The View from Here

I was walking through Chez Gainey today and smiling at the quirks of living in an almost century-old home (99). There are certain ways to open and close each door of the house, certain parts of the floors that are creakier, windows that are trickier to open than others, special ways to navigate the gates and garage doors. Everything is a bit crooked and has its own personality it seems, and I love the wonderful random wackiness of it all and know every single secret of how to make things work after over fifteen years of living here. We joke that we’ll have to write a how-to manual for the new owners some day. Photos from Birmingham archives…

Our home was built in 1920 and went through some hard times. About twenty- six years ago the house was supposedly set on fire for the insurance money by a not-so-legit home owner, now deceased. We have done a lot of hard work and given a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to move the home forward from that sad time to its present happy state. The foundation has been done, lots of rewiring, painting, rebuilding decks and stairs, re-imagining spaces, landscaping…there is always a project looming in our future, always something to dream about. We have no doubt that the house feels loved and hopefully healed from past indiscretions.Buddha through the sunporch door…You’ve come a long way, Baby!

I think there are a lot of similarities between old houses and people; we all have our quirks, but if people care enough to get to know and love us and take the time to understand what makes us tick, we blossom…Just like our irises are getting ready to do as spring winds it way down South.