Someone started a similar thread last year about homes from our childhood. That was fun to read. cattknap - I have also enjoyed seeing your yard throughout the last few years. Your new yard looks like it's on it's way to being just as beautiful! Lucky you to have that "free" and maintained back yard. Beautiful! I can tell your DH takes pride in his yard, and what the projects! moonshadow - Thank you for that copying tip. Took me a while, but I was able to find a few of my past homes. I couldn't recall the addresses. lol Some of the others were so grown up with foliage in the front, that you could barely see the house. I didn't bother to copy those. This is the home I was raised in. The yard is also overgrown from how it used to look. It's sad. :( The shutters and balcony trim were once painted a really pretty celery/olive green. When I was in grammar school, I jumped off the balcony with an umbrella after having seen Mary Poppins. :) A few years later, I "ran away" and hid on the roof outside my balcony doors (far right.) My parents couldn't find me. The yard backed up to the woods where I would spend hours playing. There was a running stream, complete with salamanders. In later years, my parents added a wing in the back for my grandmother, a large rec room and a pool - just about the time I was leaving for college. My children were able to enjoy them before my parents sold the house. The first home DH and I bought when moving to our area. Talk about a storybook house! This house had the charm and a yard to go with it. The back slope was full of purple iris. A large red maple next to the stone is gone. The house was deceivingly large, with the master, two bedrooms and a huge bonus room being on the second floor. Two additional bedrooms were on the main. After selling the above home, we built the following in the same neighborhood. It's the house where my children did most of their growing up. We lived here the longest - 7 years. The house just recently sold again after the family that bought it from us, lived in it for 7 more years. They finished the basement out, but not much else. Not sure who lives there now, but I hear it looks good. Our last two homes, y'all have seen. Thanks for letting me share.

Mary_lu, the bookcases are indeed built in. I thought about painting them - or even just painting the inside portions - but I am so hesitant to paint that old wood! I think for now I will concentrate on bringing in ironstone pieces and just generally tweaking the books and decor displayed there. Something I just realized last night is that I'm displaying a lot of sentimental items there - photos of babies who are actually big ol' kids now, little stuffed animals and books from my childhood ... and while those things are very special to me, I feel they're not quite conveying the overall look I'm envisioning, because they're not cohesive (if that makes sense). But how does a person pack them away? That will be hard to do! ;-) Oakley, I do like your suggestion to paint the fireplace a creamy white. I can envision that more easily than I can doing it in green - plus, I think you're right that it would brighten the room better than the green would. I know what you mean about the impact folded, stacked quilts have in a room! I used to have an old hutch that I displayed quilts in (it's long gone now though). I want to keep the quilts that I'm currently displaying on quilt racks though, since my Grannie made one and her mother made the other, and I'd be just devastated if one of the cats decided to do something "naughty" on them. I might look for some old cutter quilts though to fold and display somewhere in the room. My wheels keep turning! I think I can turn this into a much cuter, cozier space. I feel like I've been neglecting the upstairs while I focused on painting downstairs these past few months.

Omigosh, walkin! It's fabulous! I had pretty much given up on my oilcloth quest, but now that I see this - I want it again! Now, the only problem I'll have will be in deciding which pattern I can't live without. There are some absolutely perfect ones there! Thanks again! :-)

What I'm about to say isn't going to make me very popular....BUT...I really think y'all should give more thought to what you're contemplating. You're warm, loving, caring people...BUT...there are times in ones life when we all just want to be left alone for whatever reasons. I'm sure that Audrey does...or can...read this thread. She knows you care. Let her have her time alone. Don't flood her with cards. IMO that's an invasion of privacy and I'm rather put off by the fact that her address is being shared. It makes me glad I've never shared/joined the Christmas card club although I gave it some thought many years ago. Beyond that...I'm sure Audrey will return when she's ready. Her daughter's near by. She certainly isn't going to let anything happen to her. Until then...let her settle her own issues on her own. This time in her life is beyond stressful as I know some of you have experienced similar times. I know I have. And...quite frankly...with all this public attention...I'd have been so embarrassed that I doubt I ever would have returned. But that's me. I'm rather introverted to begin with. Please give more thought to what you're doing. For her sake. Not yours.