roots



A cozy sitting area perfect for a little reading or knitting by the fire.

It was William Morris, one of the major players in the Arts and Crafts Movement, who said: "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."  This has come to be my Platonic ideal of housekeeping and decorating.  Of course, I am nowhere near living within these parameters, but I do strive to at least move in this direction.  I know a few people who seem to be a little closer to the mark, and they challenge me to create a living environment for my family that is both functional and inspiring.  Two such people are my own parents.

This space was originally an outdoor atrium.  As a sun room, it is used year round and fills the house with light. 

 

I grew up in a modest rancher in the Oakland Mills neighborhood of Columbia, Maryland.  My parents were among the first to move into the new community in the early 70's, but they began transforming their house into a distinctive and unique home from the moment they moved in.  Comparatively few of their changes have been major structural overhauls.  They've worked within the innovative, open floor plan, adding architectural details here and there, infusing the entire space with antiques, finds from their travels, books and art, and other treasures from their life together.



Though the kitchen has been completely renovated, the large footprint of the room is an original feature of the home.



Because of the flow to the house, the formal dining room is really multi-purpose, working as a central space for congregating.

After traveling in Japan, my parents were inspired to create a spot for quiet reflection in the more private section of the home, overlooking the garden and the public open space beyond.

My parents have now lived in their work in progress for almost 40 years, tinkering all the while, and what they have created is truly exquisite.  My sister and I both feel strongly that growing up in an aesthetically stimulating environment made a huge difference in our world views.  Square footage is not the secret to a beautiful, functional home--love and creative vision are, and I am lucky to have parents with both qualities in spades. 



the fun in failure

We had a great project idea today--we were going to make stamps out of stuff we had lying around the house!  Maybe even use the stamps to make Valentines.  I couldn't argue with my boys' enthusiasm, so we got started right away, gathering up the materials: glue, scissors, some pipe cleaners, cardboard from the recycling, a stamp pad, card stock in a few colors.  Our thought was that we could create shapes out of the pipe cleaners, glue them to the cardboard, and then stamp to our heart's content.  We whipped up a few different shapes and waited for the glue to dry.

Then, we stamped.

Underwhelmed?  So were we.  And we got some glue on the stamp pad.  But here's the thing--we didn't throw in the towel.  We started trying some different things, and it turned out that our "stamps" served very nicely for crayon rubbings.  And then we discovered that lots of things were nice for crayon rubbings, like the miniature pie tin from the play kitchen and the surface of our work stools.  Card stock wasn't looking so hot, so we switched to regular weight paper.  That was better.  My older son thought it would be even better if we used the special-edge scissors to cut the rubbings out, and we glued those onto the card stock.

It wasn't what we planned, but it sure was fun, and the boys were using so many skills--problem solving, collaboration, brainstorming.  All in all, our big fat failure turned into quite a successful afternoon.  I think there's a lesson in that, don't you?