I can see clearly now…

Backyard landscaping incredibly narrow 25' lot

View from upstairs bedroom looking onto our HUGE ;D backyard

Whew… the West Wash Park Home Tour ended at 4:00 pm yesterday and after a couple of much needed beers, I promptly fell blissfully asleep by 8pm. Saturday is normally movie night in our household, and I didn’t even pretend to try to keep my eyes open. Could it be because I have basically been cleaning, landscaping, painting, sewing, staining, etc. etc. projects around the house up until 9 am the morning of the event?

I’m very glad we participated in the tour for a number of reasons – some selfish and some community oriented. We can now sit back and really enjoy our house because it feels finished, or at least until I decide that I no longer like orange paint or some other benign decorating nuance. Weekends will no longer find us deciding which home project to tackle; rather now I can decide to spend hours in my studio guilt-free or maybe take a family hike or museum visit. The home tour also benefited our community; it rasied money for the West Wash Park Neighborhood Association, Lincoln Elementary School and the Wash Park Community Center.

On a side note, I can’t keep my mouth shut and may have found myself on the planning committee for next year’s home tour. Count on me to be full of ideas – 1st meeting is in October! Fund raising seems to be something I’m good at, however, and it’s for a good cause….

Living Room

Living room

When I began planning for the home tour in earnest, I thought maybe I should edit our belongings to make them more “friendly”. I opted against doing the self edit, because truth be told, our family photos and objects d’art are what make our home ours. Who wants a sterile living environment, and isn’t being a bit of a voyeur part of the fun when going on home tours? So, if you look closely, you’ll see Larry sitting on the mantel. People are either inherently repulsed or attracted to him – there seems to be no middle ground.

Dining room with Zuzu

We opted to leave the house to the volunteers and left around 10 am with our dog for calmer pastures. After dropping our dog off at my SIL’s house, we went on the tour ourselves and decided – WOW 8 beautiful homes, but we loved our home best! Speaking of sterile, there was an incredible home on the tour with super high end finishes that looked like it belonged in a decorating magazine, but alas there was no personality – nary a hint of color, photographs or interesting art. The couple is still working on their home, so in their defense, it might not be finished yet. Although, I suppose some people do like a calm home devoid of color and noise if their lives are otherwise busy or stressful.

I do wish we could have been a fly on the wall in our home; because good, bad or neutral, I would have liked to hear people’s comments when they toured our home. Although, at 4pm, we relieved the volunteers and we let a few stragglers view our home even though the tour was officially over. One of the people asked if either my husband or I was an artist – or were we just avid collectors. This thrilled me to no end to hear that! I explained that some of the art in our home was indeed mine, but I do buy art and trade with other artists. She asked if I was represented in Denver at any galleries and if I had a business card available. Doh, why didn’t I leave some cards available for people to take??? Missed opportunity.

Looking into the kitchen

See my laptop sitting on the counter? This is my office area – where all blog posts, images and other computer related business takes place. I only venture into the real office when I need to print or scan something. Actually, with wireless, you can find me anywhere in and around the house, even the backyard. I don’t think I’ll ever buy a desk top computer again.

Kitchen

I love our orange kitchen! Actually I like every room in our home. It’s a small home and I’ve decided I like it that way – we use every single room in the house including the dining room and living room, rooms that often go unused in many American homes. I’m a big fan of architect Sarah Susanka and her Not So Big House projects. She advocates building and designing homes that use good quality construction and materials but on a smaller scale for how people actually live. Do we really need a living room and a family room? Eat in kitchen and dining room that only gets used for holidays? Yes, you’ll notice in the above photographs that we have an eat in kitchen and dining room…. I tried to convince my husband to convert the dining room to a library area – with 2 overstuffed chairs and floor to ceiling book shelves, but he isn’t keen on the idea.

Meanwhile, I can see clearly now the home tour preparations have passed and I feel like I can get back to my regularly scheduled life. I’m planning on a few hours in my clay studio this afternoon (what else do I have to do?), followed by studio time on Monday and Tuesday. I agreed to substitute teach on Wednesday – Friday of this week, but told the school no for Mon. and Tues. I need to get some clay work in! Saying no is hard for me to do, but I had to let the administrators know that I only want to sub occasionally – that I actually have another life and business to attend to.

I was tagged with a meme last week which I hope to get to this week. I also hope to share fresh clay work with you in my next post – it will be about time, don’t you think?

~Cynthia

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18 comments

  • Mary Timme

    September 9, 2007 at 7:41 pm // Reply

    I’m a smaller is better home person myself. I don’t get the 5 acres of flooring to take care of for no good reason, resoning, let alone heating and cooling all that hollow space. We have a dinning room that is becoming–ever so gradually–a studio and a great room and then bedrooms and the necessary rooms and kitchen. It is enough. I think your house looks very welcoming and charming! Good job! Cynthia!

  • dinahmow

    September 9, 2007 at 9:36 pm // Reply

    Lovey home, Cynthia.You have done a good job of presenting a home, as opposed to a house.
    Two things I noted with great envy: the old treadle machine (bet it still goes!) and the kitchen stove.
    You say orange, I say pumpkin.
    And, yes, I did see Larry!
    Perhaps, with gentle pressure over time, your husband will see the benefits of a “reading room!”

  • Jafabrit

    September 10, 2007 at 12:22 am // Reply

    I enjoyed your post and the pics cynthia. Phew! I bet you are ready to get back to normal. Nice to see where you sit and do your blog :)

  • Janvangogh

    September 10, 2007 at 12:59 am // Reply

    Your home is lovely and very welcoming. I love the back yard. I have thought how nice a separate studio would be, yet I would go there at all hours. I see that the privacy fencing would make that very easy to do.

  • andrea

    September 10, 2007 at 1:22 am // Reply

    Loved the tour and you have definitely kept that heritage flavour to the house. I would actually like to downsize myself. At 2500 sq ft it’s an average sized house and we’re an average-sized family of four — but there’s lots of wasted space and I can’t stand waste (ask my kids :) . I agree with Dinah’s assessment of Cynthia’s Cool Things.

  • Melody

    September 10, 2007 at 12:15 pm // Reply

    Sounds like a great weekend Cynthia………we too, have a smaller home and I just love it. Now I feel like painting my kitchen orange. I love orange

  • Cynthia

    September 10, 2007 at 2:18 pm // Reply

    To be completely honest, Mary, I often dream of more space – but the reality of it is I hate to clean and more space would just mean more stuff.

    Thank you Dinah! Yes, the old Singer sewing machine was my grandmothers and it still works, though I need to replace the “belt”.

    Yay, normal – Jafabrit! I feel like I’ve been ticking off things on my to-do list now for the past few months.

    Thank you Janet – you may remember that the garage out back is my studio, though it means parking the vehicle on the street. Not a big hardship since I’ve never been one to care much about cars other than to get me safely from point a to point b. I’ve looked into separate studio space before, but with a younger child at home, I don’t think I would use it as much as the one in my back yard.

    I have never lived in a house larger than 1900 square feet, Andrea – 2500 would feel so luxurious. Though, I also have a smaller family than you. 2 adults 1 child and a dog. I agree though, wasted space isn’t fun especially if you have to clean it!

    I love the orange too, Melody – it’s comfy cozy! It is a new color for me, moving from yellow to orange. I was inspired by a woman in Maine whose house I used to pass by every night I walked my dog. Her house glowed with the very bright orange in the kitchen – though I didn’t know it was her kitchen at the time. I later met her and her kids at the play ground and our daughters became best friends. She is to this day one of my very good friends.

    Thank you Alyson! There’s another home tour taking place next weekend that I’m excited about – the Krisana home tour – which are all mid century modern.

    :D Jafabrit – the song was a natural – the only hesitation was whether to do the Johnny Nash or Jimmy Cliff versions.

  • Chi

    September 10, 2007 at 2:48 pm // Reply

    Your home is truly beautiful and charming Cynthia! I especially like the orange kitchen and where did you get that poster in your dining room? Congratulations on a successful weekend!

  • Angela

    September 10, 2007 at 11:33 pm // Reply

    The smaller the house, the less you have to clean! I would choose a smaller house before a huge one anyday. BEAUTIFUL house! Thanks for sharing it with us!
    *HUGS*

  • Lynette

    September 11, 2007 at 6:03 pm // Reply

    Gosh Cyn your home is just gorgeous and so warm and inviting! It sounds like you are relieved the tour is over so you can relax and get back to your studio! I like your spot outside for taking the photos of your work and LOL on startling the neighbor but it’s your back yard, not hers!

  • emm

    September 16, 2007 at 2:28 pm // Reply

    This post was so satisfying! I always want to see inside people’s houses. I must have a little peeping tom inside of me! We have a small house we are renovating – your’s is pure inspiration. Fun to see Larry watching over things in the living room.

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