The Walton House--Continued

In the garage, I can still see all the boots we had, ranging from tinys to adults.  I had it covered for boots at any age, any size.  

There were a lot of boots.

And bike helmets.

 

 

 

The hard, wooden basement stairs that every one of our kids tumbled down.  Since Gary actually witnessed Sam going down, he quickly put up the tubular bars as a railing.

 

The growth chart on the door trim of the basement.  I considered recreating it at our current house.

Plenty of open space to play Sharks and Minnows now.  Except it was never this open and clean when we lived there when it was filled with train tracks and Lego's and fire trucks and baby dolls and dress up clothes and tractors.  And stamping stuff.  And books.  How could I ever forget all those books? 

Finishing the basement was a big project for us and was ongoing for years it seems.  I remember freaking out over the carpet Gary brought home for it.  It was four or five different colors/patterns of carpet squares that he got for a deal and I could not imagine what he was thinking and how would we ever make this into a suitable looking place with that kind of craziness.  It turned out rather cool, I will admit.  We used the different colors to define different “rooms” of the basement, including the partial checkerboard as a play area. 

Here’s the new radon mitigation system that again is money spent for something I get no pleasure from at all. 

Phooey on that whole concept.

  

This nightlight will burn perpetually from now to eternity (or until the bulb burns out) in honor of the night Grant, about 8 years old, slept-walked downstairs into the pitch black basement and then woke up there in complete total darkness, not knowing anything about where he was.  He yelled for his parents that were soundly asleep in their bed, two stories up and out of ear shot.  Finally, he felt the distinct tubular railings, figured out where he was, and made it upstairs to save himself. 

The dining room that used to have white carpet that didn’t remain white for long with four little kids eating in there every meal, every day.  I never did tackle the wallpaper in this room, the only room that I didn’t actually. 

 

 

Little boys will throw Matchbox cars into ceiling fans. 

 

 

 

 

 

Jack’s room door had a lock high up and a childproof doorknob on the outside.  He really didn’t like the sibs getting into his room.

Caroline’s room.  It was the smallest, but so awesome since it was all pink and yellow.  Thank you, Grandma Barbara.

In her closet, there was an access panel to the bathroom plumbing. Early in the marriage we had a memorable Valentine’s Day where we had a leak and started working at tearing out the entire shower of the master bath.  I wondered why we didn’t just go at it from this access thing, but didn’t say anything because I didn’t think (at that time) there could possibly be a better alternative solution that I could think of that Gary hadn’t.  This little bugger taught me to just speak up.     

The laundry chute I loved and now miss.

Our master bedroom window.  I had two little, little boys and going out to a store or any kind of shopping was really not easy.  I saw an ad for a designer consultant that would come to your house, so I had her come.  Looking back, I’m thinking now the scope of the job was probably not quite what she was used to since all I had her do was come up with a blind and curtain rod for this one window, but this is my custom ordered wooden window blinds and curtain rod.   

The spot in our bedroom, but not the original carpet, where again early in our marriage I shook an open (didn’t know that part) bottle of bright red fingernail polish and it left stringy stripes of polish on the before mentioned white carpet.  Even before kids, white carpet was a bad idea.  I will never forget Gary asking me “Why do you wear that stuff anyway?”  I never polished my nails again, except for the rare occasion of going to something really special like a wedding.

Oak, oak, and more oak in this house.  Bathroom vanity.

 

The fanciest towel bars I had ever seen, I bought at Burlington Coat Factory.  In addition to oak, oak, and more oak, this house was brassy, brassier, and brassiest. Oh, the kids’ tub where many a naked bottom and bubble mingled.

The shower doors from hard water hell that I spent countless hours trying to clean, totally unsuccessfully despite all the good advice you can find on the Internet.

 

 

The stairs also known as the kids’ indoor playground.  There was maniacal giggling by toddlers throwing balls up and down, sliding things down the banister, bodies sliding down either on the bottom, the belly, or on some object.  Lots of fun on these stairs.  Too bad the tile at the bottom was so hard.

 

Entry way and main floor bathroom had this tile, so easy to clean, and I will forever be a big fan of tile.

The wallpaper I chose for the kitchen during the re-do and the cubbies/backpack holder Gary built.  Looking back, I think I should have skipped the floral.  Unlike the golden monkey wallpaper of the main floor bathroom!  I didn’t snap any pictures, but that wallpaper was the best on Earth and I still love it and it looked so awesome for a bathroom.

I bought these knobs for the laundry room doors because I was impressed with their heavy weight.   Gary got a lot of making-fun-of mileage out of that considering once they were bolted onto the door, you can’t tell if they weigh a half an ounce or half a pound.   

 

My kitchen window view was not bad at all, until Scooter came along and I had to see him and his messes.  Seriously, it was a great backyard.

Oh, I loved this kitchen re-do we tackled over the span of a couple of years.  Loved the granite, the slate, the window trim, the new ceiling (de-popcorned), the outlet covers, the under cabinet lighting, everything.  I so wish I had my big roomy Walton kitchen at the new place.  A most excellent kitchen.

  Strips of wet carpet yesterday out drying in the sun and the most familiar sight, Gary’s truck in the driveway.  Ok, sappy/corny warning:  One of the best sounds I remember from the years in the house, besides the kids’ happy laughing, was the sound of the garage door lifting because I knew that meant Gary was home. 

This is the door in the garage; this side is still  painted the original dark brown that the front door was when we first moved in. 

The house was so dark and definitely needed some energy and light and life back in 1997.  I painted and we eventually brought in four beaming little beings that seemed to fill the whole house with warmth. 

Walton House, we will miss you, and thanks for all the memories.  

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