I'll give you all a rabbit hole:
Old House Dreams - A collection of historic homes for those who dream.
Old House Dreams - A collection of historic homes for those who dream.
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Old Houses - Whatcha Got
- Thread starter Pocket Dave
- Start date
That's one reason I'd hate to move - my 1928 house is far from perfect and needs a lot of work that will probably never get done in my lifetime. But as they say, "better is the Devil you know than the one you don't."
My humble abode is fairly recent, being built in 1849.
The oldest I've lived in was from 1333.
The oldest I've lived in was from 1333.
The house we live in is listed in the city register as built in "1900" which is code for "we don't know when your house was built because all of the city's records from 1906 on back were destroyed in a very big fire.
I've bought and redone as my residence a couple 1920s or 30s houses. I've bought a couple more just to fix up and sell. This was all in the 80s and 90s.
Odd thing. I have recurring dreams of buying old houses. They always very odd floor plans and/or are in such bad shape that walls and roofs have more holes than structure.
Odd thing. I have recurring dreams of buying old houses. They always very odd floor plans and/or are in such bad shape that walls and roofs have more holes than structure.
The house I'm living in was built by my grandparents in the 1930s. They immigrated here from Canada during the great depression. My father and his four siblings grew up in this house.
About 25 years ago, I moved in to help take care of my grandmother after her health went bad. After she died, my father inherited the house and now he rents to me and has willed the house to my (now adult) daughter and her husband and kids.
That's five generations of my family continuously living in this house.
There is a giant cottonwood tree in the backyard that my grandparents originally planted to commemorate the birth of their firstborn in the mid 30s.
About 25 years ago, I moved in to help take care of my grandmother after her health went bad. After she died, my father inherited the house and now he rents to me and has willed the house to my (now adult) daughter and her husband and kids.
That's five generations of my family continuously living in this house.
There is a giant cottonwood tree in the backyard that my grandparents originally planted to commemorate the birth of their firstborn in the mid 30s.
I am living in my grandmother's house, built late 30s, bought early 70s. Mostly unmodified. Some things like rotting windows, tiny closets, one bathroom for two people, are not convenient. 1939 insulation and single pane windows means my utility bills are horrendous.
I am not going to post a picture. I took a picture of my house and ran it through two "find the location" softwares; the first one located me within a couple of counties; the second one located me in my actual neighborhood. I think it would be pretty easy to find my actual address, maybe with a third software. Not going to post that on the net.
I am not going to post a picture. I took a picture of my house and ran it through two "find the location" softwares; the first one located me within a couple of counties; the second one located me in my actual neighborhood. I think it would be pretty easy to find my actual address, maybe with a third software. Not going to post that on the net.
My house in St. Paul was built in 1909, but not that remarkable, most of the neighborhood is a similar age. The woodwork is original and unpainted, which was a big selling point for me, and the floors are an interesting hierarchy of wood: oak in the front hall and living/dining rooms, maple in the kitchen and upstairs hall/bedrooms, and pine in the bedroom closets.
It originally had a gravity furnace, so already had ducts for an easy conversion to modern furnace and central AC. I've added insulation to the walls and attic (where there was none) and remodeled the kitchen and bath, otherwise not that much different from original. The kitchen needed doing because it originally had an icebox, so nowhere to put a fridge, when i bought the house it was partially blocking the swinging door. Cool detail: when i've had to open a wall for repair work, the studs are full-size 2" x 4" wood.
It originally had a gravity furnace, so already had ducts for an easy conversion to modern furnace and central AC. I've added insulation to the walls and attic (where there was none) and remodeled the kitchen and bath, otherwise not that much different from original. The kitchen needed doing because it originally had an icebox, so nowhere to put a fridge, when i bought the house it was partially blocking the swinging door. Cool detail: when i've had to open a wall for repair work, the studs are full-size 2" x 4" wood.
My friend bought a two story house in the late 1990s that was built in the 1880s.
At some time in the 1950s, it was moved to a different location and put up on wood pylons, but wasn't particularly level.
Later, in the 1970s, an addition was put on, although that was built level onto the unlevel main house.
After he bought it, I helped him "renovate" it.
He kept the same floorplan (discrete rooms internally) but just wanted to bring what was essentially a century old house up to modern standards. The original house was built without any electrical, plumbing, insulation, or heat. Most of those were retrofitted in later decades but were totally inadequate so they had to go.
We then cut the house in half with a chainsaw and jacked up different parts under the floor to make both halves level with the ground and with each other, then we patched the pieces back together.
Following that was all new electrical, plumbing, heating, and proper insulation with modern windows and siding.
We added a bathroom (one never existed because the previous owners used the outhouse) and a septic system.
By the time he was finished with the place, it was a very functional and efficient two story, three bedroom home, but was also beautiful and comfortable.
He made a ton of money when he eventually sold it.
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You telling me they were using a privy in the 1990s?
Hoo boy. I like old things, but not to that extent!
It was used as a summer vacation cabin throughout most of the last half of the 1900s.
Shortly after my friend bought the house, before he started fixing it up, life circumstances left me broke and homeless for a few months and I ended up living in this old shack from about March through May - essentially still Winter in the Northwoods.
Living with no heat, electricity or water is no fun. Try sleeping through the night when it's below freezing and you have to go outside and trudge through three feet of snow way out in the backyard just to take a dump.
They say that adversity builds character. I sure did learn a lot during those few months about how ordinary people lived before modern conveniences existed.
I learned that without electricity, you tend to wake up and go to sleep according to when the sun is up.
Chamber pots are useful.
If you keep a little fire going during the day, outside in a firepit, you can always cook on it, boil water, and also heat up a bunch of large rocks that you can bring indoors and place in a small, insulated room to keep yourself fairly warm, even through a long night.
Especially if you're living isolated in the woods, you become much more finely tuned to the weather and to whatever nature is doing.
When there are no store bought groceries to be had, you can live on squirrels and birds if you have to.
Silent meditation is a lost art.
Remember, don't cut that tree down. If the neighbors don't like it, tell them to pound sand
Working for three summers on my parents house in Maryland. They were never practical folks and began neglecting the house immediately when they bought it in 1988. June 2023 pictured.
And the other week:
It’s a really unique beautiful mid Atlantic take on a 1950’s California breezeway layout. There was originally a 2br main house and a 1br inlaw cottage with a garage / porch breezeway in the middle. It had been converted into one big house by the prior owner.
It was a mess inside… hoarding is real. Thankfully I only inherited the bass hoarding thing. It’s been a lot of work.
Before. One of the nicer rooms of my parents clutter.
After.
Before:
After:
That’s a $25 thrift shop table. Was thinking of maybe air bnb’ ing it but just had to see the house look truly nice once in my life. My folks are very loving but they kept a very quirky house. Glad to have them living near me back in their New England hometown.
I was going to open up part of the house I’m redoing, connecting the mushroom (former kitchen) to the “new” 1960’s kitchen (converted bedroom) — I realized that just opening up the passageway between the two would be more functional and so much simpler.
This is the current after. The DIY previous homeowner had turned one of these two former closets into a doorway by cutting that door out. He left the original bifold
Closet doors though. I was going to knock out the whole wall but realized that just removing the 2x3 closet wall would do plenty to open things up, and the back door entry/laundry/bar would be just fine as is.
Sort of Before — you can see where I pulled out an awkward no-space-for-it island. The DIY owner in the 1960s-80’s was handy but had no design sense.
1895 here. One floor in a 4 floor building with corresponding attic and basement space. High ceilings (different themed ceiling decorations in each room), original wood floors, great very central location and can walk to everything - including the train station. German built. Was lived in by Russian officers 1945-1990. Bought it in the mid 90s for a song.
1915 former convent: the church is right next door and their bell tower puts out at least 120 dB and rings several times a day on Saturday and Sunday.
(Aside from that ruckus, it's a prime location steps from downtown and about a minute from the USA border crossing...)
(Aside from that ruckus, it's a prime location steps from downtown and about a minute from the USA border crossing...)
I thought to but know that my wife wouldn't want me to post online - but here's our entryway for an idea. Was painted in Russian military paint including the ceiling and somewhat amazingly we were able to remove that exposing the original underneath:
