little pink houses...

I am a control freak.

It's a problem I have and admitting it is the first step to, well, controlling it, right? When we bought our house in our quiet little neighborhood, the boxes had not yet been entirely unpacked when I made an offer on a small vacant lot within eyesight of our back drive, to control what might happen there.

And when we learned that the two small homes immediately behind us were owned by the same landlord, I suggested that if the "pink house", as we referred to it, ever came up for sale that we would be interested in buying it. The other house was a little off to the right and somewhat hidden by our barn....it was the pink house in which I saw restoration potential.......and I saw it everytime I looked out our windows. The landlord said he'd think about it and came to us just weeks later. So we bought it......although my wife had (still has) mixed feelings on the "investment".

after the "uncovering"

The little diamond in the rough had pink aluminum siding, hurricane aluminum awnings and white and green aluminum chain link fence-6' tall. And it had a dumpy front porch and zero landscaping in the small front "yard" between it and the street. And the furnace sat in the middle of the dining room and the living room was painted black. We did a lot of work on the "pink house", ultimately uncovering its original wood siding and trim, revealing an 1856 Greek Revival Cottage. During the initial uncovering the house looked hideous, and even I had to really work hard to see the potential. The porch we opened up and found columns dating to about 1900. Ultimately I want to put a front porch on more in keeping with the earlier style, but it is what it is and we don't want to bankrupt ourselves in the process. Painted, landscaped, and significant interior reworkings........it's not a bad little place now and our renters have become friends of ours.

There was a craze to install aluminum over just about everything in the 1950's-early 70's. Pink seemed to be most fashionable around lakes, at least here in Indiana. I can't off the top of my head think of another pink aluminum sided house here in river city. Evidently there is a group in Indiana working to save these powder puffs. Me, I much prefer the historically accurate green.

after the "restoration"

Can't help but hit on this analogy. People seem to be set on always keeping up with the Jones' so to speak.....so, that meant, covering up with asbestos shingles, then aluminum siding, then vinyl siding, etc.. Instead, why don't we showcase who the real house is? Why are we quick to cover up, and not celebrate the true appearance, the true beauty of the authentic? And why do we do that in our own lives? Why are we quick to cover up, to stick on the latest fashionable thing-be it clothing or electronics.......or.......cover up the hurt, the ugly........because once we do a little "uncovering" then we can be healed; we can bring restoration to the beauty of the authentic....we can be made whole again.

But first we have to get under the surface of the pretty pink siding to find what is real.