I don't think there is any minimum age here. You're as old as you feel, I suppose. If you have questions you think we might be able to answer, fire away. If it concerns more modern building materials, some of the other related forums may be able to give you better advice. However all of our "old" houses have lived through modern age as well.

If you just like hanging out with old-house nuts, well, hi there! Your opinions and comments are always sought, just look out for the falling plaster and the rotten sill and as long as you're here can you just pick up that paint brush and lend a hand?

Or you can gloat over all the free time you have vs. us who are slaves to our crumbling piles. It won't offend us, we're so lost we think constant maintenance is a badge of honor and we wear it with pride.
Welcome!

Molly~

Very funny Molly! :)

If you want the see the age or status of the house when we bought it, go to my website. Its a hoot!

Thank goodness we done alot of remodeling. It took us 2 months after closing to finally be able to move in and like most houses, we'll never really be done.

When my "after" pictures are ready, I'll post them too!

Here is a link that might be useful: house photos

AGHHHHHH!!! I have NEVER seen anything like that Ellenj!!!
Well, at least the wallpaper matches the curtains.
That must have been super hard to see past when you decided to purchase the house. I thought the black paisley wall-paper in my bathroom was bad, you totally have me beat!!!
There must have been some crazy hippies in your house!!
I can't believe the cielings are wallpapered too!
-renee

Oh Ellen,.......!

Let's just call it "the nausea room...." LOL

Eeeeeek!!! My sympathies....:)

And I thought I've lived in some houses with really awful wallpaper!
For your sake I hope they properly prepared the walls for the paper.

Ellenj, the funny thing is that the original owners probably paid a designer big bucks so that each and every room had a hardcore matching thing going on! I don't think I've ever seen a darker kitchen in my life! I would *love* to see your after shots. Wow. Must bookmark to show DH when he gets home. :)

Here's some after pictures...its still coming along.

By the way, the previous owners were in their 60's at the time they had this professionally decorated in 1972. One owner died since and we purchase the home from the widower when he was 92.

I must say though that besides the scary decorating, the house was in impecable shape structurally, which was really all that matters!

Here is a link that might be useful: house afters

i looked at your before photos and just had to call my husband to come and look! Truly amazing. Loved the after photos too. Much more calming and more to my taste. As my husband said 'to look at the house from the outside it looks quite normal - you would never have guessed what was behind that front door'
Job well done

Re: psychedelic wall (and ceiling) paper, what can I say but LOL! Talk about "instant migraine."

Re: the after photos, I esp. liked the master bedroom-- with your two "masters" reclining on the bed! Cute!

Re: how old is old, I think I've heard that things are considered "antique" at 50 yrs. Actually there are now many devotees of ranches/ 50s style, they are finally getting appreciated for the quality of bldg materials, liveable floor plans, etc.

EllenJ

You have vision! I would have run screaming, but you saw something wonderful behind all that....that...that...

Salute!

Here is a link that might be useful: That old house!

My brain hurts.

That's the most incredible thing I think I've ever seen in a house.

I'm going to suggest something really audacious ... why not keep the decor as is. In a few decades you could charge admission. It seems the most "over-the-top" examples of an era are what attain the most value as antiques or collectibles. Of course actually living in it might be next to impossible-- it screams late 60s/early 70s so loudly youd probably come down with a traumatic stress disorder!

One of my very favorite places in England was the Brighton Pavilion--some eccentric king in the 1700s decorated his palace w/ all kinds of wild colors and wallpaper patterns...

Queen Victoria of course wasn't very fond of the Pavilion - as I recall George IV's chinoiserie decor had to be recreated, as the next generation disassembled it.

Ellen, your house was a treasure of its time (I was a penniless student then, bit if I could have afforded it, I would have loved it). Of course you didn't want to live in it, though! But have a look at the thread on the people enraged at what previous owners did to spoil the original beauty of their even older houses! Any of us now updating/remodeling mid-20th century houses are going to get the same disrespect, LOL! (at least you're just redecorating). At least my house (built in 3 stages starting in 1938) had no real style to start with, being just what was convenient at the time.

It looked like a mini "Graceland." Much better now!

I've seen lots of houses re-muddled like that one...mostly in the 1980's when I was looking to buy a gramma's-house Foursquare in the Hawthorne District of Portland, Oregon. It was overwhelming to think about removing many layers of wallpaper that even rounded out corners as it covered the ceilings. I've seen some horrific tile-remuddles too - with tile mortared to wonderful old wood floors and clumsily onto bathroom wood windowsills. I couldn't bear tearing all that wood out, so I passed on those houses.

When I look to buy, I prefer homes built in the 1920's or earlier. My biggest Fixer project is one that I have going now. I never want to live in this much construction dust again.

The _Before_ pix of my current project house would be more than you could stand probably...10 high ceilings were lowered to just above doors and windows, and front/real parlour walls and the fireplace were all boxed in with ugly brown paneling. Of course that was charred around the firebox.

I ripped all that out the first few weeks, but still haven't finished the room. All wood mouldings were removed from that Great Room too. I've found some used under 2 layers of yukky old siding - re-used as NAIL-boards! I will probably have to have replacements milled on site.

Am hoping to find a source for that pressed drywall that looks like a tin or custom Victorian-era ceiling. (Anyone know a site for that?) Or for the paintable wall-paper that achieves the same effect?

Ellen,
Could you share the brand/name of the sage/green paint you used in the living room?
Thanks

The name of the paint is clay pebble from Behr. I bought it at our local home depot. Its great!