Saturday 23 January 2016

My Love of Old Houses

Robin, over at A Bird's Life posted some photos today of lovely old homes in her town. It got me thinking how I have always loved old houses and wished to live in one.  Since this was not to be I have tried to make changes in our house that make me think I do indeed live in my dream house.
 38 years ago we moved into this house which my husband built. It was a small 2 bedroom house with a finished basement with 2 more bedrooms ( we had 5 children under 12 ). There  was nothing charming about it I'm afraid. A very basic house that was close to all schools, an arena, and a park.

Through the years the house as grown, and also been changed quite a bit. Fortunately my DH is a great carpenter and could do all these changes with very little help. One of the first things he did
 ( when we had lived here about 10 years) was to add on a small ( 7' by 8') room which I call my Buttery. ( I already had a pantry in the kitchen so it had to have a different name). We have our freezer, a second fridge, and lots of storage here. I even have an old wood window, the kind you have to push up to open ( pretty sure that window was found on someone's free pile).


I really wanted a fancy glass door for this special little room and we found this one for $5 at a garage sale.  The flooring is fir that my DH was able to get very cheap because there was so little of it ( but enough for our small room).


On the wall opposite the tall built in cupboards, over the freezer , my talented husband built  these upper cupboards. ( The clipboard hanging on a nail over the freezer is my freezer inventory.)


About ten years ago we needed more space. A teenage granddaughter was moving in with us, we still had one son at home, and we had decided to make the basement into a 2 bedroom suite and have another son and his family join forces with us. The addition consisted of 2 bedrooms and one-and-a-half baths. This hallway was ground level ( the rest of the house is up 5 steps) and the door at the end of the hallway leads to the suite. I LOVE how the corner of the door had to be cut off!! The door on the left is a bathroom and the one on the right goes into my Christmas closet.

These stairs go up a ways then there's a landing that leads to the kitchen and the rest of the main floor. Continue up these stairs and there's another bedroom and half bath. Planning how this was all going to go was both scary and thrilling .So many ideas and options.





 Another thing we've done is change as many door knobs as we can to the old glass ones. We used to be able to find them for a reasonable price but now they've become too costly.

This has turned out to be a very long post. If you're still reading you are amazing. Thanks for visiting me today.

      Granny Marigold

8 comments:

  1. You don't give us credit for how much we are willing to read, and that wasn't much at all! Thanks for the lovely viewing of your house. Lots of great woodwork there, beautiful! Most of the finish type carpentry around here is what I have done, and it's okay but not amazing:)
    I've tried to do freezer inventories with my fruit. It works great until I forget to cross something off...and it doesn't take long for that to happen. Or I just need to throw something in there in a hurry, and don't take the time to write it down. Or decide to move it to another freezer, or all of the above:)

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  2. From what you have shown us I would say you have achieved the look of a lovely old home that you wanted!

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  3. I love your house! And thanks for the mention. :) I too would love to live in an old house. When Chuck and I were first married we lived (rented) a house built in the 1920's. Foot wide baseboards and the original bathroom, except the toilet! It was lovely but NO closet space. I love certain things about old homes and new homes. You seem to have achieved a good balance of both.
    I have a freezer inventory too!

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  4. I thoroughly enjoyed this tour of your home. I think you and your DH have done an excellent job of capturing the old house character. Your buttery is beautiful and that glass door is a wonderful treasure. I also love the door with the corner cut off and the glass knobs. Your freezer inventory is also most impressive.

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  5. Loved your home tour. I , too, wished to live in an old house, but it was not to be. I love the nooks and crannies of old houses. Thanks for sharing yours...

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  6. Your wonderful imagination has made a cozy and charming home from the basic one you started with. Wow. It looks complicated with all the different levels! I'm impressed!

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  7. You have made a beautiful house! That door is so pretty. I love old homes too but realize that they would be too much work and costly for us now. Thanks for sharing yours. Nancy

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  8. Oh your house looks cozy and inviting! I love your freezer list...I need one of those! Sounds like your husband is quite handy! :)

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