Name for our house- Mežvidi

During this vacation we continued to search for lost Latvia. Latvian country landscape is still characterized by the historical model of the Latvian household, the individual farmstead. Latvians love their neighbors, but their house should be located enough far not see or hear them. Unfortunatly there are many abandoned country dwellings in the Latvian countryside - the silent and fading witnesses of the vanished life. Their inhabitants went to look for a better life somewhere else. We found this deserted house, actually more walls as a house, in the middle of forest. 

                                               

The nature was taking it over. On the one of the walls I saw the name board "Mežvidi"  (the middle of the forest). Latvians give the names to their houses in the countryside. It was  really rusty and letters already almost despaired, but still I felt in love with it  immediately. So we decided to take it with us. I did not  cleaned the rust from it, but only use the whitewash technique to make the name more clear and now it is on the wall in our living room.

So it looked before the restoration

                                     

So it looks  now. The old padlock we found in the grass. To keep the everything in style, we also collected old rusty nails. We took them out from the old boards. It is not only recycling, but in this way we will protect somebody by stepping on them. I know how painful it is and it resulted for me a few visits to the hospital. It happened a long time ago, but I still remember the pain.

                                     

Its second life in our living room. The two images on the wall Mario bought with idea to  put there our photos, but I disagree. I love these old charcoal drawings. Now idea who were these people and how was their life, but I love them. 

 

The image of old car is a present from my American photography friend Tiffany Dawn Smith.