It takes time to create a home.

...even for a turtle.
 

This week marks the two year anniversary of Doug and I living in our current house. When we bought it there was so much work to be done, remodeling wise, and I remember those first several months (or first whole year) wondering how and when we would ever reach the point of going from making it a livable house to creating a home. You know - a space with all of our stuff and those personal touches that just take time, void of remodeling dust.

One of the things I loved about this house when we saw it for the first time was that it had an atrium. I actually squealed when I first saw it! It was in shambles, but there was so much potential! {You can read the before and after atrium post here.} At the time I had no idea we'd be adding a box turtle to that space - oh my gosh that would have made it even MORE exciting!

In the past year and a half since Rex has lived in our atrium, the space has morphed into a little turtle sanctuary. The dichondra grass is well established, and all of the plants on my little corner shelf have filled in nicely. What you can't see is the strand of little white lights we have strung around the top of the atrium. It's just so dang cute at night with those lights on!

I know from experience that the cozy, homey part of a house doesn't happen right away. Oh sure, you move your boxes in, organize your kitchen, hang stuff on the walls, but the "home" part - the part that really makes it feel right - doesn't happen right away. It just takes time. That's what I think, anyway.

At the beginning of next year we will be putting this house on the market and setting our sights on a new house to fix up and eventually create a home in. There's a part of me that wants to hold on to this one, to relish in the comfort of spaces that are now seasoned and sweetly lived in. But then there's the other part that's ready for the next step in our home-creating history.

I wonder where my little corner shelf with plants will
fit in our new home, and where Rexy might live.

Hooray for new ways to create a home.

♥