Boston

Emily has a beautiful old home in a graceful suburb full of large homes on large lots. 

Her yard is almost an acre; it includes that wooded area you see in the very back of this photo, which is larger than it looks.

There is also a large heated garage.

Her house needs some updating and will be an ongoing project for quite some time. But it’s entirely comfortable and has great character. It has beautiful arches and great windows.

The previous occupants had painted the interior many bright colors. I’ve seen that technique turn out well occasionally, but usually it’s not a good idea. Here’s a bit of the kitchen wall and ceiling. Wowza.

Emily is slowly working on painting it all a consistent light and bright bluish-grayish-white. But with her demanding job and two little ones, she is not always able to immediately finish what she starts. This was the state of the hallway outside the guest room when I arrived. A partial coat of primer over some sort of – what would you even call that color? Watermelon?

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So I helped with the painting project. It gave me something to do when they were off at work. I don’t have any photos of the completed hallway, but I’d say it looked better.

One of the things I love the most about her house is the miles and miles of trails nearby. Here’s photos of when we took a walk with the kids. It’s great that they have such a pretty area to walk from their house. Just a couple of blocks through a spacious neighborhood to the wooded trails.

The open space was amazing. I went on several long jogs in the area and barely began to explore the enormous natural area they have only two blocks from their house. It went on for miles.

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I didn’t end up taking as many pictures of the kids as I meant to, but here’s a cute one. I’m really glad I got out there and hope to make it back soon.