I refer to our two hundred year old home as a white elephant. I am in the greenhouse business and my husband is a rabid gardener, so the grounds are planted with rare trees and flower gardens and go on for acres. Over the years we have added a large gazebo and a spring fed pond. yadayadayada. Only a person who knows old homes first hand, and has the time or money to hire a professional full-time gardener, should ever buy it. There'll be lots of people to come look when it goes up for sale, but it would not be for the weak of heart. Heating bills. Put that at the top of your list. Even if you let the house fall down around you, they'll just keep coming. We've installed new double-paned energy efficient windows. Caulked. Weather stripped. Built a solarium across 2/3 of the northern exposure of the home for solar gain, replaced the roof, put in a new boiler, converted from electric to gas heat (yes we had to pay to have lines ran), and placed gas grates in strategic spots to take off chill or use when it wasn't too cold. Use reversing ceiling fans to distribute the heat. We've cut our heating bill IN HALF as far as energy consumption. But, rates rise and will keep rising. We still have six hundred dollar a month heating bills in winter. And this is an old farmhouse. It does not have fourteen foot ceilings. It also is nowhere near 6,000k square feet. And, until we put a small fortune in the energy efficiency items, a draft from a window on one side of the room could blow out a candle on the other. It's comfy now, and even cool in summer so we don't need air conditioning, but for the first fifteen years of my marriage you needed a wet suit to take a bath. Think also about the bones of the house. Redecorating is great, but get somebody in there who knows construction really well to look at the skeleton of the house before you even consider buying it. The last two winters, we replaced the beams and joists under our kitchen and dining room. They were logs with the bark still on them, or logs cut on site and hand hewn to nearly square. They were ENORMOUS,and likely dragged into place by teams of horses. We needed to chain saw them to even think about getting them out. We had to gut these rooms clean down to the dirt underneath and after we got new joists up then replaced floors. Moolah. BTW, we never thought about replacing joists and floor beams in this house. After all, they'd withstood two centuries before us. Then termites happened. LOL. The roofer left about a hundred bats homeless when we replaced the slate for modern shingles. We've put in a new entrance box and had to rewire the whole house and it has solid brick interior walls. The logistics of running electricals, and the plumbing for the boiler system were staggering. If you see fuse boxes that should send up a red flag to check out the electricals for modern wiring. Moolah. We had to restucco over the seventy five year old stucco over the bricks. (major, major moolah) We've had to repair or renovate chimneys and it's hard to find brickmasons here who are familiar with the old craftsmanship. That's another thing about very old houses. Nearly everything in seriously old house is done by methods not common to craftsmen anymore and that includes materials. If you have to replace parts of woodwork it's going to be something like oak or mahogany and large. Not box store kickplates. My walls are so old, it's not even plaster on most of them, it's a sandy almost concrete covering. If we put together all the money we have spent in the last two and a half decades breathing life back into our wonderful old home, we could be living in a really fancy new one. We don't want to. We love our old home and pretty much know it inside and out by now. But, it's like a marriage and yes.............we are the volunteer caretakers to an historic old building we couldn't see being left to ruin. But, it's going to take a very special person to want the job after us. Now, ask me about the plastering schedule where the doors and windows are. LOL. Old houses just keep settling. Not a door in this house even resembles a rectangle. They all have been trimmed or had wood added to them to fit the openings. Every window was custom made and no two are the same size. The house is nearly regained its integrity now, and I can see the end in sight of the major issues. But, if we had been forced to sell this at any point along our long path of renovation, and somebody else had to pick up where we'd left off, if they knew up from down, you can take it to the bank our money and sweat wouldn't have left much room for profit. There'd have been no quick sells. The end results perfect for us. It's rustic yet and even has a pitcher pump in the kitchen to pull up the spring water for the house. But you always live with a foot in the past where people lived simpler and made do in some respects. Some people can do that. Some people can't. It fits our lifestyle well.........simple and hard working. But, it was purchased because my husband wanted an old large home in a rural setting. If he'd just wanted "room" it wouldn't have even been in the game. Good luck whatever you decide.

Thank you Jane. You have a lovely porch too. I love your willow furniture. You are lucky to have trees to shade it. Ours gets morning sun and can get quite warm very early one. One of these days we want to close in our sleeping porch off the master bedroom with storm type windows all around to make it more of a three season porch. We've not used it in years. Used to go out there in the evenings. I used Windows Paint to the above virtuals. I have an original version of PhotoShop that came with one of those pens (by Bamboo) that a friend gave to me since they already had PhotoShop. I think they run around a hundred dollars or so. I've not looked at them for a couple years now. Both Adobe and Corel have free online trials of their photo editors. I've tried them both and liked different things about each one so I never made up my mind which to buy. Now that I have the Adobe from my friend I should ask for the Corel for Christmas from my hubby.

ok exact measurements. the house is not exactly a 20x30 square but its close enoguh. a few of the inner walls are thicker as they used to be exterior walls. the kitchen is 113inches by 141. It does fit a corner banquette with a round table and 3 chairs, and you can seat up to 2 on each leg of the banquette. Most comfortable with fewer than 6 people but up to 7 is possible. 8 if someone sits in the corner . Master is 130x116 (inches). Bedrooms are 80 inches wide and 136 and 116 inches long. Bathroom i was wrong on the measurements. It is 98x 57 (there is a cut out here so its not a perfect rectangle). The hall is 36 inches wide. The biggest benefit of using up that space to me is that people won't be as confined to a tiny hallway where it is awkward to pass anyone else. So I like the idea of taking part of the bathroom and part of the hallway to make another bathroom, and also to take down the walls int eh kitchen. So we would need to get some quotes for this but it seems relatively doable. We could wait on the closets for a while and it doesnt require moving any walls that we didnt already plan to move. Reality is it doesnt improve rental price THAT much to add a bathroom as far as I can tell, but there are only a few other rentals in the area to compare to. So addding the bath is partially for resale partially just because it irks me to have such a wasteful layout. Either way we do make back the cost of the bathroom quickly.

Thank you everyone for your input and ideas! I have not yet moved in, so the current furnishings are not mine. After some consideration, I think that adding two or so Ikea cabinets to the empty wall in the kitchen (I obviously need to get measurements, etc)in white and a faux natural wood color (opposite of the other cabinets) would help. I could then add a thin pantry the same height as the refrigerator. I would also add natural wood color floating shelves above the cabinets and possibly also over the fridge/pantry. Depending on the cost, I might also consider buying a white retro refrigerator and putting the one currently in the kitchen in the basement. The living room would likely also benefit from some faux (Ikea hacked) built-ins surrounding the fireplace. There is a dining room that I did not include photos of, so the space is not as tight as it may seem. In the upper closet/small room I will likely take down the shelving and add a more efficient closet rack on the right side. I will install a curtain rod in front attached at each wall to cover the clothes. I will use the left side as a home office. If any of you have experience with Ikea hacked temporary built-in units, please let me know! I plan to do a mix of DIY and hired help to make the process go smoothly. Any tips for finishing touches to make the final product look more upscale would be appreciated. Finally, I would love suggestions for: adding storage/covering pipes under a bathroom sink; decorating/organizing a partially finished basement space; making the most of a small backyard patio.