Making a House your own

Growing up in a house that you now live in again as an adult can be a challenging thing at times.  I grew up in the house that I now share with my husband and we will soon have a family of our own here.  We were very blessed to have been given this house by my parents after we got married.  We couldn’t have found a house that would fit our family for the price we obtained it for (although it would have been fun to house hunt, however, with Mike and I being so picky, we probably wouldn’t have found one yet).  I did have my reservations though, and I still do at times.  A ton of memories (good and bad) were formed here from the age of 6 when my family bought this house.  There have been countless renovations, laughs, tears, love, parties, and teenage meltdowns in this house.  I’ve lived here for over 20 years with the exception of a couple of years when Mike and I moved in together.

So how do you make a house that was really always yours (but not really) a house you love and feel like it is your own?  Well we are in the process of it.  The kitchen has been updated to fit our tastes (budget friendly updates) and there are tons of pictures hanging of Mike and I.  Our garden is built (which is totally a Mike and Katie thing) and our backyard is really starting to come together.  But there are still times when, if my parents are here, I still feel like it is their house, and in some ways it will always be.  Maybe when this little one in my belly is born, it will feel different… as I am sure there will be toys and baby gadgets in every nook and cranny for a good part of the next few years.  And I won’t have time to contemplate about this issue.

My bedroom that I grew up in will now be a room that our son/daughter grows up in (at least for the next 5 years).   We have a sort of timing period on how long we stay in this house.  It is more set up to meet the needs of our children.  I’m not too happy with the school district we are in and if it doesn’t seemingly get better by the time our first child is school-aged, we will then discuss moving. 

But until then, we are making this house our own.  I really do love this house and I have made some very happy memories here.  Mike and I have started to make our own memories and I can’t wait to have little ones running around in the backyard with our two dogs, Christmas mornings, camping in the backyard, and giggles from the family room.  I think where I am going here is… Family makes a house a home and the memories that they create.