Today Chez Diva is celebrating her 10 year anniversary! OK well technically, she is turning 55 this year but she has been our little Chez for these past 10 years and we are happy to say she is well loved and has loved us back. She defintiely is looking better than she has in the past 30 years. New sexy boiler system, new roof, new patio surround, a team of gardners to restore the “RV Parking, and we can’t forget the super sexy new kitchen and baths. Dare I say – our Sexy Chez Diva will be hot to trot for the next 20 years if not longer. (Kinda like her owners!)
The Divas are in and in and out of homes every day. But there is nothing like coming home to Chez Diva. As soon as we drive up we can see the Diva Dogs in the window, Rocco the tripod old man kitty climbing the fence to join us inside, and Sydney scaling the two stories to her preferred lanai entrance. There is a fabulous guest room that has been host to our dear friends, Amy, Rassamee, Josh and our dancer pal, Raja from NYC. Each fall we make a couple of new pals from places internationale. They all have a room in Chez Diva. And for the past couple of years even Roy has had a room/studio in the basement. Ask anyone who has been hosted for an evening, a week or a few months – Chez Diva is super sexy!
The Divas searched for three years for a one owner mid-century home that was good for entertaining. Yes – we were those complicated buyers. But hey you know what you want. We found Chez Diva one January day. She had this amazing green shag carpet in the living and dining room. A white fossil texan stone fireplace. Four bedrooms on the main level. And the most glorious of dining rooms ever. I’m serious it was something to behold. And not a thing had been touched. Along with the original kitchen and wood paneling there was also an old roof, a boiler that was obviously on its last leg, old rusty pipes, and a fabulous patio that only had some plastic wiggle board keeping guests from harms way.
Over the years we have fixed, renovated, replaced, and pretty much LIVED in every inch of our fabulous Chez Diva. So many good memories! But here are a few that really make it our Chez Diva:
- Our first thanksgiving with Jenny, Josh, and Tracy who all became fixtures of what is now a 26-30 person sit down two turkey day tradition. That first Thanksgiving we all fit around just one table. Memories!
- Summertime on the Patio. Every morning Kim and I go out to our patio and sip coffee and let the day begin. At night you will catch us staying up late on Tuesday and Wednesday nights (Realtor hours) BBQing and roasting marshmellows. Or DonnaTella taking off her wig and letting the sun stream through her dress is one of our favorite summertime Chez Diva memories.
- Tearing down the RV Carport and slowly and surely creating an amazing back veggie garden. Out of yuck has come a lush quiet space. The Diva Dogs have effectively destroyed the front yard. But hey they will get old one day and we will restore it.
- All of the weeknight dinners, astrology salons, wine tasting, blow up pool on the patio parties, video shoots, client parties, Halloween parties, birthday parties, etc. We seriously host a lot of parties in Chez Diva. Just as a point of clarity we have three whole credenzas to hold all of the glasses and various napkins one needs to entertain properly. In the basement we have an organized system to hold all fo the decorations for the various seasons. Oh did I mention TWO dishwashers. Yep – you throw as many parties as we do you need a system for cleaning.
- Wedding glitter stuffing fun. For those who atteneded our wedding I’m sure you were super excited to get the glitter sprayed all over your house. Imagine hanging out in our dining room stuffing all that glitter into the envelopes only to realize you had left the date of your wedding off the invitations!
- Our friends the Saturgays and Jeff helped us to come up with the major renovation of the kitchen and bathrooms. It was 2007 and Green Building materials were making their baby steps. We dove right in and pretty much have a one of a kind kitchen and bathroom. Would we do it again the same way? No – in the future we take all of our renovation advice from Tad.
- Right now the final stage of Chez Diva’s sexy renovation is underway – the basement. Also included is a sexy Tad laundry room with a folding table and racks for drying the naughty bits.
- One of our favorite things to do is to have funny chats in the morning and again late at night in our Den with our various guests. We put on a record, the pooch and/or kitties pop up on the couch for a snuggle, pour a cup of coffee or in the evening a nice glass of wine and relax. It is this rare moment in our lives where we are at home and with our favorite people in the world.
- Hosting Raja, Rassamee, Amy, and all of our FIUTS students over the years. Our house is always open for the travelling and adventurous soul. All of them have a “room” in our sexy Chez Diva.
- Kim’s 40th Birthday party was huge at our house. Crazy things happened. And I still cannot believe we were able to fit 100 people inside.
