Who Says You Can't go Home?

The dogs in their new home!

It's funny how the stories of the different stages in the family cycle can be told through the various sizes of the home.  The DINK (dual-income-no-kids) lifestyle is conducive to apartment living, as Mike and I are experiencing right now.  It's not until you start to think of growing your family that space and more rooms become invaluable.  After everyone grows up and heads out to college, there is the empty-nester phase when the kids move out, and you can't wait to downsize.  But then, the family will start growing AGAIN - and the minimalistic lifestyle isn't ideal when the kids are getting married & there are grandchildren in the future.

It was a daunting task

For the past 4 years, my parents have been living in the most adorable town home in Las Colinas just feet away from the Four Seasons & the luxurious golf course where the Byron Nelson is celebrated every year.  Their prime location has allowed them to enjoy a life of golf, margaritas, pool time & running errands in their "street legal" golf cart.  With my brother's recent engagement & the thought of babies running around sometime in the next few years - it was time for a bigger home as Casa del DuPont is going to become the hub for a few more family additions during the holidays.  In typical DuPont fashion - this has happened a few times with my parents & also with my uncles - mom & dad moved just 10 houses down the street!

Clothes before my organization skills!

Since my husband was going out of town for a man-cation in Miami, I couldn't wait to get out to Dallas to help out with the move, see the new house, hug my parents, congratulate the newly engaged couple, and more importantly - help out with the organization!  My pop's celebrated his birthday on 2/14, so I planned this trip to Dallas as a surprise birthday gift to him. My mother pretty much greeted me at the airport with a label maker to get started on the unpacking and organizing.  When we pulled up to the new driveway, my mouth dropped.  First because I was in shock that they would move mere feet away from their town home, but the new home is just beautiful.  It was literally featured in real estate magazines within the DFW area.  As I took the tour of the house - guided by none other than my mom, I found myself visualizing what it would look like with all of the furniture & all of the people.

A little post moving refreshments

It didn't take long for my mom to put me to work.  In no time, I was hiking up and down the stairs balancing bundles of clothing in my arms.  The nice thing about moving only 10 houses away....you can zip back and forth all day long.  The bad thing about moving 10 houses away....you feel silly hiring movers when you can just zip back and forth all day long.  But I couldn't wait to get my hands on organizing my parent's closet.  This closet is a closet that New Yorkers would call a "studio apartment".  It has what feels like miles and miles of storage space. My organizational brain was in overdrive as I color coded the closet with matching hangers and stuffed a box full of donation clothes.  It was overwhelming in the best way possible to find the perfect place for each item of clothing & not have to worry about any crowding from seasonal overloads (my tiny closet looks like winter threw up in there with the sweaters & boots flopping all over the place). 

Sunset view from the balcony

Outside of the closets, I have developed a few favorite things about this new home.  First, the view from the upstairs suite & game room balcony is of the 17th hole on the Four Season's Golf Course. It also provided an entertaining view of the thunderstorm & lightening on my second night in Dallas!  My second favorite thing is the custom built wine cooler.  This house has more storage just for wine than we have in our entire apartment for all of our food, period.  That means, that after a crazy day of moving and unpacking, there was a delicious pinot grigio chilled to perfection for us to enjoy with dinner.  I'm also a huge fan of the library/home office.  My husband and I don't always agree on home decorating (he's more of a action figure/rock poster type of guy....I prefer a more "sophisticated" look), but one thing we always agree on is how badly both of us want a cozy, dark library with floor to ceiling bookshelves & rich leather chairs -- and that's exactly what my parents have created in this room.  It's even stocked with a minibar full of my dad's favorite scotch! 

Home Sweet Home

But my very favorite thing about my parent's new house is all of the memories that we'll get to make in this new home.  Since my parents left Orange County a little while ago, every space they have lived in has been a bit of a "transition" for my parents.  Even though it's new, and my parents haven't even spent an entire month in the new house, it feel like "home".  And this time, we're in it for the long haul with this house.  I'm looking forward to all of the family game nights, to the sunsets in the backyard, to all of the holidays, to golf tournaments, to Christmas sing-a-longs, to dad's eggs Benedict & mom's pasta sauce, to the pool tournaments in the game room, to watching Bears games, and to growing our extended family even more. Congratulations to my amazing parents on their lovely new investment & we can't wait to come back in May to see you.