I want to thank whomever nominated us for the Covington Preservation Society Award thing we went to tonight. I'm sure someone meant well, and we both thank you for your intent... but please, next time-- please don't.
We did not build this home from the inside out for anyone but ourselves. We designed it from scratch, built it with our own four hands, and we had hopes that others would follow in our footsteps. That's the reason we created this blog- to inspire, to help, to advise, and above all-- learn from our mistakes.
We did not rehab our home in order to meet any requirements other than our own use and enjoyment, so an award is not necessary, but more importantly, an award wherein the sole intent seems to be to showcase the Historical Society's disappointment at our inability to 'restore' our home to some historical standard, (when we bought our home it was, as you can see from this blog, a total mess with NOTHING to preserve) and therefore to present us as a sub-standard disappointment was humiliating.
To explain - the other 'Historical Renovation Award' recipients were photographed beautifully, special care taken to show the careful paint choices, the woodwork, and of course, the decor. Ours? We got a great photo on the front of our award highlighting the chain link fence we have yet to replace with the wrought iron one in the back yard. Any pictures of the corbels we spent days researching and painting? The hand made sills, the stone work?
Oh, and the picture of the spray foam installation. Yeah, THAT was a keen choice to present to the Historical Preservation Society. Ugh. I was so embarrassed. It only served to remind me of just how much more we have to do, and that this is an ongoing process.
That's ok, I guess- I knew that going in.
We have only tried to improve this community- and dammit, we have done more for our community than most. We INVESTED in it. We LIVE here.
She may be rough on the edges, she may have a lot of work to do, but we built this house from the inside out, and I, for one, am proud of what we have accomplished so far.
I hope we get a few more folks like us in the neighborhood. Galt knows we could use someone new to borrow tools from!
Deep breath.
All is well.
Deep breath.
Back to work.
1 comment:
Sounds like a terrible time. I used to be a big preservationist, but as I've lived in different houses and gotten older I've decided that I don't really care what anyone else's standard for my house is. I'm much happier this way and I bet you are too.
I don't want to believe that an adult would try and shame another adult for something so silly as how they remodeled/rehabbed their home. But sadly, I can (and do) believe it. I'm sure you already know this, but don't worry about the naysayers and do what's best for you.
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