I have been busy all day cleaning our house as we are expecting company tonight for a game of cards.  I really love our home.  It reminds me of the story of Goldilocks…it’s not too big, it’s not too small, it is just right!  Indeed it is for these two retired folks!

We have worked hard to make our home a lovely, cozy place in which we may grow old.  The house is 17 years old but it really looks ageless because when we were building and decorating it, we took great care to NOT put in the latest and the greatest.  We had been there and done that and what happens when one decorates in the current fashion is it begins to date itself within a couple of years.  There is just no keeping up with the trends.  No doubt, this is has a lot to do with the marketing and sales departments of the entire housing industry.  It would not be easy to sell a new house unless you convinced everyone that the latest IS the greatest!  We all rush to buy it because we all THINK we want it!

Except, WE didn’t, my husband and I.  We wanted a place that was decorated tastefully with style and warmth and a feel of agelessness. A person would be hard pressed to walk in here and say that it dates to any particular year.  It is very eclectic for good reason.  We surrounded ourselves with the things we most enjoy and as a result it is our retreat from this sometimes stressful world.

I think it is especially lovely when it is clean and as I sit here taking my break, I let my eyes take in the room while looking at the walls, curtains, furnishings and décor, all put in place 17 years ago.  It looks good…really good! At least, lets say that I still like it. Our bank account is safe from any changes here.

My eyes rest on our fireplace door inserts and I make a mental note that brass is not “in” anymore.  I just read that recently.  Really?  Now, if I hadn’t read it, I wouldn’t be sitting here staring at them.  We don’t have very much brass anywhere in our house except for here and I asked my husband about replacing them or even painting them a flat black.  He said “no”, but not because of the cost.  He simply likes them.  I guess I have to say I like them as well.  They add a certain light to our room.  So, there they shall remain until the next inhabitants of this house come in and change everything to their own liking, but not until we are carried out feet first.

I find myself thinking about how fickle the fashion industry is, and certain buyers of said fashion, whether it is clothing, hair, furnishings or homes.  Only in America will people like a  house well enough to pay several hundred thousand dollars for it and then move in and begin gutting it, thinking they just have to have the newest of everything.  Americans, who will travel thousands of miles and pay thousands of dollars to go to other countries to look at their ruins, take pictures of their OLD houses, towns and streets are entranced with this lovely history.  We murmur with ecstasy over the way things once were, and then come home and feel dissatisfied with our “old” sofa, lamp or appliance.  Even if appliances are working very well, we want to toss them and get the newest model, all the while knowing that the newest made anything in America isn’t built anywhere as good as the one we are tossing out.

Well, my break is over, I have caught my wind, so to speak, and now need to put on the finishing touches.  I love having company over for a myriad of reasons, but the best reason is that it forces us to spiff up the old place.  Old people, old place……I think it is going to be such a lovely time tonight!

Home Sweet Home!  It is here where I am happiest and most content.