Dream House Details: Where Bloggers Live

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The prompt for this month’s Where Blogger Live fun was a dream home. I struggled with this because I feel that I’m living the dream. But it also reminded me of some of the home details through my life as well as when we used to tour the Parade of Home.

Quote of the day: “A miracle is the achievement of the impossible, and it is only when we put aside our greed, anger, pride, and prejudices so that our minds are open and ready to accept it, that a miracle can occur.” Julie Andrews

I was drawn to this quote as it says to me that gratitude is everything. Having an open mind can create miracles. What does this have to do with a dream home?
Well, as adults we all know that when you buy a house, there are always things you think you “want” yet don’t get, right?

In all reality, as humans, we learn to accommodate almost anything, and while we may wish for certain things in a dream home, the reality is we probably have plenty to be thankful for in our life.
So let me take you on a tour of my life through the years when I thought I knew what I wanted in my dream home.

Tudors and Turrets

Let me start with the architecture that I loved when I was growing up. The top photo shows the Tudor-style house that I fell in love with as a kid. My grandmother’s sister lived in a house that had it, and for some reason, I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

The other detail that I wanted in my own dream home was that round turret. Not that I ever saw one in our neighborhood in Sylvania, Ohio, but for some reason, they intrigued me.
I’m sure I learned about turrets from all of the reading I did.

If I analyze both architectural details, what I notice is how they are both textural and add such a mixed media for the outside of the house. Which isn’t much different than what I love in my outfits. Hmmm, interesting how our preferences in home styles could be the same with our clothes styles.

The Library

What I knew for sure as a kid, was that my dream home would have a huge library room with a window seat.

As an only child, reading was an activity that kept me company and took me on adventures. I liked to read so much during the summers that my mom used to limit me to a book a day.
Shhhh, don’t tell her but sometimes I cheated and read more!!

Related: As part of this series, I wrote about some of my favorite books of my youth.

Because of my love of reading, (and my love to visit the library where I could browse among the variety of books for free), I planned on having an entire room dedicated to these books. The window seat was essential to comfortably sit while reading, yet having the world to enjoy at a glance.
I even envisioned the kind of library where the books are stacked from floor to ceiling and you have those rolling ladders to climb to get to them.

Where was my home library as a kid?? I did have a bunch of shelves in a cubby in my room, and then I would also store all of my old magazines under my bed. That is until I found a dead rodent in one of the boxes that housed the magazines.

That may gross you out (it certainly did for me, haha), but then again we lived at the end of a dead-end street with a ravine and then woods behind us (which I talked about here). There were lots of critters around.
In reality, that may explain why I was more of an inside kid preferring to sit inside and read instead of going outside to play.

The thing is, that once I went off to college and then dental school, the idea of hauling books everywhere I moved wasn’t practical. It was then, I decided that maybe a library room in my dream home wasn’t really going to be a thing.
Even now, I don’t keep many books. Sure I have a couple on the coffee table, (which I use more to prop up my phone for zoom meetings), but for the most part, I don’t keep books. Heck, I rarely buy them anymore, but get them from the library instead. (It’s part of how we work to save money, which I’ve blogged about)

My mom and Lesley and I have a great practice of sharing any books that we do buy with each other and then passing them around to others.

Insider tip: There is one book (and ONLY one) that I have bought after reading the library’s version. And that’s Laundry Love. Why? Because not only is it entertaining, but it’s packed full of resources that I need from time to time since laundry is one of those repeating chores that never goes away. The stain removal chapter is worth its weight in gold.

C.L.O.S.E.T

Oh, now this is the type of photo that every fashionista dreams of. Do I have a closet like this? Hah, don’t I wish? But I have shared my closet tour and what I wouldn’t love for one as seen in the above photo.

Did anyone else have the Parade of Homes where you lived? My father used to love to go to them, so every year we would attend. Even once my dad passed away, my mom and stepmom would accompany me to go see the amazingly decorated houses.
It was always so fun to see how the other half lived but we could always gleam nuggets of inspiration for us normal folk too.

It was always the closets that made my heart go pitter-patter. To have the room and ability to organize your clothing that way?? Wow!!
Even though I consider myself a woman full of gratitude for what I have (because as I’ve said, I feel like I’m living the dream), a closet like that still tugs at my heartstrings.

Many of my friends in this blogosphere have them as I’ve seen when they share their outfit photos. Am I jealous? Maybe a little, but I certainly get creative with the space that I do have. You all have seen my daily outfits and there are comments regarding how I have the room for so many clothes.

Outdoor Living

The funny thing about this prompt for talking about our dream home was as a kid, I NEVER thought about the outdoor space. Heck, it wasn’t until Rob and I honeymooned in Hawaii where we would eat our breakfast every morning on the lanai, that we even thought to spend time on our back porch back in Colorado.

Yet as we retired, we started enjoying the outdoor spaces of the places we lived. One of the photos I had saved years ago was the patio on the above left. It’s the curtains and the light fixture that gives off such a cozy vibe which I love.
And it’s exactly what inspired our back patio where we live now (the photo on the right and more photos can be seen in this post).

And I will admit, that while I see many other outdoor spaces that are larger and more amazing, I love what we have created here.
In fact, while writing this post, I am reminded that I am living in my dream home. It may not have any of the details I imagined in my youth, but the fact, that I live with the love of my life, makes it the best place to be.

Where Bloggers Live

What is Where Bloggers Live? It’s kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…Bloggers! Who doesn’t like to peek behind the scenes and hear all about the personal backstories and interesting details? Go take a gander at everyone else’s stories about their dream house.

Bettye at Fashion Schlub
Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Em at Dust and Doghair
Iris at Iris’ Original Ramblings
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style
Leslie at Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After

The Series

Thank You for Reading

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