Lethe200
Senior Member
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
My parents were on the very low end of middle class. Most wouldn't give jobs to Japanese Americans right after the war. We never owned a home, so moved around to different apartments.
Very few of my friends lived in homes either, so it wasn't considered anything unusual. We lived in everything from a small 2-room 'carriage house' apartment over a garage on the estate of a Gilded Age mansion, to a massive 4-bdrm flat that was bigger than my current in-law's million dollar home, LOL.
I think it's why I've always had an amateur's interest in architecture. Plus my mom was a frustrated interior decorator. Every apartment we lived in, she did amazing and stunning decor to it. She would gild ceilings, paint furniture, dye towels and curtains to get the perfect match.
When I look back on it now, I'm amazed what she could do with very little money. She once created a budget version of Elsie Wolf's all-white living room in the early 60's; I still remember thinking how different it was from anything I'd seen in anybody else's house.
I'm not much of a decorator, and because of the area where I live, people don't move around much (rent control for apartment dwellers and Prop 13 tax relief for homeowners). So my last apartment was 17 yrs residency - we were paying less than market rent when we left.
Our home is the first and only, purchased when we were in our 40's. Thanks to Prop 13 the appraised value of our home, after 27 yrs, is around 50% of current market value.
Unfortunately, unlike my mom I'm not much at decorating. We keep it simple with neutral contemporary decor and lots of books!
I don't regret moving around in my childhood. You can't change the past, so why agonize over it? It is what it is, no more nor less. My parents did the best they could for us.
We all ended up being upper middle-class, well educated, good careers, solid retirements. Moving around from place to place worked out fine for us.
You know, if I mentioned to my friends' parents that I had to change schools often, they would say, "Oh, you poor kid." But I never felt that way at all. I very quickly discovered that most schools didn't have more than 2 or 3 really good teachers. By changing schools I actually ended up getting a better education, especially in science, English and history!
Very few of my friends lived in homes either, so it wasn't considered anything unusual. We lived in everything from a small 2-room 'carriage house' apartment over a garage on the estate of a Gilded Age mansion, to a massive 4-bdrm flat that was bigger than my current in-law's million dollar home, LOL.
I think it's why I've always had an amateur's interest in architecture. Plus my mom was a frustrated interior decorator. Every apartment we lived in, she did amazing and stunning decor to it. She would gild ceilings, paint furniture, dye towels and curtains to get the perfect match.
When I look back on it now, I'm amazed what she could do with very little money. She once created a budget version of Elsie Wolf's all-white living room in the early 60's; I still remember thinking how different it was from anything I'd seen in anybody else's house.
I'm not much of a decorator, and because of the area where I live, people don't move around much (rent control for apartment dwellers and Prop 13 tax relief for homeowners). So my last apartment was 17 yrs residency - we were paying less than market rent when we left.
Our home is the first and only, purchased when we were in our 40's. Thanks to Prop 13 the appraised value of our home, after 27 yrs, is around 50% of current market value.
Unfortunately, unlike my mom I'm not much at decorating. We keep it simple with neutral contemporary decor and lots of books!
I don't regret moving around in my childhood. You can't change the past, so why agonize over it? It is what it is, no more nor less. My parents did the best they could for us.
We all ended up being upper middle-class, well educated, good careers, solid retirements. Moving around from place to place worked out fine for us.
You know, if I mentioned to my friends' parents that I had to change schools often, they would say, "Oh, you poor kid." But I never felt that way at all. I very quickly discovered that most schools didn't have more than 2 or 3 really good teachers. By changing schools I actually ended up getting a better education, especially in science, English and history!
