I love to watch HGTV and I will watch it before news, sports or weather! I have always had a love and flair for interior design. I guess that’s because I  grew up with sawdust in my veins! The picture is one of the rooms from “The Lunar Lander” on HGTV’s Fixer Upper.

My mother was raised by her cousin after her mom died when she was just a baby. My mom never called her cousin and in fact she called her Aunt Georgia and her husband was Uncle Frank. Aunt Georgia (AKA – Aunt Georgie) and Uncle Frank built or bought and rented out little houses in the West End of my hometown, one of which I grew up in!

Even though the houses were small and usually only a couple of bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a bathroom, every room was filled with love and every home was filled with happiness and family! At least that’s the way I remember it!

Growing up in the West End of Washington PA, was like growing up in an African village in many ways. I say that because the African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child” was like the motto where and when I grew up!

Everyone knew everyone and everybody watched out for everybody else’s kids. If I got in trouble at a friend’s house, I was chastised and sent home where I got in trouble again (for real), for misbehaving!

More often than not, you grew up calling close family friends of your parents “Aunt and Uncle” and their kids your cousins even though you weren’t really related at all. Of course as a child you didn’t know that but it wouldn’t have mattered if you did know. This was simply small town living at it’s best. We didn’t even lock the doors at night! I remember sleeping with the doors and windows open in the summer time to allow a breeze to blow through the small house we called home.

I remember playing in homes that Uncle Frank and his crew were working on, getting them ready to rent out. I’ve stepped on nails and gotten plenty of splinters from the wood that was always laying around. I played with hammers and nails the way other kids played with dolls and blocks! Sometimes I can still smell the sawdust from a freshly cut piece of wood!

I still have a love for renovation and construction. My mom could put up paneling, wall paper, paint, refinish furniture, put down floors – etc. I know it’s in my blood and I’ve tackled a couple of DIY projects over the years. Nothing to the extent to what my mom did though! She’s my shero. She could cook better than anyone I know and she could do anything that needed done in a house!

I love the “before and after” of the projects on home renovation shows. I do have the vision to see what could be before it is. Maybe one day I’ll do something magical with my love for home design. I am currently tackling things one project at a time in my own fixer upper! Stay tuned for before and after pictures. 🙂  You never know or as I like to say,  never say never!