Word to Your Mother

I was originally going to title this post “All I need to know I could have learned from my parents (but I didn't realize it till I was all grown up)”, but in honor of Mother’s Day, I couldn’t resist the Vanilla Ice reference.

Plus, am I all grown up? Jury's still out on that one.



Anyway, for Mother’s Day, I wanted to give my mom a shout out, as I think I have her to blame thank for my love of houses and decorating. My mom is the original spray paint queen. Long, long ago (kidding Mom), before DIY was trendy and being frugal was cool, she was at garage sales and Goodwill, finding cheap furniture and accessories to repurpose. My mom taught me how to rethink outdated items and that its OK to alter design elements in order to work with what you’ve got, save money, and still have a gorgeous house. I believe she was the first person to discover metallic spray paint.  I came home from school one day and all of our old beige lamps had gone silver :)

 
Most often on the weekends, the first words we'd hear would be, "Hey kids, grab the other end of this couch, I'm rearranging" (again). At the time I probably rolled my eyes, but I knew I was lucky to live in a happy home. I just didn't put it together that a lot of my "sense of place" and comfort came from my mom's pride in her house (and my dad's willingness to help with all the projects).

 

As I’m writing, I am reminded once again that my parents are pretty much a package deal (best marriage example ever). My dad is a DIY expert in his own right. My first piece of furniture was a sofa table he made with a granite tile top. When we were kids he built us a play structure (we dubbed it 'the fort') with two stories and a slide. We loved playing on the fort; I can still remember how fun it was to send the hose down the slide on really hot days.

Once we were older, he relocated the slide to a new deck he designed and built (I like to say I helped but I think I held a piece of wood for about 15 minutes) and turned the fort into a place to grow hops (I think I can thank him for my affinity for beer). Without him I wouldn't have discover frog tape, carbite drill bits, or why all my clothes are covered in paint (his unable-to-stay-clean-while-working gene).



I often wondered why my mom was so restless in decorating our house. She never seemed satisfied. Now that I have my own house, I get it. First off, its really fun! I love coming home and repurposing a hand-me-down, remodeling a previously unloved room, or maintaining the yard (well, I like telling Matt what needs to be done in the yard). More importantly though, working on the house we own makes it feel so comfortable and like home. 

I don’t know why this pic is so stretched out.

This brings me to my long-winded point. I want to say thank you to my parents. Thank you for giving us such a fun, easy, stable childhood. Thank you for teaching me that its not necessarily how much something costs that makes it valuable. Thank you for showing me that a little spray paint goes a long way and  to love both fancy Pottery Barn items and second-hand Goodwill finds (same goes for microbrews and PBR). Since my mom is a self-proclaimed "avid reader" of my blog and my dad is a follower, I thought this was a great place to say Thank You.

Happy Mother’s Day!

And Dad, on Father’s Day I’ll email you this post again :)

All of the pictures in this post are of their old home (my childhood home). Someday soon I’ll show you their swanky new condo. Pin It