will : the house I just sold . Right : the house I just moved into .
The latest in the proceed saga of my move to a small house and garden is that it ’s DONE . Mylawnless , complicated gardenand cunning house sold in three weeks to people who ’ll bang it as much as I did . ( Well , one hopes . I ’ll be chequer back . ) We ’re closing this hebdomad but I ’ve already go , and will definitely be quick by springiness to createmy next garden . web log stories to follow .
But right now I ’m frankly all about the inside . Just choosing paint colour for seven rooms is enough to keep me alive until ( last night , for instance ) 3:00 ante meridiem But I ’ll stand firm the impulse to blog about home decorating and curve off - subject just a minute today to reflect on the move .
Where I spent high school, on Westham Parkway in Richmond, Virginia. Not my happiest years.
DownsizingHouse - wise , the change is n’t so spectacular – a move from 1,300 square feet not counting the basement to 1,070 count every possible inch . For one mortal that ’s plenty of quad – or it will be as soon as my new screened - in porch is completed . The big , important change is in the size of it of the garden I have to take aid of , specially the issue of Tree that knock off their leaves onto my garden ( from 40 + to 2 ) .
DownscalingBut the change I ’ve observe the most in my first week here is – I ’ll be frank- the move to a less affluent neighborhood . You ca n’t tell from the modest look of my former house in the above photo , but it ’s situated in what ’s become one of the more upscale tight - in suburbs of D.C. When I move to Takoma Park in 1985 it amply deserved its nickname of “ Tacky Park ” , thanks in large part to the ubiquitous range - link fencing , but today every turn of viscidness has been renovated aside , and house price are out of sight for all but the extremely pay or fortunately bear .
Mynew neighborhoodwas created in the ’ 30s as a manikin of low - income housing and has managed to stay surprisingly low-priced . The resident physician are a mix of people who renovate and pretty - up their yard and permit ’s just say people who do n’t . So what I ’m missing most so far is the cuteness of my older region – cuteness that does n’t total as easily in neighborhoods with low-cost housing .
Where I spent high school, on Westham Parkway in Richmond, Virginia. Not my happiest years.
Where I spent mellow schooltime , on Westham Parkway in Richmond , Virginia . Not my happiest years .
Moving to a less upscale neighborhood has gotten me thinking about a similar move that my mom made back in the ’ 70s . She was living in the house show above , situated in one of Richmond ’s well neighborhoods . My family had move there from a modest middle class neighborhood at her urging because she wanted to live among a “ better social class of citizenry ” . Yes , she in reality used those words .
Well , we never even learned the name of our higher - course neighbors . And I was low-down at the higher - class high schoolhouse I had to assist because of the move .
But my mother loved the house and resented like hell get to sell it and move to cheaper housing after the divorcement . She buy a condominium inthis communitywhere she shared the building below . She ’d been forced to both downsize and downscale .
But the jape was on her because this small vicinity turned out to be so well-disposed and socially active , she had no fourth dimension to niggle the loss of position or the departure of her hubby , for that matter . Living closeby , her novel neighbors not only knew each other ; they partied , play bridge circuit obsessionally , and jaw at the pocket billiards all summertime long . My mother ’s twelvemonth here were the happiest of her animation .
Similarly , my fresh community is more modest but much more social . I ’ve already link the aquatic and fitness center and go for to be gossiping with the estimable of them before too long .
