Details about my house

15 years ago

It's an old house, but it isn't a wonderful house with lots of great architectural details. I would have loved to have found a house like that, but I haven't seen one like that in years, and I have looked at lots of houses on mover's lots. It was sort of a past time of mine.

It has sort of a neat divider between the living room and dining room and a swinging door between the kitchen and the dining room...which I understand is fairly common in old houses from around that time. The glassed in cupboard is nice but it is just a common house. I like it because it has hardwood floors...somewhat ruined now because of the neglect...and the rooms are nice sized. It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. One bathroom was carved out of another room, leaving a little space left over that became a hall. I am not sure what that room was for originally. It is next to the room that has the glassed in cupboard, which is next to the kitchen.

I do know that we will take out that second bath and maybe make it into a powder room. I just don't like it because it doesn't go with the house...has a modern fiberglass tub/shower and the baseboards, etc. are narrow and modern, as opposed to the rest of the house that has the wide boards.

It had a front porch at one time, but was torn off when the house was moved. We will put a porch back...probably all the way across it. The house is L shaped, and will probably put a sunporch inside the L...at least the length of the L.

The front door is gone...crashed and fell into the living room. But, it has little narrow side lights which are very cute. Usually they are fixed in place, but in this house, they are narrow little windows that open, and have little screens. I don't like a/c, so I love those little windows.

Whatever we do, will be done in "chunks" because we pay as we go. First thing is to stablize it and get it roofed and sided. It was originally sided in brick. We will put Hardiplank back on it.

I haven't allowed myself to think of it as "my house"....even tho, I've called it "my house." It didn't seem like we were going to get it, and I didn't want to be disappointed. It took so long to just find out who it belonged to. The secretary of the company was no help to us at all, and it was just my husband's persistance that finally paid off, once he contacted the owner of the company.

Here's a picture of the dining room, as seen from the living room. When we build the front porch, plan to use square posts that will match the ones in the dining room/living room partition.

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Comments (25)

lindyluwho
15 years ago
It's going to be beautiful but a big job. Will you and Jody be doing the work or will you hire someone to do it?

Linda
marilyn_c
Original Author
15 years ago
Some of it we will do and some of it we will hire done. We are fortunate to have friends in the various trades that will help us too. Jody's best friend is a former building contractor and he has experience with moving and remodeling an old house...did one for himself. He is the first person I took to see it when I found out it was for sale again. Jody was working...was just a few days after the hurricane, and I had told him about it but he wouldn't be home for another week or so. Bud liked the house a lot. He said it was structurally sound and would make a nice house. His wife loved it.
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bigfoot_liz
15 years ago
the nice thing about old houses is alot of their building materials are fixable while newer housing materials' are not worth it nor do they look so great fixed up. i LOVE that divider, very nice details there! i have a thing for old houses w/ a divider that is shaped like a flattened oval, it's usually done in original plaster. i bought my house, a spanish FL style 1969, as soon as i saw these little swinging doors in the kitchen that led to a mudroom w/ a canning closet along the long wall that looked just like the one in my grandmother's basement lol. ~ liz
vicki_lv
15 years ago
Marilyn, I couldn't be happier for you. I am a bit jealous. LOL I do hope you will keep us informed with pictures now and then. How I wish I lived close, so I could see it in person. Again...congratulations!
paula_pa
15 years ago
That looks like my DH's grandmother's house! Her house has that divider. Past the divider on the right (from the perspective of the photo) would be her front door. She uses both of those areas as her living room.

Her wood trim is all stained and she was just telling me a couple of weeks ago that she stripped and stained it all herself.
pattico_gw
15 years ago
Reminds me of about 10 years ago buying this old barn...and building a house on the inside of it...

It has 10 inch outside walls and the floor of the loft is 2x12's. Everything is solid as a rock...but I'm sure not many would have attacked the job we had in front of us.

It was two years before we were able to move in. And we moved in too soon...too many things not finished.

Many of them still aren't finished...after Denny's stroke he just can't do those things like he used to be able to do...and none of our friends are carpenters.

It will be a big job Marilyn...but you will love it when it is done.

patti
glenda_al
15 years ago
Can't wait to see the finished product!
FlamingO in AR
15 years ago
I am just tickled to pieces for you, Marilyn! I can picture you in there working your fingers to the bone, another labor of love.

Gosh, it's going to be fun to watch all this happen! Keep snapping those photos!
liz
15 years ago
I think it's just gonna be great...can't wait to see pictures as it comes along...I'm sooo happy for you Marilyn!!
sheilajoyce_gw
15 years ago
I grew up in a big old house built about 1900. Yep, it had a swinging door between the dining room and the kitchen. It also had leaded glass doors on the built-in oak buffet in the dining room. The floors were narrow oak boards, a look which I prefer because of my 20 years in this house. And it has a large and very deep front porch that went across the entire front of the house. That porch was quite a neighborhood gathering place when I was a child.
jel48
15 years ago
I think it will be great, and I too love the divider! I'm anxious to see more pictures too, both now and as you work on it. It will be a lot of work but you'll have a fine home when finished. I'm so happy for you.
tannatonk23_fl_z9a
15 years ago
I am so happy for you, Marilyn!!! I share your love of old houses and can't wait to see more pictures! Those light fixtures look fantastic - hope you are able to salvage them! I can already picture the house finished. You'll have so much fun fixing it up and I know you have some great stuff to furnish it with. Seems like I remember you posting a great vintage cabinet you had found somewhere.

~Betsy
trishaw
15 years ago
I think it is beautiful Marilyn. That is the kind of house I want for myself someday.

Trish
marilyn_c
Original Author
15 years ago
The sheetrock was a later add on to it. Originally, it had wallpaper. You can see the pink in the picture in the living room, and in the bedrooms, you can see green with flowers on it, in places that the sheetrock has been torn away.

In the living room there is a spot that looked like it had two sconces....and I am wondering if there wasn't a fireplace there, but has been covered over now. I am anxious to get the sheetrock off and see if I can tell what had been behind it originally. There is a chimney on the house, but I don't know if that might have gone for a wood stove in the kitchen.

The house came off of a ranch, and I guess at one time, it was lived in by one of the owners, but in later years had been lived in by the hired help. The mover said there was a big mansion of a house on the land too, but was in such poor condition, nothing could be done with it. That's a shame.
tami_ohio
15 years ago
Does this mean you've got it? I sure hope so!!!!!

Tami
dilly_dally
15 years ago
You got the house right? That is happy news! An older house has so much more character and most are better built that what is today. There are so many forums here at GW to help guild you with the process of returning the home to it's former glory. Remember, with an older home it is never "done" and that is part of the fun and challenge.
des_arc_ya_ya
15 years ago
I can hear the enthusiasm in your typing, Marilyn! LOL

So glad that you got the house.
jaybird
15 years ago
Good for you Marilyn!!! Just shout if you want us to hunt windows....
danihoney
15 years ago
I really hope you get it!! It looks like it has some nice architectural features. I can picture that room finished and painted.

Have you looked into or heard of the FHA 203k loan? It is a rehab loan set up to help buyers with homes that need to be refurbished. Not every home qualifies from what I hear. We are going that way if our offer is accepted and if our home qualifies. You can get up to $35,000 toward repairs but it has to be done by a licensed contractor(s).
Just a thought. Good luck!!!

Dani
marilyn_c
Original Author
15 years ago
No, no, no, no....loan. We don't owe any money on anything, and we will have to keep it that way. I don't think anyone would loan money on this house, but more than that, I would never put my land up for mortgage.

My husband has a really good job now. It should be stable, no matter how the economy goes. He makes before taxes in low 6 figures. (I know it is tacky to talk about income...but...)We can afford to fix it by saving up chunks of money. I want to do it as quickly as possible. I have lived like I was camping out for 10 years. The building I am living in, isn't a house. I have no kitchen or real bathroom. No heat and no a/c. I don't mind the no a/c, I am comfortable without it, but I freeze to death all winter because it is as cold in here as it is outside.

I appreciate the suggestion, Dani, but thankfully, I think we will be able to do this out of pocket.
mary52zn8tx
15 years ago
Congratulations!! We thought about buying a house to move, but we ended up buying the house we were renting. Ironically, it was moved to this lot. Ours is a 60's ranch, but we do have nice wood floors. Hope you can save most of yours. I admire you for paying as you go. We recently paid off our mortgage, and I can't describe what a neat feeling I get every time I put my key in my lock and think this belongs to me (and DH). I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of your progress.
barbara3
15 years ago
I don't envy you your task but I think it will be a wonderful house when you get it all renovated. I hope you'll post pictures of the renos as they progress.
jannie
15 years ago
Sounds like a real "Fixer Upper" but you have some great ideas how to restore it to its' former glory. Have fun and let us know how it's going!
cynic
15 years ago
I like old houses. And I like that divider, it separates the room but still leaves pretty much an open floor plan for flexibility. And if you need to shut off to zone heat, it's easy to do too.

Did anyone else notice those great old light fixtures? That's some of my favorite parts of the old houses. Along with the architectural details, the historic feel and the like. Some friends, way back when they first got married, bought a 1900 or so vintage house and fixed it up modestly. Really nice and cozy though. Big old full 2 story plus attic, plus basement. But it had lousy electrical service in it before they redid the wiring. I still remember how the lights would dim when the coffeemaker heater would kick on!
marilyn_c
Original Author
15 years ago
The electrical wires in it are very scary....they are old cloth covered, hanging on porcelain insulators like we used to use on electric fences. The old house we had in Port La Vaca was wired the same way.

Re-wiring is definitely on the agenda.

Details about my house

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