Thank you all so much for the information. :) I don't think there were any built-ins as I've seen no evidence anywhere. The original owners removed a pair of doors between the parlor and what we call the living room and those doors are still in the basement as is any hardware they changed out over the years. So I think they would have left the built-ins if there were any. Also they raised 4 children to adulthood and lost a young daughter in the house so I'm sure they needed every bit of space they had! I've posted a few pics of the interior. If anyone is interested I can post more later. I kind of thought it was a bungalow/craftsmen. Thanks for helping me clear that up. I want to know as much as I can about the house, because this is my forever house. The gypsy has found her home at last! lol I love this house and am immensely enjoying learning her mysteries. I've posted a pic of a little white building we call the school house (original owner was a teacher and there is rumor that she held school there.)However, I wonder if it was a summer kitchen. It too has its own brick chimney with flue. Thanks again everyone! Have a great weekend! :)

"Ice damns" are basically just a term for when the roof gets warm enough to melt some snow in some areas. The water then can refreeze when it hits a cooler spot like at the overhang. That basically forms a dam that can hold water on the roof. Roofs are designed to let water run off them, not to hold water for any length of time. If the problem persists, the water can work its way up under shingles etc and leak into the house. Obviously, that can be a huge problem. The way to avoid this is to avoid transferring too much heat to the roof during winter. A big open and vented attic accomplishes that in most instances. If you are going to enclose the attic, you will need an effective way of keeping the heat from rising up through the new room and to the roof. The "low tech" way to do that is to make a mini-attic above your new attic room. It doesn't have to be tall, just enough room to keep air flowing. For that to work, you need vents to get air between the roof and the ceiling of your new attic room. The heat needs a way to escape instead of through the roof. The "high tech" way to do it is completely shut off all air flow going up to the roof and insulate the heck out of it with expanding spray foam. That is a less reliable way to do it though because you are just counting on the insulation to keep heat from getting out of your room. If the insulation is compromised for any reason, you'll end up with hot spots on the roof.

um, I walked downstairs after taking possession to find out there was a crack where the main waste line meets the foundation wall that the PEE OH had covered up with some junk (some but not all of which he cleaned up after the inspection but before possession). Took me literally 10 minutes to find, because I was looking at how much junk the guy left behind. Called the realtor and said, "THERE'S JUNK AND TOILET WATER ALL OVER THE BASEMENT!!! I THOUGHT YOU SAID IT WAS CLEAN!!!" I will never ever allow a seller to retain the home for 2 weeks (or any length of time) after the sale. what a zany tradition. He also kept promising to install the springs on the garage door, never did that either. The realtor paid for (or billed him or something) the waste pipe and the problem with the A/C but did not pay for the garage door springs. (when we had the inspection the heat pump was in heat mode and the seller vowed it worked. The inspector couldn't get to the broken part of the pipe b/c of the junk but the rest of the pipe looked great--either it rusted through after the inspection or it was covered up (either intentionally or otherwise--inspector had quite a good list of other things...)

@cat_ky I have definitely done a 180. We've narrowed it down to charcoal, pewter, summer storm, and heather stone. Since our original roof was also in the grey family, I don't think we can go wrong. The neutrality will give us future flexibility. In addition to changing out the exterior front and garage doors and adding a colorful plant bed, I think we may also consider ways to refresh the front windows so they are gridless and the fascia trim color in the near future. It may not be the light and airy style that I do love; but, hopefully, it will still look updated. If we feel like we're missing something, dare I say changing the brick color is an option. Everyone has been great! My hubby is happy that I've seen the light (lol). Thank you so much!