Since buying this house, I find myself sitting in various corners of different rooms contemplating wall colors, furniture arrangements, and other such design aspects. But I also find myself dreaming of the future and of all the memories that will be made here. The latter really filled me with warmth as I sat on the second step in the entry hall facing the door staring at the welcome mat.
My parents gave us this little wool rug as an anniversary gift to celebrate our seventh year of marriage a little over a year ago. It sat in the corner of our downstairs bathroom, without a proper place and unused, which was unfortunate as it incorporates one of my favorite color combinations - blue, green, and brown.
When we first looked at this place, it was at the very end of a whirlwind tour of seven or eight houses that we thought might fit our needs. There seemed to be something just "off" about all the other places, either the location was not right, it was slightly out of our budget, it needed way too much work to be in livable condition, etc.
While we had to make some compromises of our dream house wish list with this house (no garage, small lot), I recall saying to our real estate agent and friend at that first viewing that I could see myself in this house. Something felt right about it, it felt warm, cozy, and homey, despite being in serious need of updates.
Through our two-plus months of the home buying process, I found it hard not to get swept up and fall head-over-heels with this house, just in case the deal fell through. But we persevered and kept clearing the hurdles before us and finally, this house was ours to call home.
Now the mat has a place of honor just inside our front door where it will be seen upon coming home in the evening and as we come downstairs in the morning to find what the future has in store for us as we face each new day in this house we are quickly filling with love.
