HH Town House Living

Back in the spring, I experienced one of those fun, magical coincidences. Our family had just arrived home from vacation. It was dreary to have gone from tropical temperatures to rainy New York. But as we climbed the front stoop of our old Victorian townhouse, I spotted a group of emerging snowdrop blossoms in our front garden! They felt like a welcoming committee, encouraging us that good times were just ahead.

The following day, with suitcases still all over the foyer, I went outside and snapped a photo of the snowdrops to share in my Instagram story. Within 24 hours, a local neighborhood association had a photo of the same snowdrops and our house in the background with the caption “Signs of life on Lancaster Street”. I was so thrilled! Our house and our flowers being “signs of life” felt like a divine message, and it was one to ponder. I loved the sound of that phrase “signs of life”. As I meditated on this, it occurred to me, that often signs of life are long hidden. Those poor bulbs had to be in the ground for months with seemingly nothing to show for it.

Often, what is a true ‘sign of life’ comes after a long period of stagnation. Furthermore, for that life to emerge, life looks much messier or even like a disaster before incredible changes happen, and the proverbial snowdrops can break forth.

Two falls ago, our shower wasn’t draining. We had our plumber come over to clear it, and while he was working on it upstairs, I suddenly heard and felt raindrops coming from the ceiling in the living room. It was a terrifying moment. The plumber came downstairs with a sheepish look on his face to bear the bad news…but inside I was exploding with excitement! I heard the internal shouting “this is a disaster”, but felt another voice telling me that we were about to be forced to finally upgrade our en suite bathroom!

After years of marriage, motherhood, and life, I’ve learned a priceless lesson, one that requires a significant portion of faith to accompany it: there is no such thing as a disaster. It has repeatedly proven true in my life that when things look REALLY bad, it is often when long-awaited change is about to happen.

Tyler and I had to put many lesser dreams on hold, when we enbarked on the adventure of having our family. I’ve had so many creative pursuits that I couldn’t go after. One of them being interior design. I’d been able to do little things in our homes, but nothing that required much time or money. This plumbing “disaster” was almost literally the flood gate that marked the change of the tide. Somehow that day I knew this was a good thing, and when that project began the projects kept coming and we just didn’t stop!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The timing was perfect because it was only in more recent years that I fell in love with the Victorian aesthetic of our neighborhood. We designed the bathroom to give a nod to history with an Edwardian style vanity sink with brass legs. We put polished brass on all the finishes and preserved the original antique cabinetry commonly found in historic New York townhouses. We did a bit of a faux paw mixing Carrara and Calcutta marble tile, but we hoped the opulence of marble on marble would lend to the grand style of our Victorian home.

The result is the bathroom of our dreams.

So I try to remember, whenever it seems we’ve hit a snag or even a roadblock in life, that it’s not a disaster—it’s a sign of life! It requires faith, but it’s as if I’m floating down a divine river, and while rocks or logs could delay me, they can’t hold me forever or keep me from moving forward.