A Love Letter.

Dear 323,

I will be honest.  I have loved others before you.  Those who preceded you…the quaint (translation: minuscule) condominium with the noisy pipes, the 1970s-era split level full of my “elbow grease,” and even the temporary rental in which I currently reside, will always retain a spot in my heart.  But you, 323, are different.  You are the one I have been waiting for.  You are The One.

The reality is I fell in love with you, or at least the idea of you, a long time ago.  The iconic house from Father Of The Bride (complete with a backyard wedding and roaming swans) has long served as inspiration for my ideal abode.  That said my affection began much earlier.  Mesmerized by rooms filled with pink canopy beds and ruffled curtains, I would pour over the JcPenney catalog until the pages were tired and creased.  I would spend hours in my room staging vignettes of carefully posed Barbie dolls frolicking amongst picnicking Cabbage Patch Kids.  I taught myself how to make pillows, and made lots of them.  I remain a pillow junkie to this day. 

So that brings me back to you, 323.   Several years and countless stops later, we finally meet face-to-face.  Admittedly, you were not quite as I had imagined, but my heart raced when I walked through your door.  I just knew it was meant to be.  Bearing a kitchen from the 1950s and walls of teak paneling, you had been left largely undisturbed for the last half century.  You were quiet and understated, yet had a presence.  Your condition, I respectfully described to others as “vintage.”  Sometimes, for emphasis, I would refer to it as “vintage-vintage."  One thing was clear, however.  You had been loved, and the family who had lived within your walls for the last fifty years, was proud to call you home.

So, tomorrow, we will begin our journey of reinvention together.   I’ll be honest…I’m nervous.  Have the countless hours I’ve spent dismembering design magazines and stashing away their pages of “inspiration” adequately prepared me for this??  Only time will tell.  But, be assured, as they begin to carry away your doors for safe-keeping and begin to remove your well worn finishes, I am in this for the long haul and excited for our future together.   

All my love,

L