When I was a kid I lived on this street and baby sat at the house in the three pictures. It was a storybook house with turrets and curved front door and inside had custom kitchen cabinets with curved top doors on them. There was a fireplace you could stand in and upstairs in the main part of the house was a fun balcony room that over looked the lower living room dinning room kitchen.you climbed up a curved stone like stairway in the turret to get there. There were only these rooms on this main part of the house. Then you walked out through the court yard, there was no pool then, to the back part of the house and there were three bedrooms and a family room in that wing. Was really kind of weird. they did have intercom between the two houses and it kind of freaked me out to baby sit with baby in another building away from me. They said it was fine.And with baby monitor I could even hear her breathing. Off topic. To make this house even more enchanting was a long trestle table with high backed chairs and terracotta tile floors and the living room was sunken a step and the topper was they had one of those music boxes that played large metal disks with the little punched tabs that made the music as the disk turned. I can not remember the name of them. I loved that house and dreamed of buying it some day. Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures 16-17-18

One thing you can do with old photos is to scan them at the highest resolution that you can. Then begin blowing up the scan, and looking into the detail of the photo. You will be very surprised what you begin to see. I did this with some of the old old family photos taken back in the early 1900s. Blowing them up and peeking at things like the scuff marks on the shoes of the children, the detailing on the home made dresses, a barb wire fence between the yard and a corn field, which had corn ears fully grown on it, so it had to be late in the year. And most of all, I could see the expression in the eyes of my grandmother. But you might see the detailing of the boards on the porch, the way the steps were built and from what, and were they painted or not. Any flower beds and what was in them. Many of the homes in my old pictures were not painted, but were of rough lumber sometimes board and batten. But the young couple were invariably standing proudly in front of their home, probably newly built or expanded. Hard working people in homemade dresses and overalls and brogan shoes. It was as close to Southern American Gothic as you can get. Another one I loved was of my great grandmother Sophia taken in the hog pen with this huge hog which she was feeding. Going on the assumption that they had pictures taken of important things or events, I decided this was important because she was proud to be able to feed such a fine hog which would be slaughtered and feel her family well during the winter. Plus, she loved animals and took good care of them. I guess I inherited that love from her.

Thanks so much for the thoughts, everyone. We're just getting started and I basically need (ok... want) new everything! But with a crazy toddler and a newborn, I'm not ready to invest in nice new furniture yet. Paint will be a big help and you've given me a lot of great ideas to think about. I really like the wall color in your library, anglophilia! I've always kind of thought the cooler green/bluish tones don't look great in N facing rooms, but you've proven me wrong. Your room is beautiful and your dog is pretty cute, too! Lascatx, I just looked at that SW strip and agree that those colors look good. Great idea to do Agreeable Grey at 150%! aprilneverends Thanks so much for the advice and links, I ended up spending a good chunk of time on that blog. Great insight! I'm really hoping I can convince my husband the wood trim has to go. He likes it, but it is ORANGE. There were some nice looks in the blog about wood trim though, I suppose I could probably live with it for a while if I need to!

M, So great to hear your take on form following function. I think we share a practical streak. On the one hand, I'm not a preservationist, on the other I do want to be true to the spirit of the house. I'm not aiming to make it something its not, and I don't want to "over improve" either. I agree that its entirely possible to "design a modern functional home and have the original vintage design-spirit prevail". In fact, thats precisely the balance I'm striving to achieve. In my situation, honoring the vintage design spirit means keeping certain elements intact: --the cottage windows --the china cabinet --the built-ins in the living room flanking the fireplace I'm not as attached to keeping the kitchen and breakfast room spaces separate as my partner is. In the spirit of cooperation and domestic harmony ;-) I've solicited feedback on how we could fit everything in the footprint of the kitchen proper, and posters to this thread stepped up admirably (THANK YOU!!) Reading the comments here has allowed me to feel more comfortable with merging the kitchen and the breakfast room--that this might be the right place to "modernize". Considering the two spaces as one is beginning to feel…well…more practical to me. Your point about it being possible to botch both the form and the function strikes a cautionary note---Sheesh, that would be awful. Aiming to avoid this, on both counts! Thanks so much M, for your always incisive comments.