Jere Van Patten

Since my last post a lot has been happening in the Van Patten home.  Most exciting news is that my mom is FINALLY home from the hospital slash rehabilitation center after two and a half months!  Yippee!  We decided that after such a horrific event it would be great to do something great for my mom's return.  She's close to retirement, fell the day after her 67th birthday and does so much for so many all the time.  The time seemed perfect for a little Peg-tiddly-Peg-Peg lovin'.  So, we rounded up the troops, took up a collection and got busy transforming my mom's house.  Heading this project was my amazing wife Allyson who has the eye for design and a great team to back her up as well as my sister Julie. 

She bought her track home back in 1993 and the walls were stark white.  We lovingly refer to her house as "the bowling alley" becuase it's thin and very long.  Her main living area consists of a family room which runs into a dining room which runs into the kitchen which runs into a sunroom.  That's all the "left" half of her house - the "right" side has her master bedroom and the other two bedrooms and bathroom.  We didn't have the time or budget to redo her entire house so we just focused on the "left" side - the living spaces.

My mom has been saying for a long while that she'd really love her living room to be yellow, but she has rediculously high ceilings and always thought it would be impossible to do unless she hired a guy to do it for her.  I have to admit that it was pretty challenging to make it happen, but we got the job done.  We needed lots of tall ladders to stand on, brave people to climb them and folks willing to get some paint on their clothes.  We got peeps to come in and scrub corners, put up beadboard, chair rails, safety bars in the bathtub and shower, put bookshelves together, install cabinet shelves, do yardwork, drapery, windows, vaccume, et. al.  Lucky for us, we found 'em!  People poured on the love for the one and only Peggers!  We brought her home today at 3:30pm to a house FULL of friends, family and neighbors welcoming her back to her *new* house.  It was perfect!  She was completely surprised.  From the moment she opened the front door the water works started and she shed many happy and grateful tears at the transformation. 

To those who contributed in ANY way, shape, or form - THANK YOU!!  This could not have happened without your help.  My mom is so happy and absolutely LOVES it - and that's the best "thank you" anyone can receive!  I'll be posting the before and after pictures as soon as I get them uploaded so you all can see the differences.