I didn’t intend to make a New Years resolution. It happened pretty organically, and seemed fitting. So here I am.
I’ve been thinking about our grandparents a lot lately. Specifically my (paternal) Gram and my husband’s Grandmother, and the houses they kept. I don’t remember my Mum Mum and Pap Pap in anything but an apartment but I assume she was the same.
It started when we lost Hubby’s Pap last month. I spent many a holiday in Their kitchen over the last 27 years. It always, always felt like home. It was warm and inviting, and tidy, everything had a place, it was the heart of the house. My Gram’s house was much the same. I want that feeling in my kitchen, and much like those old houses space is an issue. I always end up with a cluttery blank room.
Then my Mom gave me this amazing Christmas gift. A Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Something I have always wanted and absolutely couldn’t afford. Even on the rare occasions I could spare the money, I talked myself out of it. Now here I am with a mixer that may outlive me. And that’s when it clicked.
Our grandparents didn’t have a lot of money. Buy what they did have was a healthy appreciation of value. You get what you pay for. They didn’t buy things for a kitchen just to have them. They bought things that would last through the years, buy it ONCE and keep it for years, decades even. Cast iron skillets, aluminum bakeware, wooden utensils quality over quantity.
As I stood in Grandma’s kitchen one last time, looking at the decor on the walls, and rescuing some of my husband’s (and my) memories from the wall, I put my finger on what made that room special, and homey and didn’t feel cluttery. Everything on those walls carried a memory or meaning. It brought joy. The plates surrounding the upper perimeter of the wall, the collected magnets on the fridge from all the states they visited.
So going into this new decade and preparing for his retirement in a couple years, my goal is to change my house into a home. I may still battle clutter, but going forward my plan is to be more like our grandparents. Buy it once, and make it meaningful.
