Who Says You Can't Go Home Again?

My childhood home is on the market. My sister called me recently,  told me and sent me the Realtor's link.

It still looks pretty good on the outside, much the same as when my sister finally sold it almost twenty years ago. The virtual tour is quite a different story.

The house I grew up in was always busy with folks, friends and family. It was the "Go To" house in our neighborhood and everyone was always welcomed. Mama was usually always either in the kitchen cooking or on her sewing machine. She was a pretty great cook but a near professional seamstress.

My sister told me she had a hard time knowing which rooms were which in some of the pictures so I took a look for myself.

For Pete's Sake...what a mess. Click on the pictures to make them larger.

Okay, here's the living room. Looks like someone forgot to pick up before the photo shoot or move the bicycle outside,and what's that hunk of junk sitting in front of the fireplace? (next to the cheap patio table with the cheap egg crate on top)

I mean the room looks okay, seems freshly painted but have never seen a room in such disarray for staging a  house to put on the market.

Just wait, it gets worse.

Here's the other half of the living room, also known as "The front end of the bicycle." The hardwood floors still look nice but my eyes were drawn to all the junk on yet another table. The curtains in the background are hung in the small hallway between our living room and dining room with built in book cases on either side. I wasn't too sure why they curtained off the dining room until I saw what they had done to our dining room.

It appears Elvis IS still alive and living in the dining room of my former childhood home. Click on the photo to enlarge. Is that the Realtor's briefcase on Elvis' sofa or did they just think it made a homey touch? How about the weather stripping curled up on the arm of Elvis' sofa or all the loose wires under the end table with the huge urn? From the looks of the coffee table the shoot interrupted a tea party for the Queen. Don't even get me started on the random two mis spaced and crooked pictures over Elvis' couch.

NEXT!

Here's my mama's breakfast nook where we ate all our meals. Not sure what they did to the wall but  could have moved the Happy Meal bag and popcorn bowl off the table. Maybe they could have put it underneath with the water bottles.

I'm not saying the house looks bad, it just looks messy. My house is messy a lot of the time but if I was trying to sell it would be spic and span and everything put away, or at least hidden in a closet.

The kitchen has a beautiful black and white tile floor but for some reason there is an Oriental carpet covering most of it. I'm not sure they could fit one more box on top of the refrigerator and for Pete's sake, put the dishwashing AND dishwasher liquid under the sink please.

We spent a lot of time in this kitchen as kids growing up and was nice to see it again but my mama kept it sparkling clean and neat as a pin. Not too sure what she would say about all the clutter.

Now it gets interesting.

It took me a while but finally figured out this was my parent's former bedroom. I think the Pelligrino bottle on the headboard is a nice touch, not to mention the reflection of the photographer in the mirror, in desperate need of cleaning. If we had made our beds this sloppily as kids she would make us do it over...and we weren't staging the bed for anything other than us to get back in it that night.

Okay, you gotta be kidding me on this one. It's my brother's old room which turned into a den when my sister got married. Are you telling me the Realtor didn't say "Can you pull those towels off the closet door and maybe throw a comforter over the mattress with no sheets after you clean all the junk off the bed?"

Here's the way they advertised my old bedroom...as a storage room for more junk. I find it hard to believe a professional Realtor would have even taken this picture, and what is the huge white contraption leaning against the window on the right, behind all the piles of boxes and crates?

This USED to be my parent's bathroom. Once again we see the photographer in the mirror. Maybe it's to keep your eyes from the hair dryer on the toilet seat or all the electrical wiring hanging from the shelf which is above the toilet  with the bottle of cleaner on it. And here's a tip: if your shower curtain is missing hooks just push it all to one side so it's not apparent. Sheesh!!

Moving on to us kid's bathroom. Looks like we're out of toilet paper and somebody forgot to put their washcloth in the hamper again. Doesn't look like the floor got scrubbed but guess the toilet did, leaving the scrub brush on the window sill.

This was my sister's upstairs bedroom off the finished attic. Not a particularly clever way to showcase a large bonus room...unless you are a hoarder. But wait a minute! Look on the chair! There's that missing roll of toilet paper we needed in the bathroom  downstairs, what a relief.

Could there BE any more junk in this picture and what in heaven's name were they thinking when they took it?

Here's the one good shot...the built in book cases between our living and dining rooms. There is one on each side of the hallway.

Here's our now pink and brown original mantel and fireplace. I like the brown but looks like they needed some painter's tape and what the hey are those lights strung across the fire screen?

I always loved our big front porch, still do. My mama would be so mad the flower boxes are peeling. We had four massive boxes made of concrete, two across the front and on each side.


We grew up on a quiet peaceful street and at least that doesn't seem to have changed. All in all the house looks great, just in need of some organization and cleaning.

It's almost like this guy doesn't want to sell it from the look of these pictures. I have a friend who is a REAL Realtor and going to make an appointment for my sister and me to go look at the house. My sister has the wild idea of buying and returning it to its former glory.

Guess I better go buy that lottery ticket!

I'd love to save the house, and who knows what the future will bring? It was amazing growing up in that house, so full of love and laughter. Now it's just full of junk.

Who says you can't go home again? We'll just see about that!

Til next time...COTTON