In July of 2009 I visited my dad’s birthplace and childhood home in Oskar’s Parish in the village of Kroksjö in southern Sweden. It was a most fortuitous event when the current owners of the home came out to the front yard and invited us to come inside and tour the home. While the exterior of the home remains very much the same design as I have seen in old family photos, the inside of the house is completely modern. It is a beautiful and contemporary family home and the residents were most cordial in giving us the full tour and revealed much of the history of the home to Cynthia and me. That day was a highlight for me in our visit to relatives in Småland.

One year ago, on Monday the 26th of July, I began work on our newly purchased 1888 Helena home to restore and remodel the home in a style influenced by my father’s birthplace. Cynthia has been most generous and patient in allowing and encouraging me in this great repurposing project of ours. I have wondered a time or two if I didn’t bite off much more than my large mouth could really hold. But excellent help from friends, neighbors and great local trades men and women have helped me keep the progress moving ahead. It has been a labor of love and I am still having a great time and I love what I am doing.

I wish I could say that after 12 months of full time attention to this restoration project that the house is complete. While we have passed the occupancy inspection and moved into our home, much remains to do. We are, however, enjoying the completed IKEA kitchen and Cynthia is outdoing herself as the resident Greek Chef and hostess. Most recently, Nancy and Joe spent a week with us and we put the kitchen and whole house to the test and it passed with warm approval from both Nancy and Joe.

With nice weather on a regular basis these days, I have left the indoor projects for awhile and am concentrating on completing exterior trim caulking, patching and painting. It is really taking shape as each window gets it’s final coat of paint.

My plan is remove the fence from across the front yard and redesign and cut all the boards in a pattern that would better reflect the style I saw on my father’s home and use them at the front entry and as a deck railing. Perhaps I will be able to take a picture in July of 2012 showing a much more finished Swedish look to our Helena home!