Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Home, Sweet Home!

Casa De McMiller was visited on Saturday by some of its previous residents. The house was owned by Virginia's parents between the 20's and 60's. She lived in it until she was married, in the house, in 1943, to Steve. Their wedding photo was taken in front of the fireplace, just as they stand here 65 years later. Many things about this visit were surreal and wonderful. The look on her face as Virginia slowly scanned around the front rooms. She made a few comments... "you've taken half the wall down on the staircase..." .."this pillar is new." But the house was, for the most part, as she remembered it.

This made me happy beyond words. For those who are recently introduced to Casa de McMiller, it was, well, a s*@% hole when we bought. Anything that came close to what Virginia was remembering was re-created by Brian and Ms. A with the intent to "restore" the house to it's original glory. I think the level of our success can be summed up this way: as the happy couple was leaving they asked, "so, you were able to save the front door." Well, no. The door is new, restored from someone's botched job at making it a double door. I was happy to be able to see the memories floating by Virginias eyes, unblurred by the chaos of what the house was 4 years ago.

6 comments:

Abcdpdx said...

WOW, what a story!!! what perfect timing for their visit! the McMillers were meant to buy that house and turn it into the beautiful home it is today.

Carol said...

FANTASTIC!!!!

amycs said...

That is so cool! Did they just show up or how did you meet them?

When we celebrated our house's century bday, I did research on the previous owners. I would love to meet them or their relatives, although I doubt they would recognize it now.

Christie said...

That's awesome. And good job escaping the prying eyes of the blog rating system - "s*@% hole".

Amber said...

What a nice compliment to you guys! I often wish our home's previous owner would just happen to stop by so he could see the potential this place had all along. It'd be amazing to meet someone who lived here so long ago, though. Do they still live nearby?

Mary said...

That is a great story! Please give more detail on how this happened!