Something big happened last week: my parents sold the house I grew up in.
They’ve been planning to do this for a while, so it’s not a shock or anything. It’s also not as depressing as it could be since they’re selling it so they can move to Richmond (right now they’re about 2 hours away in Northern Virginia). My parents are both retired and have been planning to downsize for a while now. They picked Richmond for a bunch of reasons, including that four of their five grandchildren live here. So all in all, we’re really happy about the news.
But there’s still something major about the closing of this particular chapter, so allow me to be sentimental for a moment.
My parents moved into this house in 1979 (forgive the not-so-pretty winter pic above). It was a new construction home at the time, so they – along with my two older sisters – were its first (and up until now only) occupants. If you’re keeping track that’s two years before I arrived, meaning this is the house they brought me (and later my little sister) home to after we were born. So as you can imagine, a lot has happened in this house over the 32 years they have owned it. Including my mom taking annual pictures of us on the porch for first days of school and for our birthdays (note the homemade banner taped to the storm door behind me).
When we heard they accepted a buyer’s contract early last month, we took the first opportunity to gather there one last time for a family portrait. My sister Emily even made an homage to my mom’s birthday sign tradition for us to pose next to. Here’s the “original” six Petersiks (aka, the “Petersix”)…
…and now with our expanded family of spouses and children (can you tell that it was POURING rain during these shots – fortunately my bro-in-law the professional photographer knew how to handle it).
In addition to these pics, my sisters and I wanted to honor this big moment with a gift. After debating a few things, we decided to get them a drawing or painting of the house. They already own a pen and ink sketch of it, so (thanks to some suggestions from you guys on Twitter) we landed on getting a painting of their front door from artist Kal Barteski (she calls her series T+A – tiny and awesome). So I sent Kal this pic of the door…
And a couple of weeks (and $100 – split four ways among me and my siblings) later, this arrived. Tiny and awesome indeed.
It’s actually 5 x 7″, so it’s not that tiny. Kal paints them on thin onion skin parchment paper which is why it looks a bit wavy and textured. It threw me off a little at first, but when I read that she does it so your painting looks truly like original art – not a print or a replica – it won me over as quite charming.
The onion skin paper is also translucent so she invites people to mat her paintings on colored or patterned paper to customize them and add even more texture. We had fun trying a few colors & patterns underneath but ended up going the straightforward route and putting it on white card stock since we thought my parents would like it best that way.
We finally presented it to my parents this week and they LOVED it. Woo hoo!
Oh, and since some of you might be curious – my parents got very lucky when it came to selling their house. Before it was officially listed on March 1st, they had a preview showing at the end of February and that person put in an acceptable offer on the spot. Not bad right? Since it happened a bit faster than any of us expected (including them) they have around six weeks until they can officially move into their new house in Richmond. In the meantime they’ll be bouncing around between their Delaware beach house, my sister’s house in Northern Virginia, and my sister’s house here in Richmond. But we can’t wait for the day that they can officially call our city their home.
Psst- The babyproofing adventures continue over on BabyCenter where we’re sharing how we anchored a giant wall mirror in our bedroom (thankfully it wasn’t rocket science).
hi-d says
Cool…I will become a “fan” on facebook and upload some to your page. You can also check them out on my blog: http://hi-dho.blogspot.com/search/label/Weekly%20Photo (I still need to post some of the first few weeks.)
Thank you!
Heidi
Rebecca says
This really hit home for me as my parents just last month moved out of the house in which I grew up. I love their idea of the porch pictures and your final family porch pic made me get a little lump in my throat. Thanks for sharing this!
Mary says
we’re in Richmond and my in-laws are in NoVa and I hope that N-E-V-E-R changes! haha. Re: the babycenter article, I was at Target today and saw a mirror similar to yours and the first thing I thought was “I wonder if they’re worried about Clara bumping into that and it falling”. So I now have my answer, just 1 hour later!
Pauline says
Reading this post confirmed my “suspicions” that I actually had met your mom years ago. I used to work for Diana Whitfield and your mom met her sometimes at her office. We are looking at moving to a slower paced lifestyle when my husband retires next year. We have lived in “the Ponds” in Burke Centre now for almost 19 years and it’s the only home my kids know as “home”. Very thoughtful present for your folks! Moving can’t be easy, but getting to live closer to the grandkids has to be wonderful!
Love your blog!! A co-worker of mine found it when she was looking for wedding ideas. You are now on my “required daily reading” list. You guys are amazing!!
Hollie says
John, I just love this. What a cute little family y’all are!
J'Ann says
This is sooo sweet and sentimental.
Diana says
Love this story.
J says
This post brought tears to my eyes. So sweet! I Love the pictures of your expanded family . Thanks for sharing this.
Debbie says
So heres to hoping there was a “house crashing” before they left….?
YoungHouseLove says
Sadly there wasn’t. It was kind of chaotic for the last year or so as they pared down and put things in storage in anticipation for the move. I think whenever you’ve been somewhere for 30 years it’s such a big deal that you have to prepare for it for a while.
xo,
s
Amber says
Aw, how sweet!! I love sentimental gifts like that.
Anne says
What a great present! My aunt and uncle have a beach house in Delware, too (Bethany). I love going down there in the summer!
Jo says
WOW TATTOO ME
Would not even consider a tattoo, unless of course we’re talking about the painless short-wearing temporary kind.
Liz Kidd says
How fun! I worked with Kathy briefly at John Marshall Library (years ago!) and it’s lovely to see her with a lapful of grandkids. Kathy is the most thoughtful person I’ve met – she brought me a little rabbit figurine back from a trip, and I remember thinking, “Who would have a new coworker anywhere on their mind during vacation??” Kathy Petersik, of course!
Liz :)
YoungHouseLove says
She is amazing isn’t she? I couldn’t be more in love with my in-laws. I totally hit the jackpot when I married John!
xo,
s
Jacqueline says
Awww, my parents recently did the same! Sold their home of 32 years (I’m 29) for a smaller, more modern house. It was SO sad! We were all crying like someone had died!
Some days if I’m feeling brave I can drive past it, but most the time it makes me too sad so I don’t do it.
Do you guys ever drive past your first house? (the one you sold a few months ago.)
YoungHouseLove says
We intentionally drive home a different way so we don’t go near our old house (we wouldn’t have to drive by it but we were initially scared we’d subconsciously make the wrong turn and end up at the wrong house- hah). We have driven by it out of curiosity about two times in the past four months though- just to make sure it’s as cute as we remember it. It is!
xo,
s
ruth says
What a great present.
Jess says
am i the only one who wants to see john’s full photo montage from every birthday?? that is just so cute!
Kristin F says
It may sound weird, but I think you are so lucky to have this experience. My parents moved a lot, even among states, while I was growing up so my home base was Grandma’s house. Even now, when I dream of things happening in a house that’s the one my brain goes to. It was the house my Mom had basically grown up in, along with her 4 siblings (in a 1700 sf house! Can you imagine?) I love the idea of having a painting done, sounds like a great mothers day present!
Even though I lived in Richmond the longest period of time of my life (20+ yrs), it was between multiple apartments and houses. My goal is to have a house now that my kids can look back on and say it’s where they grew up. I think it builds such great memories!
Cheryl Miner says
Ha! At first I thought Sherry was writing.. and when you mentioned the photos in front of the door I thought, “Wow, Sherry sure did look like a little blond boy when she was little…” :) I also fell for the April Fool’s joke though. Maybe I shouldn’t admit these things!
xoxo
Andrea says
Oh, for some reason those little boy pics bring tears to my eyes… I always intend find a way to tastefully display some of the precious moments I’ve captured of my ‘lit’l man’ and his ‘princess’ sister… Well, they are now 6 and 2 and my pics are still only in digital format on my laptop… I love all the ways you’ve shown how to display meaningful mementos and photos from your life… Now, I must get moving and frame a few of those moments too!
Heater Duren says
I love the painting! Perfect.
Jaye says
What a beautiful family! You are really lucky in the fact that you will have more family around. Especially as our parents get older, they will need you as much as you need them. Enjoy these times!
r8chel says
That painting turned out really nice! I would have felt the same way as you did about the thin paper, but it really does look good.
Pattie B. says
A lovely gift! Your parents must have been thrilled!
A Rancher's Wife says
what a bittersweet event! love the gift!!
Myka says
Thanks for sharing this sweet post. I enjoyed reading your home adventure. I like the paintings.. it’s really cute! I also wanna share tiny paintings of houses so you can see other cute paintings like the one in the picture.
YoungHouseLove says
Cute!
xo,
s
SarahRS says
My friend painted our house on a Christmas ornament. It’s definitely my favorite ornament on the tree. Just an idea.
Allison says
I love that tradition! Here’s a cool etsy shop that sketches your whole house from a photo (in case some people want that instead of the front door): http://www.etsy.com/listing/52467430/your-sketchy-house-custom-5-x-7?ref=sr_list_11&ga_search_query=custom+house+paintings&ga_order=price_asc&ga_page=0&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade
Joy @ DesignItHome says
I love this! The idea of the painting is so thoughtful and will be treasured for sure! My mom had aerial photos taken of the house I grew up in and gave each of us 3 kids a copy to keep. She still lives there, but that photo is already a beloved keepsake of mine. Do you and Sherry have any pictures/paintings/drawings of your first house on display?
YoungHouseLove says
We have a framed sketch of our first house’s lot that we got at the closing before moving in. We love it because it’s this big lot with a tiny house and at the top it says “house is old” as the description. Haha.
xo,
s
Natalia says
That is so great! What a wonderful family pic and a great tradition!
Kim W Rily says
Now you need to “crash” their new house (or the beach house).
YoungHouseLove says
Amen! We did a crash of their new house here, but the beach house is next on the list (there are always a bunch of people and kiddos there so it’s tough, haha).
xo,
s
Newcastle Real Estate says
What an excellent idea! I wish more of our clients had such an enthusiastic attitude about their homes and the part they’ve played in their lives.
Kim says
So, yeah, this is weird. (You probably aren’t expecting more posts here a year later, but…) If you ever want a piece of the old place back, I think my parents have your parents’ old kitchen cabinets in their garage. They renovated the kitchen a few years back, right? If for any reason you want them, I think my folks are using them as storage in their garage. I keep on ’em to move out to California to be a little closer to the grandkids. But we shall see. :)
YoungHouseLove says
So funny! I think they redid their kitchen when John was in college (about 10 years ago) but lots of houses in that area look really similar so I bet it was a neighbor!
xo
s
Sherri says
I can’t tell if she’s still doing this custom work anymore (have a query in), but do you know of anyone else who does? My MIL lost her husband last fall and is selling her house, and I wanted to do something similar as a gift. Thanks in advance!
YoungHouseLove says
So sorry, not off the top of my head. Anyone else know of someone? Maybe try ebay?
xo
s