Every home needs someone to love it

This house has been here a long time. About 100 years. And before that there was another home. It burned to the ground. More on the history of this place another day. Today I wanted to focus on her most recent history.

I purchased the home in late May of 2024. Her previous owners had been elderly and were cared for by their son until they passed away. The son lived here for a time afterwards but decided he didn’t need such a huge home to maintain with just him here. So he sold it. To me!

The house hadn’t been lived in a very long time. There was a yellowish red splatter on all the walls. Mostly on the lower two feet. It looked at first like cigarette residue but it wasn’t. It did clean up without too much heavy scrubbing but there was a lot of it. Dirt. Cobwebs. Dust. Grime was pretty much everywhere and the kitchen drawers and cupboards were a mess.

The ceiling fans were ugly. The clawfoot tub was a mess and had pvc pipe for the hot and cold. The original wallpaper in the rooms was icky. All the windows were sealed shut and the glass was filthy. The fireplace didn’t work. Plumbing had a few issues. There was a leak in the upstairs bathroom.

To someone not so handy it was a little overwhelming. But I’ve spent the last 6 months painting and painting and painting and cleaning and cleaning and re organizing and fixing what my budget allowed and I’m finally at the point where I feel the house is feeling my love. There’s a lot more work to go but I’ll get there.

Here are some of the “before” pictures…