Farmhouse. Bungalow. Beach cottage. Mountain cabin. Urban loft. Tract home…Wait. What??? Tract home??? ( Cue the sound of cartoon brakes screeching.) When I used to think of my ideal home I often pictured a farmhouse, surrounded by rolling hills, or a beach cottage smack dab on the white sand. Even a darling bungalow in my city’s desirable, older neighborhood. Or the top floor of a high rise with stellar views of the city at night. I never pictured a tract home in the middle of the suburbs, surrounded by strip malls, endless rows of gas stations and drug stores. Yet that’s just what I live in. Although my husband argues that it isn’t quite  a “tract home” since it was designed from two different plans from two different builders and isn’t like  any other house in our neighborhood. Splitting hairs are we? Whatever.

For the sake of this blog, let’s just call it a tract home, or cookie cutter home if you prefer. Not that there’s anything wrong with a tract home. Far from it. It’s just that when it comes to blogs, many, if not most, offer names like, Farmhouse number (insert a number), Cottage on (insert woods, lake, mountain), Bungalow on   (insert street name). No one ever says Tract Home on a Hill….or Beachside Tract Home. Although those are catchy titles. When I decided to blog, I tried a number of cute names, “Brown Dog Farm” led the pack for quite a while. Since it’s a play on my last name and I had a brown dog.  Once. I don’t have a brown dog anymore, nor do I live on a farm. Hmmm, what to call a blog that’s about loving where you live, decorating on a budget and being content? Voila. My Suburban Sanctuary was born.

My home is located in the suburbs of Tampa, Florida, just outside the bedroom community of Brandon. It sits on a quiet street in a community of about 500 other homes, also situated on quiet streets. I am lucky that when we built this house we got to choose our lot. It’s large as suburban lots go, narrow, but long and we have no backyard neighbors. A must have for me at the time. This house is also a compromise between Mr B and me. I wanted to live in the country, he preferred closer to the city. He was commuting then, and needed to be within 30 minutes of the airport. This was the best of both worlds. Close enough to make the commute bearable, far enough away from the city that I could garden in private with no one peeking in my windows.

We’ve been in this home a number of years. While we’ve managed some updates, most of the house is still waiting for its spit shine. It still lacks character. It needs details.   Now we have the time. Mr B retired last fall. I gave him the HONEY DO LIST that had been decades in the making. We are beginning to add character to this home, one room at a time, accompanied by the sound of some grumbling and low key groaning. um…..no not me, I’m singing Hallelujah!

My goal is simple. I want each and every room of my home to bring me pleasure as I walk in to it.  I’ll be blogging along the way, with tips, tricks and ideas on turning this not-quite-tract-home into my personal sanctuary. Hope you stick around.