#682 Construction is in our DNA (part 1)

Construction just may be in my DNA. 

My parents married in 1951 and soon bought 10 acres way out in Fairfax, VA - far from their city jobs in Washington, DC - and started construction on their first home.  Dad and Mom were both working full-time jobs.  Yet with the help of their friends, they built 'a little house' just across the road from some woods that would later become George Mason University, founded in 1957.    

My Dad really was a super man.

Dad on top of the 'little house' ceiling joists

Shortly after I joined the family, my mom wrote this in her scrapbook about starting construction of the 'big house':

 "Jim deposited $100 to obtain the house plans of the Barber and Ross 52-foot Sun Valley house on November 22, 1958, so we are now in the building business again."  

The breezeway in the center connects the little house on left with the big house on the right.

We had a large yard in front of our house.  Our garage can be seen at the far left in this 1974 photo.  Then, (l to r) the little house (gray building), the breezeway (behind the car), and the big house. 

My brother and I liked to help out around the house as much as we could. 

Thirteen years and 4 kids later, my parents sold the Fairfax property when the family moved to Missouri.  The little house and the big house were later merged into one house which is still standing today.  Thanks to the generosity of the 2007 owners, I was able to go inside and take a look around my childhood home. 

Fairfax property in 2007

My sister and I take Mom's construction photograph album, i.e. a 1950s blog, to share with the 2007 owners.   

Kelly and I have been involved in some big home renovation projects, but it is still amazing to me that my parents built not one, but three houses in their lives.

Yours in wondering if construction is in my DNA,
Mary