Other People's Places // Claire and Andrew's Farmhouse

For the past year I have been trying to get my sister Claire to let me come in and take pictures of the old farmhouse she shares with her husband, his big old chocolate lab, a fat old fat, and a flock of fowl. She always protests. There is always another project she wants complete before I do it. She always wants things a little cleaner. A little more organized. This summer I snapped a few pictures, and then a few more this fall.  There are so many other cozy corners I want to capture for posterity, and maybe soon I will get up there to do just that, but for now, I will share what I have. Because I love that house, and I love that these pictures tell stories of the life they live.

Claire, if you don't like these, you're just going to have to invite me over sometime soon. And when you do, you better make monkey bread. 

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Other People's Places -- Geoffery and Joanna's

I like to visit crowded, cluttered houses. Houses full of antiques and memories. Things a bit bizarre, often beautiful. Found. Gifted. Passed down from hand to hand, home to home.

Everywhere you look, your eye finds somewhere novel to land. You ask questions and uncover stories. Those white boxes with clean lines and Scandinavian wood can't hold a drippy candle shoved into a old Chianti bottle to this. 

Never have two people's styles merged as perfectly as Joanna and Geoffrey's. Maximalist to their cores.

 Back when it was a bachelor pad. 

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Other People's Places-- Matt and Carrie's Revisited

I like my houses like I like my friends-- a little bit weird.  Boring might never offend, but it doesn't excite either. Sometimes I think I should clear my house out and paint the walls white and give everything room to breathe, but then I think about actually getting rid of things I love, and I think about the houses I like to visit the most, the one's that are filled to the brink with gifts and memories and tales and travel, and I determine that minimalism might work for some, but it isn't really my style despite all its seeming advantages.

Matt and Carrie's house isn't for everyone, but I would so much rather find a framed photo of Willie Nelson giving me the finger when I go to the bathroom than I would a perfectly designed living room that looks like it came from the pages of Kinfolk Magazine (sorry Kinfolk, but your interiors bore me.)

I've taken pictures of their house before, but like the best / weirdest houses, I'm always discovering little bits and pieces that I amuse me. And maybe next time I'm up there I can convince her sister to let me take pictures of her house because apparently making cool spaces is a part of the family code.

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Other People's Places // Oma's Cottage

Today is my mom's birthday. It doesn't take much looking around this online space to discover that I spent a lot of time with my mom. A whole lot.  It also becomes pretty clear that I think my mom is one of the most generous human beings I have ever met, eager to give her time, talent, heart, and money. She is fiercely devoted to her family and deeply empathetic.  Maybe best of all, she's fun to be around. 

Among her many talents is her ability to make a home. She creates spaces that make you feel comfortable and welcome.  The house I grew up in is wonderful, and one of these days I'll get around to taking pictures of it.  Today, I'll just share pictures of her Ocracoke cottage, which would absolutely be her "baby" if it weren't for the fact that I keep giving her actual babies that distract her resources. Her cottage was the first place that made me see the beauty of dark, cozy rooms, the sort of space that feel a little like a bear hug. Her gray and white kitchen is not only adorable, but also remarkably easy to cook in. The bedrooms beg you to stay put and sleep longer. I love that house and all the things she's done to it. But what is even more special is the way that she shares it with others.

Mama, happy, happy birthday. I love you so much, and I'm so glad to share my days with you. We are all very lucky to have you. 

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Other People's Places: Lorien and Graham

Ever since I've known Lorien, she has been a collector of little things. When I met her, she was driving around an old Toyota pick-up unlike anything I had even seen before. The glove compartment was a mini-shrine. The dashboard was covered with Buddhas and incense holders. Tie-dyes were tacked to the roof. There were dream catchers and crystals, collections of sea shells. It was the moodiest truck that ever was.

When I go places with Lorien, she always finds little things to buy, and they make her way into her home. Every single thing has a story. Their home is the most sentimental of places-- living nostalgia, she says. The aesthetic that lived and breathed in that old truck of her's fills the corners of her home too. I find myself asking a million questions: Where'd you get this? What kind of plant is this? Who made this? She knows her things well, and tells their tales.

The kids and I had the best time there Monday. It was a perfect mini-vacation.

There are some pictures of her old house, a subterranean cave out in the woods, which happened to be much closer to me. I try not to be bitter that she moved so far away.

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