My home, my safe haven

Being a Marine wife, we say that home is wherever the Marine Corps sends us. Currently it's a 4br rental house that I don't love, but it's not forever. One of the challenges of moving around as much as we do is adapting and having the ability to make any place "home". I've decorated our home and filled it with things that make it cozy and comfortable to us and to company. I've never wanted a house that felt "stuffy" or made people unsure of whether they could sit down when they came in the door.

One of the rooms I love is my kitchen, although not for the size and design. It's far too small with a non-working "working triangle". I love to cook, so I'm surrounded in there by things that make me happy. The colors I chose are cobalt blue, black and white. I altered a clock for my wall with ribbon, paint, and a cow stamp. I love cows, but there's no way I'm going bovine crazy in any room. I also painted a terra cotta flower pot to hold some of my MANY kitchen utensils. I have such a weakness for kitchen gadgets and cookware. In my dream home someday, my kitchen will have a very Tuscan feel to it.

In my dining room are some of my most prized possessions. There's an antique buffet that I've had for over 15 years now. It was given to me by a very special person once. My tea set is displayed in my china cabinet. The Hub bought it for me in Okinawa, and I've never seen another set even similar to it. Any time we move, it gets boxed up first and rides on the seat in the mom-mobile b/c it's too precious to me to be packed away and possibly damaged. My dining room is also where my "Gone With The Wind" collection is displayed. I have movie posters, b&w movie stills, plates, music boxes, and figurines that comprise this treasured collection.

Our living room is a sort of blank slate right now. It's very neutral b/c I can't decide which direction I want to go with it. No matter where "home" is, though, one wall in our living room is FILLED with family pictures. It keeps us close to them in a sense. Over our fireplace mantel is all of The Hub's plaques from different units in the Corps. They're reminders of his accomplishments, fellow Marines, and good times. There's a bookshelf with some of my angel collection and a shelf full of the albums I've done. There's also a couple of rocking chairs, one of which is an antique from Mexico with lots of hand-carving on it.

There are antiques and family heirloom pieces scattered throughout the house that cannot be replaced. My oldest daughter's bed is the one my grandfather built for me when I was a kid. He built things as a hobby after he became disabled, and that bed is the only one he ever made. It's made of cedar (as were most of his pieces) and put together with hand-carved pegs. The only metal or steel on that bed is the brackets for the side rails to attach to the head and foot. The four posts are made of 4x4 cedar studs and built to last! That thing does not move if you bump into it! Her chifferobe was one of the first pieces of furniture my other set of grandparents bought when they got married.

My craft room is definitely my favorite room in the house. It's the one room that's totally mine to decorate as I want. It's done in sage green with a touch of different shades of lavendar. My craft desk is a custom piece that The Hub built for me. I have a shelf with framed pictures of family and friends. On another shelf is a crate with all my stuffed cows in and on it. THAT is where my cow collection hides. ;) There's also a stuffed "Sully" from Monsters, Inc. up there, along with a Mickey Mouse that speaks Japanese (another souvenir from Okinawa). I have bookshelves and a cabinet that hold all of my crafting goodies, along with totes in the closet with other craft supplies in them. I have a few art pieces on the walls, like the puzzle from a puzzle swap I was in, an altered canvas I did, a framed pic of an angel that a girlfriend of mine gave me, and a few other misc. things.

No matter what our address is, my goal is to always have a safe haven and refuge for me and my family to escape the rigors of the outside world.