I was fortunate enough to spend the evening with Matt and Tamara and their daughter, Mia, talking about home. They welcomed me in and shared with me the memories they have created in their home. Their recounting felt so life-like thanks to the wonderful stories they told of living in the home over the years. It’s rare to meet folks so loving and kind and who allow you to feel like a part of the family the moment you walk through their front doors. Their story of home is truly a beautiful one, and I am grateful they were willing to share it with us.
What does home mean to you?
Mia: To me, I think this home in particular is really special because I've lived here my whole life. I've grown up here and I've built so many memories. It's just really special to me. Even though the neighborhood has its quirks, I feel like it's been a really great experience growing up here, surrounded by all of my family.
Matt: Home? I think there's a difference between a house and a home. I think that home is a place where you can feel safe or you can rest or a place you can come to and be yourself.
I’ve wanted to sell the house because it's a house, and move, but there is a sense of home here too, we are sort of embedded in it. You can see that by listening to our story. We have a sense of connection to this home. There's sort of nostalgia and stories in every corner of our house. I've always struggled with the idea of a house being a home. Maybe they are, maybe they are not. But this house certainly feels like our home and that we belong in it.
You know when you come home from a long trip, you come in and lay your bags down and there’s a big sigh of relief. When you settle down and you can't wait to get home, you’re no longer homesick. That's what I think of as home.
Tamara: I feel like home is… It could be anything. It could be anywhere. I was trying to think of all the different places that I lived or that we've lived. I've lived in a high rise in Japan with tatami matt floors. I’ve lived in military housing on base where it was like a single story, cinder block structure to withstand typhoons. We had rented furniture for three years and that felt like home. When we were in Brooklyn in a brownstone, that felt like home. I think it's just a space where you're surrounded by people that you love. It's your haven, but it could really be anywhere.
Matt: When we lived in Brooklyn, we had all these friends in New York that were from Salt Lake. There was a whole group of us. Tamara and I had a place that she did up. She worked for William Sonoma and Pottery Barn back in the day, that was her thing. She made us move an entire box truck of stuff, so we moved to New York and we had all this stuff. Our friends were living in these railroad apartments. They brought a backpack when they moved to New York. We brought a box truck. What we ended up doing was embracing our Mormon culture and hosted family home evenings at our little apartment. We brought all these people in and everybody knew what it was. It was bringing a connection of home to all these people who were living in these various places in various degrees of suffering and struggling and we all had this one little place we could have a home cooked meal. It ended up being a place where people would pick up a guitar and start singing and start playing music and just reconnecting again. That was bringing home to where we were, right to that space.
Tamara: we had people say at the end of the night, “I needed this so much”. It was like a respite from the craziness of the city and all the grind.
Well, what's your favorite room in the house?
Matt: We spend a lot of time in the living room and the kitchen. Does everyone say kitchen? I would say either the living room or my studio.
Mia: It might be kind of boring, but probably my room. I also think since I've been in the same room my whole life, it's been really cool to see it’s transition. I'll look at old pictures and think, why did I paint it hot pink? It’s progressed so much over the years and grown with me. There are layers of paint in this house that represent the changes.
Tamara: I feel like it depends on the season, too. Like, I love the front room in the winter when it's snowing outside and we have a fire going and we're just playing records. And it has a different cozy vibe.
What's your favorite part about living in the neighborhood?
Tamara: I love that it's such an amazing mix of people. With different backgrounds, incomes, expertise and family structures. Even the buildings are so different from street to street and from house to house. This wasn't a planned development where every house looks exactly the same and was built at the same time. It’s unfortunate that a lot of the single family homes are being demolished and then the five story mid rise comes up. That's frustrating to me just because I have such an affinity for old things. I do think that there's a place for apartments. But I also think the city should also focus on not just what they built, but what they preserve and what they save. More of a focus on what gives a community its identity and its character. I do worry about losing that here. It's a balance.
The sense of community is amazing. The people that I've worked with and advocated for to get certain things pushed through with the city. The Ninth South project was a big one. It was on the chopping block and almost didn’t happen. It almost ended up being just gravel and mulch like most other areas. We’ve also been able to meet so many amazing people. People that live here, people that used to live here. It’s been a crazy journey.
Mia: I've always said this, but I feel like downtown feels like its own little city within Salt Lake. I feel like that's partly because of the culture and the diversity, but I feel like it's also the people. No matter how much that changes, it's all of these stories that get passed down to create our little hub here. I've also been able to see the growth in the community and how much people care about keeping it and restoring it. It maintains its charm.
Matt: I grew up in Park City. I grew up in a small neighborhood, but I didn't know anybody there. I know every single person on this street and I care about every single person on the street. It's so interesting to get off on the 9th south exit. To just be driving through and instantly drive down into this place and you are home. It’s our weird little pocket of houses. You just don't see that anywhere else.
Most of these homes are from the 1900's. The whole neighborhood is really passionate about this little pocket too, and staying connected with each other and protecting our neighborhood. It’s great to be able to walk to everything too, to get your morning coffee, or get some food. It’s so walkable. So we're in a bigger city, but we are in our own little community. And you know, I like the noise. I like the ambulances, the cars, and the city noise. I can’t sleep without it.
Do you all have any rituals or routines that you do in your home?
Matt: It’s all routine all of the time. We are like clockwork in this house.
Milo (the family dog), he has arthritis now, so he can’t go up the stairs. He hangs out with Ralph (the family cat) downstairs in the morning and they let us know it’s time to get up and feed them. They tap their feet back and forth to let us know it's time. I think it’s interesting in relation to the house, it feels like the house comes back to life. I would say Milo is sort of our night watchman, he keeps an eye on things for us. Then he lets us know it's time to get up and the whole house sort of just wakes up. He gets us into our day. So the mornings are the most routine.
Mia: For me, I’d say the night time is more routine. They (Milo & Ralph) wait at the bottom of the stairs for me and I have to tuck them in. Milo and Ralph wait right there, then we run into the kitchen and he'll prance around. Ralph gets three treats, and they're like 1/4 the size of Milos. And then Milo gets three treats. Then I’ll carry them before running them over to their beds. Their beds are usually right next to each other, so they sleep together. It's really cute. They'll cuddle and I give them one treat at a time. Milo always tries to steal Ralph's, but Ralph is used to it by now. Then I give them this little stuffed animal and his baby blanket that he got when we adopted him. I have to put that on him or he won't sleep. He will wait at the bottom of the stairs until we do our routine.
Matt: If Mia has a sleepover somewhere or she's not around, they'll still hang out at the bottom of the stairs, waiting. We call it putting them to bed. Did you put them to bed?
Mia: I’ve stayed up really late doing homework and forget to put them to bed. I’ll come around the corner and they're still at the bottom of the stairs at 1:00 AM waiting for me. Sometimes they'll even trick me into thinking I forgot. Sometimes they'll get back up and they'll try to do it all again.
When I recall the moments in my life that I cherish, so many are the ones of me just being at home, be it alone or with friends and family. Homes should create a space that allows us to be free. The home that Tamara, Matt and Mia have built is just such a place. It perfectly captures who they are and how they got there, and their little oasis in the city truly feels one of a kind.
