Old House Lovers

[Nyboy]

http://www.bobvila.com/slideshow/15-old-house-features-we-were-wrong-to-abandon-46066/laundry-chute#

 

[aftermidnight]

I can relate to several of these, mail slots ha, who still has mail delivered to there door, we have to walk to the end of the road for ours. Telephones in alcoves, the normal place for them when I was growing up, dumb waiters where I worked, in our house we had a sliding panel from the kitchen to the dining room, it was mirrored on the dining room side above the sideboard. Shutters, my grand parents had these on their house although they were on the outside. When they went on holiday they were closed and bolted from the inside. We had an intercom system put in when a neighbor had heart trouble, she could get hold of us quickly at any time day or night. Oh how I miss that claw foot tub and last but not least DS#2 is putting in a dutch door type gate in the new section of fence he's promised me this spring, this might not happen as quickly as promised tho, mom will just have to be patient. He has a new girlfriend, looks serious, mom has her fingers crossed as this one looks like the real deal this time . He such a great guy it's about time he had some happiness in his life.
Annette

 

[Nyboy]

I want a claw foot tub. I can admit to taking bubble baths after stressful day

 

[Smart Red]

Hum-m-m. aftermidnight, I just put in a request for a door to the garden. DS gave me my (instant) choice of three doors and the promise to install the door instead of a piece of movable fencing I have now. Let's see who gets theirs first. I'm betting on you.

I think it will look interesting. I can paint it with veggies and/or flowers and I'll have a door jamb trellis I can train a vining flower over. Should be easier to use than the fence piece I have now and it should keep the chickens out better.

Maybe I should have DS hang a few windows around the garden as well. Double hum-m-m-m.

 

[Smart Red]

I want a claw foot tub. I can admit to taking bubble baths after stressful day

DS has one in his Victorian house. It was one of DIL's favorite things about the house. Only problem is the cats can turn on the faucets to get their own drink of water. Unfortunately, they never remember to turn the water off.

He also has a tub upstairs from an earlier remodel that had the house being two apartments, and has a room ready for him to install a sauna.

 

[beeper]

Thanks for posting that link, I loved seeing them, even a couple that I hadn't seen, love the old look in older houses.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

so my house is considered being in style now? i wish we had the dumb waiter. i could care less about a laundry chute if i had the dumb waiter since it could lift & lower both the dirty & the clean stuff upstairs. getting the stuff put away is another issue. dh agrees, he would like the dumb waiter too.

we have the claw foot tub. but at some point a previous owner of the house decided to hide the base of it with paneling. i want to rip the stuff off but until the 2nd bathroom is done the main bathroom won't be ripped apart yet.

i have a root cellar. but i need to get the shelves done & an interior door to separate it from the rest of the basement. there is a door going to the outside through the root cellar so it stays cold.

my dining room used to have a medallion. i can see the impression in the plaster around the light fixture.

something else i like about the old house. on the main floor we still have the old plaster walls so the house in the summer stays cool. in the winter it does tend to be a little chilly depending on the room you are in, but the house seems to be better insulated than the house we had that was from the 60's. we don't run through as much heating oil as the other house either.

 

[Nyboy]

A lot of members here would turn green with envy over your root cellar !!! It is great that the old tub is still there, so many where just ripped out, for a more " modern" look. @beeper do you live in a old house?

 

[thistlebloom]

My sister bought a 100 year old Queen Anne cottage 33 years ago. It was run down and needed a lot of renovation. It was priced low enough that they could afford it, then they spent the next 3 years just making it livable.
After it was livable they continued with the restoration for the next twenty years. Did I mention it was rundown?

They were living in it while they demo'ed parts of it and rebuilt from the walls out. She didn't have a kitchen sink for those first 3 years. They did restore it correctly, and she furnished it beautifully with antiques.
They did all of this on a shoestring while their 3 kids were very young. She bought all of the furniture at yard sales and stripped them down and refinished them. It exhausts me just thinking about all the hard work and elbow grease that went into that old house.

They still own it, but have since bought a more modern house. She says she's just too old and tired, and not rich enough to keep up with maintaining an old structure.

 

[bobm]

My sister bought a 100 year old Queen Anne cottage 33 years ago. It was run down and needed a lot of renovation. It was priced low enough that they could afford it, then they spent the next 3 years just making it livable.
After it was livable they continued with the restoration for the next twenty years. Did I mention it was rundown?

They were living in it while they demo'ed parts of it and rebuilt from the walls out. She didn't have a kitchen sink for those first 3 years. They did restore it correctly, and she furnished it beautifully with antiques.
They did all of this on a shoestring while their 3 kids were very young. She bought all of the furniture at yard sales and stripped them down and refinished them. It exhausts me just thinking about all the hard work and elbow grease that went into that old house.

They still own it, but have since bought a more modern house. She says she's just too old and tired, and not rich enough to keep up with maintaining an old structure.

Truer words were never said ... unless one buys a house that is listed as historic ... then the costs and the restrictions by some group ( ? ) skyrocket from there. An appointment with a psychyatrist and a financial advisor would be highly beneficial before making the purchase.