked back. We go back to visit our daughter in that area at least once a year and I’ve only driven by our old home once and told hubs NEVER AGAIN! I don’t want to see it at all. I just want to preserve the memories of what we had in that house for 20 years. Sad, but true.
xoxo,
Connie
Claudia, that is so sad about your old house…it just isn’t being loved the way it was when you were queen of the castle…Happy Birthday to Don!!!
ps: congrats on your feature Claudia…i scrolled too fast and missed it at first:)
Happy Birthday to Don and congratulations on your sideboard being featured on Houzz. I have not been here in a while and it is so nice to catch up. Only a week and a half more before you go home. That is an exciting thought. You will be home before you know it. My SO is coming home tomorrow earlier than either of us expected due to a series of unfortunate but happily not serious events. It is almost always sad to go back to places we loved because things never stay the same and sadly sometimes the change is for the worse. Thank you for coming by and visiting me.
Hi Claudia! I saw you on Houzz–congrats! You do have a wonderful design know how! It is so hard to go back to former homes, but the pull is also irresistible! Hopefully that cute little home will get another loving owner soon. Just cherish your happy memories and make new memories where you are! Linda
I do that…Drive to places I have lived. A few years ago, I even went to the first home I lived in ever! In Jackson, Mississippi! It was still there!
Claudia, I happened upon a great miniature-making blog. You still have your doll house? Check it out!
http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.com/
HI CLAUDIA,
JUST ANOTHER WEEK AND A HALF, HOW WONDERFUL FOR YOU, AND DON TOO.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DON, AND MANY MORE.
YOUR HOUSE MUST OF BEEN SOMETHING AT ONE TIME, IT HURTS TO SEE SOME PEOPLE DON’T TAKE CARE OF THINGS.
GIVE A HUG TO RALPHIE,
HE IS A HONEY.
TAKE CARE, RIZZI
What a darling apartment. It looks so cozy, I can only imagine how sweet it is on the inside. So sad about your house. Our first home has been so neglected, it just makes me sad every time I drive by, when I think of all the time and effort we put into fixing it up.
Only a week and a half! That’s not much time at all!
How sad for a house once so loved to now be seen in such a state of disrepair. Houses must be nurtured and given our heart for them to flourish. For the gardens to thrive and bloom. I can tell part of your heart remains there in what once was, Claudia. Happy Birthday to Don! Please tell him for me.
Brenda
Hi Claudia,
Sometimes it does the heart good to go back to the old neighborhoods. The apartment building in which you lived is still very pretty. It is ashame about the bungalow. I just know it was lovely when you were there and caring for it.
Happy Birthday to your hubs and I hope you enjoy your time together soon.
hugs
Sissie
Very cool being featured today! Yay!!!
And yes, when I return to visit past homes, they are not anything like what they were when I lived there.
Happy Birthday to your sweetie!!!
Love the adobe-influenced architecture! It’s a shame isn’t it, that people let their houses run down. I rented out a condo once, NEVER AGAIN!!!
Happy BDay to your hubby!!! You’ll be home soon with your family!!
xxoo
i love the picture of your apartment but oh how sad about the house you lived in. i am sure that garden was beautiful when you were living there.
happy birthday to you hubby/honey.
Lesson learn. I just had a similar situation happen. I so wish I had stayed status-quo with the memories instead of time the toll time took.
Wishes to the hubbie at home. Counting down for you trip home. Can’t wait to see around the cottage again.
Kate xoxoxox
Hey, pick up that hook again, please.
I think you should print out a copy of that front porch where you first were kissed….and hang it in your darling studio space so you can recall, exactly, how you felt that moment……every time you look at it.
Hopelessly, helplessly, romantic
xox Rella
Hi there!
Thank you so much for your visit to our studio – it gave me an excuse to see your beautiful blog!
I love these pictures – we are from SD (now living in the Desert) and I MISS it – nothing better than those beautiful homes with history – like your lovely story about your husband and those front steps.
Thank you for your sweet story, Kristin xo
The shine of the house is gone but the memories remain forever. A house like everything else needs tender loving care and it is so sad when people simply neglect that simple and sometimes not so simple duty. Claudia darling, thank you for posting for the sweet comments, kind and loving thoughts and prayers you left for me, much appreciated darling. I truly value our friendship and look forward to many many more years of blogging. Happy Birthday to your husband and safe trip to you darling.
Love & Hugs
Duchess
hooray for 1.5 weeks to go!
it’s always a little strange visiting former residences. isn’t it nice to love your current home so much? :)
happy birthday to don!
xo
elyse
Claudia this is so sad…that would have made me cry. The apartment building is lovely.
Congrats on having your buffet featured. It is beautiful!
hugs
Well, at least there was some good. It can be sad seeing what happens to homes we love after we are gone.
I looked at a satellite image of our old home, and I could tell it had not received love like we gave.
Claudia, your apartment building is so pretty! And how sad about your old house!
No worries, you will be on your way home soon! How very exciting!
Hugs,
Terri