Close Quarters: Teresa Morrison, 52, a real estate agent, grew up in a ranch-style house in Cresskill, N.J., one of six children.
“Every room was used. No room was just a showplace because there were eight of us living there,” she says. “We used the dining room every day, not just for holidays.” She thinks they remain a close family because they learned how to co-exist in tight quarters.
When she and her husband went looking for a house in 1991, they ended up in a ranch-style house in Cresskill.
“We looked at everything in our price range; this ended up being something we could afford in the town we wanted,” she says. She liked raising her two children there because they didn’t have to deal with stairs and because it was easy to keep track of the kids’ whereabouts.
Though she didn’t deliberately set out to re-create her childhood, there’s obviously something about a ranch that appeals to her family, because three of her five siblings also bought ranches.
And then there’s the matter of the kitchen colors. Growing up, their family’s kitchen was first painted blue, then a golden yellow. Now, two of the siblings have a light-blue kitchen, and two, golden yellow.
“There’s nothing conscious about it,” Morrison says. “I think there are many things from our childhood that make us feel good and take us to a familiar place.”
©2014 The Record (Hackensack, N.J.)
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