A comfy cozy spot to read or chat, a warm slice of homemade bread, and a cup of tea are just a few ways you may experience the warmth of genuine hospitality when you enter the home we’re sharing with you today. Meet our friends, Grant & Suzanne. Enjoy a peek inside their home!
How long have you lived in your home?
10 years. But we're moving at the end of this year -- just a few houses down our street, same block.
The framed photos (above) feature original owners of the home and a hand written house blessing from a dear friend.
What made you choose this particular home?
Old bones, double lot, and large scale. Part of our vision for moving to Woodbine was to have room for others. We've had people live with us for as long as two years and a little as a weekend. We wanted to practice Acts-style hospitality, and this house seemed perfect. I remember walking into the house for the first time, thinking, "Yes. Look how at ease Grant is on the porch. Look at how this fits our Kingdom call." We put in an offer that very day. Our neighbors at the time seemed to have mixed income levels and were of various races, which was what we were looking for. Sold.
Do you have a favorite room?
My favorite room is actually our screened-in back porch. I LOVE sitting there to read, write, or listen. It is a shaded area full of rocking chairs, quilts, and greenery. It's a taste of "urban Eden" for me.
How would you describe your style of decorating and has it changed over time? How do you make decisions about design choices like paint color etc or purchasing large items like furniture or art?
I’m eclectic, and I enjoy thrifting or receiving family pieces that have been passed from hand to hand. I like floral and cheery 'scapes, and my husband likes browns and greens, so we have to look out for the other as we make home decorating decisions. We both love art, especially by Kathie Odom. I do watercolors, so they're all over the house too. I want our home to reflect our marriage -- places and sayings and peculiarities that have characterized our time together.
What does home mean to you?
Wherever Grant is. Wherever the Lord tells me to plant and love my neighbor. For us, that's this block on Woodbine Avenue. Even when we move, we just can't leave our block. These relationships and people are too precious to us. I think of words like "warm" and "welcoming" and "safe" and "explore" and "rest" when I think of home.
When people come into your home, what do you hope they feel?
Welcome. At home and at peace. Like their cares can fall way and they can rest and play.
Do you have a style or home philosophy?
My style is "celebrate, light, art" and Grant's is "rest, muted light, music." I'm fuchsia and gold and he's brown and green. We're both very creative in different ways, and that comes out in how we live. We blend those over bread and chocolate chip cookies and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice and gardens (sometimes better than others, haha).
Do you have any collections?
I have several of the hilarious Lori Mitchell figurines. They make me laugh. I've created memory boxes for our trips, too. They're very simple, but contain keepsakes from places where we've bonded over discovery, life, and joy. Volcanic rocks from Iceland. Our itinerary from Ireland. Beads and letters from friends in Mozambique. A restaurant coaster from New Zealand. That type of thing.
Boxes of collected memories, photos, and keepsakes from each trip labeled with location and year.
How is your home an extension of yourself or of your family?
It's an extension of me in fresh cut flowers, watercolors, mechanical pencils and art supplies, and too many baking implements. It's an extension of Grant with vinyls, the dark leather sofa, sturdy work boots, and guitar picks and pocket change on every sill. It's both of us with books everywhere. Jesus' sayings on the chalkboard. Dirt on the floor from being outside. Quilts piled up for our guests. Bread crumbs on the counter. Thrifted clothes. And recently, a feral cat who has adopted us.
This wall of photos features Suzanne’s family members posing as statues, next to statues - a fun family tradition started years ago!
Interested in reading more about this couple’s story and more of their vision for being good neighbors- check out Suzanne’s book, The Woodbine Chronicles.
Walk with her through her neighborhood as she begins to fall in love with Woodbine Avenue, a complex and diverse street soon to be irreparably impacted by gentrification. Feel her bewilderment and tension as she enters a world of popping gunfire, street prostitution, and sidewalk drugs, only to find more of the love and beauty of God. Meet her beloved neighbors and housemates as they teach her lessons of life and friendship in the holy, turbulent classroom of the street.