The House of 8

The House of 8 is where I live; over the years it has evolved into my Muse…The treasures I’ve collected, my furry companions and the grand natural light spur my photography. There’s also something mystical about The House of 8; that part is a mystery to me, but one I choose to accept. 

It was never my intention to move to York, SC…It just happened after a year and a half of searching for our first home to buy. Thirty years later I’m still in this small Southern town I once compared to a combination of Mayberry and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (the Mayor at the time wasn’t too pleased about this comparison, especially since it made it to the Charlotte Observer…twice!) 

The tiny house I moved from had numerous numbers in the address; including a half. The address at The House of 8 is a single number. Yes, you guessed it, an 8!  At the time I thought, that’s it?? Every place I had lived before had multiple numbers in the address. Hmmm…boring to just have one number, so the collection of 8’s began! Last time I counted the porch sported 78 of them, but as always there are a few patiently waiting to be hung with their numerical companions. Friends have brought 8’s  as an offering of sorts to the porch; they encompass quite an assortment of designs and places of origins. One of the most recent was one a boy and his Mom found by the river; it is part of a brick which has the appearance of a squarish 8.

I don’t consider myself to be the owner of my home; I consider myself to be the current caretaker of a historical treasure. The house was built in 1926; well, 1926 in the original part of the house which flows into a 1970’s add-on! Vintage houses usually need an assortment of yearly maintenance and/or repairs, but I’ve come to terms with that. Like everything else in Life, it’s all about perspective. So I choose to think of anything I need to do to the house as Historic Preservation. Helps the ink flow better on the check.

For years I’ve considered The House of 8 to be my largest art project. I’m constantly arranging, rearranging, embracing interesting creative projects (in and outside)  and playing in my studio. The studio is a two story garage with a bathroom. The story goes a “Widow Woman” lived upstairs during The War with three children. Which war I don’t know; there’s quite an assortment of eclectic stories in York. A few absolutely true, most kinda’ sorta true, and then there’s just plain BS. 

Thankfully the neighborhood is peaceful and quiet; I’ve termed it a Spiritually Gated Community. I hope it always stays that way. So, for right now I’m here with lots of mosaics planned to create in the house and in the yard. My vision is to accent the historic with a bit of funk.  Serendipitous creativity is the name of the game around here~

Why Houses of 8 instead of House of 8 for my website? The easy answer is that the House of 8 domain name was taken. But as with everything else, it makes sense why it turned out that way. In astrology, there are 12 Houses. We all live among many categories or houses during our Lifetime. One house would be boring, wouldn’t it?