I think I mentioned it long ago but I am fascinated with the suburbs and suburbia in general. Much of my childhood was spent in a motel, on a busy street in Hollywood. There was no neighborhood per se. Just a string of buildings crowded together. All day long the parade of cars and people gave me something to look at but I never had the suburban experience that I had seen on TV. Until my adult life, anyway.

The photo above was taken on my walk around the neighborhood. It’s well-established and a mix of old and new but mostly old. We have cul-de-sacs like the one depicted in this famous Bill Owens photo from his Suburbia collection:

And the photo above reminds me of the housing boom we’ve had. Houses everywhere. We lost the cul-de-sac at the end of our street due to expansion. They opened it up to improve traffic patterns after we got trapped during a brush fire evacuation. Now there is a lot more traffic on our street but our commute across town is cut down by quite a bit since we are able to access the main road now.

I just love to walk around the neighborhood and during this shutdown I’ve been doing it often. Before then, I never knew my neighbors, or their dogs. Now it’s like a social event every time the pup and I head out. I love to see what they are doing to their homes too because with the shutdown came a renewed focus on home improvement.

There is a section of homes that are all pastel colored and every time I walk by I think of Edward Scissorhands.

Not your typical “What Not” post today but thought I’d break it up a little. Later, I may attempt to stain two side tables because now they don’t match the new couches all that well. Debating if I should do white with distressed brown coming through or go dark, espresso brown. See what walking around the neighborhood does? It sparks creativity.

Do you have any DIY projects you are working on right now?

If you want to take a trip down memory lane, check out Bill Owens and his Suburbia collection. Such fun and interesting photos.