So, why am I so obsessed with Swedish style and craftsmanship? Maybe it has something to do with my ancestry. My great grandparents immigrated to Connecticut from Sweden in the 1890s. I grew up hearing stories about Sweden from my grandmother, and had lots of visual reminders of our Swedish ancestry at Christmas when my grandmother, mother and aunt would bring out the many Swedish Christmas ornaments that decorated our homes. We always had strings of tiny Swedish flags on our tree, and my father topped our Christmas trees with a set of painted wooden Dala horses, one to represent each family member. Sally Peterson

A few days after the disappointment of realizing we had lost out on buying "The House Around the Corner (HAC)," our Realtor, Carol Kelly, emailed me with the news that there was another house listed in the same neighborhood. Within minutes, my neighbor, Bliss, had emailed me about the house, too. When John and I looked up the location, we were thrilled. But we were warned that the house needed some “upgrading” on the inside. Sally Peterson

First let me say how excited my husband, John, and I are that our house has been chosen to be remodeled on "This Old House!" We still need to pinch ourselves several times a day to believe that we are really going to have our house and yard done by Tom, Norm, Richard and Roger! We have no idea how we got so lucky. Sally Peterson