Thursday, September 16, 2010

History of House!



Man oh, man... where has the time gone?  I am so sorry to have gone so long between posts, but for those of you dear readers that may not know, I am in law school which started back up pretty much where my last post left off, and so I have had little to no free time to get back to this blog.  I have thought about it and thought about it, but have just been too damn busy.  So, here I am!  I'm back!  And with many, many updates to report.  So let's go... 


For starters, we met with one of the previous owners of the house who lived here with his wife for 50 years... 50 years!  From 1950 to 2000... amazing.  It turns out that he was also on the historical society for our little town, and so he had gathered a bunch of information on the history of our property which he wanted to share with us.  SIDEBAR: this town really IS lovely, people still do things like stop by and offer to tell you about the history of your home.  I am charmed.  Anyway, he researched the deeds of the property back to 1767 for the property, and 1840 for the house.  Incredible.  We learned all kinds of things, like that it was previously divided into apartments, and that the garage in back was a fully functioning carriage house, complete with hay and horses, before it was converted into a mechanics garage and later an apartment as well.  I guess a house gets to do a lot of things when it is around as long as this one was.  When they bought this house in 1950, they paid $11,750.  Awesome.  The picture at the top of the post is roughly what the property looked like when they bought it.  We had a great visit and he left us with really cool old documents like his original checks to purchase the house and a bunch of other information about the town.  So lovely.  After we met with him, Tim found a  tool in the basement bilco doors that was apparently used to remove horse shoes... this house is awesome.




So, turning to updates, there are many!  We finally had a housewarming party to invite some friends over to see the place who haven't had a chance to come at other times.  A good time was had, and I took advantage of the house being spic and span to take some new pictures.  




 We finally got the guest room put together.  That is a new (to us) Ikea bed from Craigslist, the previously featured GIANT blackboard, and some family and friends pictures hung on the wall, since I figure family and friends will likely be the folks staying in that room.


We finished hanging some things on the wall in the living room and I replaced some dead plants with some nice alive ones (something I have to do periodically, because I am not responsive to my plants needs... oh bother)...




We did some additional decorating in our bedroom as well, finally getting some things hung on the walls to make it feel a little more lived in.  Lucho wanted to demonstrate that we allow dogs on our bed, and also to apologize that the bed was not better made in this photo... These are just scraps of fabric that I stretched over embroidery hoops... one even has a little embroidery on it by yours truly... 




Plus, I hung/framed some valentines that Tim and I have exchanged... one is from 2001! Wow.  


We put some old pieces of wooden trim above the windows in the hallway, but I couldn't get a great picture of it. 




The downstairs bathroom got a Deerhoof poster to jazz it up...



As well as this little skunk ashtray for necessary matches... There is actually a hole under his tail for you to place whatever you choose... flowers seemed appropriate.


And the entire place got a good cleaning, which we hadn't really had much opportunity to do since we moved because we have been so busy just shifting things around.  It really feels much more lived in to me know, and I am relieved in a way because I didn't want to get back to school and feel like everything was left undone.

 {BEFORE}
Umm... I can't find a before picture, so just imagine holes here...

 {AFTER}


Tim has been busily handy-manning..? Man-handling? some projects... he patched the dining room ceiling where the plumbers had made holes for exploration... we have not had a bat in the house since... I'm sure it's no coincidence.
{BEFORE}
{AFTER}

 He also finished repairing the damage to the living room floor, caused by the bank's irresponsible plumbers... and just a reminder of how these projects looked before, and how they look now.  Without Tim, these would have cost us a few thousand dollars to get accomplished.  Yay for Tim!


Also, the electrical work is now completed.  In the process, our electrician (Tim's stepdad) discovered that the groundhog that had been living under our kitchen had completely chewed up the wiring to our range and garbage disposal, so he replaced those wires as well.  Next up is the heating project, which I am sure I will document fully when it is underway.  Work will begin tomorrow, and ought to wrap up just when we are so chilly at night we can't take it anymore.  Yay!  


What else, what else... oh, here's a few flea market finds and some items that we have modified for maximum greatness!





I pledge to try to be a better blogger, but it's definitely going to be more sparse as school goes on.  Sorry... but keep the comments coming, I really love hearing from everybody!









4 comments:

  1. Oh this is so wonderful Sarah - I kept looking for a new posting! How wonderful to meet with the couple who bought the house so many years ago, what a great history. So, I say the same as the first comment :~) Will give him many hugs from you when we arrive! When he comes back can I come visit with him and see the house?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cindy, have an awesome time with your awesome son! And you can come visit us anytime! You don't have to wait for him to come back.

    ReplyDelete