Welcome Home!

We all like to put our own stamp on our homes. Paint color, window treatments and furniture style all play an important part in making a house into something unique. A place that perfectly reflects our personality.

My little 1946 Cape Cod went through a number of transformations before we moved in last summer. During a 1994 remodel, interior doors were moved, walls were taken out and windows were either added or covered. Last year, sadly, the quirky arched doorways that lead into the front hall were cut away leaving nondescript rectangles.

These aren’t necessarily the changes I would have chosen to make, but they don’t present an insurmountable obstacle. I can work around past renovations as I turn the cottage into a place that fits my needs and looks the way I’d like it to look.

So far, I haven’t done anything to my new house but vacuum occasionally. But I’m working on a plan.

We’ve sketched out paper napkin blueprints, and I’m building a file of magazine clippings. Those paint cans I wrote about a couple of weeks ago are still there, waiting to be opened and dipped into.

It may take a little time, but eventually we’ll make the little house into a home that looks right and feels right.

We’ve got a long winter ahead of us, and what better time to dream?

I’m in the mood to do a little house work.

This week in Home

It’s easy to complain that a house is beyond help. That a cookie-cutter tract house won’t ever be anything different or a 1970s split-level can can’t be updated. That’s the easy way out.

But creative homeowners know that anything can be made better. Any house can become a one-of-a-kind creation with enough imagination and elbow grease.

Jerry and Eliza Shotts are the perfect example. When the couple purchased a rundown 1970s log cabin north of Spokane, they went right to work giving what had been a kit building a dose of personality. And they did it as a couple.

The tale of the transformation of their little cabin is our cover story.

If your houseplants are looking a little winter-weary, Pat Munts has tips for bringing your greenery out of the winter blues.

This week’s Treasure Hunt column features a woman who has a houseful of family treasures and our Beautiful Home is the story of a couple who built a love story as they built a house.

As far as I’m concerned, both homes and gardens are living, breathing things. And if you care enough, you can make them both bloom.