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Life Under Pines
From House to Home By Sundi McLaughlin
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nless you have been living in a very dark cave in the middle of a beautiful forest, most of us have witnessed—and have been astonished by—the real estate boom in our area. Houses are selling quicker than they can get on the market. With all of this opportunity, many of us who are lucky enough to own a home in the area have perhaps considered putting our own house on the market, however the obvious problem is that, unless you are relocating to a land far, far away, you still have to buy another house with the same elevated price. This sudden change of circumstance has caused me to sit back, reflect and take stock of our home. When my man and I moved to our house over a decade ago, it was a real fixer-upper. We tackled a lot of projects immediately, but the less emergent projects we’ve
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completed at a slower pace. Every year we will choose a project or a corner of our property to tackle and then proceed to kill ourselves accomplishing the work. Will there be hollering? Yes. Will there be hurt feelings (mine)? Absolutely. Will we finish the project over budget? One hundred percent of the time. Will we be proud as punch when it is completed? No question! When you are in a home for a while, like we have been lucky enough to be, it isn’t just how many bedrooms or bathrooms you have, but the memories attached. Like the time I almost got heatstroke putting in that rock patio or got stuck on the roof when an angry swarm of bees attacked the ladder. The baby and wedding showers we have hosted. The time I came home from work to find a fine dusting of drywall everywhere when
my dude ripped out the drywall in our loft because we wanted to build bookcases instead. Or the memory of our neighbors standing beneath us while we were on the top rung of our ladders as they wondered aloud how we could be certain of getting the circular window perfectly centered in the front of the house. Each project, no matter how hard, always brings us such a sense of accomplishment. Every time we do a project it marries us just a little bit more to our home. After so many years there isn’t a wall, floor, cupboard or fixture we haven’t touched. Maya Angelou believed spaces held memories of feelings, and I hope that is true. When we inevitably have to move on, I hope whoever buys our house can feel the love and laughter, the parties and milestones celebrated. Have there been
