Old House Life

Old House Seeks Soulmate

/ Katie / 18 Comments

Single blue farmhouse seeking patient, loving life partner.

Sturdy bones. Cozy disposition.

Loves summer sunsets, fall bonfires, winter snow, and holiday decorations.

Great at parties.

Good provider.

Solid community and kindly neighbors.

Serious replies only.  

Inquire at: https://www.thomasandtalbot.com/Property-39243_Little_River_Turnpike

*************

Sigh. But seriously, won’t someone please buy my house?

Graham and I knew, when we made the difficult decision to move away from our beloved heritage home to be closer to family, that it would be tough to find the right buyer. Not everyone is interested – or equipped with the right combination of crazy and persistent – in buying an old home, especially a 200-year-old one. But we figured that, just like we did, someone would walk in and fall in love with the unique house and the beautiful but manageable property.

Alas, thus far, nine months on the market, and no luck.

So, here I am, writing a blog post, wondering if someone reading, somewhere in the world, might want to own their own small piece of Virginia Piedmont paradise.

I thought that we were forever, this wonderful old home and me, but sometimes things don’t work out, and it has nothing to do with how much you love each other. And so now it’s time for someone else to step in and mend the broken heart I’ve left behind.

I mean, there’s someone out there for everyone, right? And every house??

I believe in love. Somebody show up, please, and prove me right.

Another Monday…

/ Katie / 22 Comments

…another new Merlin spot. This one’s also an interesting choice.

Do you think he’s actually trying to tell me something? Like, maybe he’s more fond of water than I thought.

Doubt it.

And I have to admit, without the water running, this does seem to be a rather perfect cat bed – cozy space, right under the window, tucked away…

And of course, he’s gotten to use our beautiful, newly-installed clawfoot tub before me. Cats, y’all. Cats.

We have a bathroom!

/ Katie / 23 Comments

More accurately, we have two and a half. But the one upstairs is officially renovated and done! It still needs some finishing touches, but I’m very happy with it.

I’m so glad we chose warm, bright colors. The green felt like a bit of a risk, but the room gets so much light, I think it really works, especially with the white tile in the shower. It just looks so fresh and clean.

And we were able to install the clawfoot tub!

We’ve set it up so that we have a shower and toilet room, and then a separate little annex for the tub, a closet, and another vanity, and I think that really works, too. It’s also an example of living in a historic home – you just have to use the space you have the best that you can.

Now that this one’s done, we’ve really only got some cosmetic work left. Painting, fixing a few ceilings that look cracked and tired, finishing up with shutters and a few small items on the exterior. It’s not much, is my point. We could do more, but with Baby Girl set to make her debut in a month, we’ve got some other stuff to focus on. 😊

So, onward, as always. It’s going to be an interesting few weeks as we wait for her to get here, but at least I’ve got a nice, pretty bathroom to hang out in, in the meantime!

Is my house haunted?

/ Katie / 22 Comments

When Graham and I decided to buy an old house, and in the process of looking for just the right one, a surprising number of people asked us if we were worried about ghosts. And the short answer is, no, not especially.

I believe in ghosts. I always have. And I’ve been to a few places I’m certain are really, truly haunted. But I’m not particularly afraid of ghosts, and as we toured historic homes, I wasn’t concerned that we might be walking into our own ghost story.

We did look at one home – it was our second choice, actually – that I felt pretty certain had a ghost or two.

But our house? No, I don’t think it’s haunted.

It’s a question we get a lot. Every time someone comes to visit for the first time, they usually ask. And I can’t blame them! This is, after all, a very old house in a very old village with a cavalry battle in its history. There’s certainly been a lot of opportunity for this house to acquire a spirit or two.

And sometimes, I wonder if I might be wrong.

Often, people will suggest we do a ghost hunt. They’ll offer, and talk about how exciting it would be, and how their friends are really into that kind of thing. And…just no. Y’all, I have to live here. Why would I want to invite the possibility of being frightened in my own home?

This house is cozy. It’s happy. I’ve always felt like it’s a happy space. And so, even if there is a ghost or two roaming around, I don’t think they have any intention of bothering us. I feel lucky to live here, and grateful. A house doesn’t have to have a ghost story to have a story. I’m fortunate to be part of this one.  

I can see it!

/ Katie / 15 Comments

And it’s going to be lovely.

Work on the upstairs bathroom continues, and we’re almost there!

It might be hard to tell, but we really don’t have very much left to do. And by we, I mean our contractors, because yeah, I am not skilled enough to lay tile correctly and not strong enough to carry a clawfoot tub up a very narrow set of stairs.

I’m eager for this project to be done, because next up on my list is finishing the nursery. And with less than seven weeks to go before Baby Girl is due to make her debut, it feels like we’re already cutting it close.

But, deep breaths. Everything will work out. And we’ll have a pretty new bathroom, too.

One Last Big Project!

/ Katie / 12 Comments

After some initial prep months ago…

…work on our main bathroom has officially started!

As you can see, we’ve gone from tired but functional…

…to barely controlled chaos.

I’m not mad about it. Hopefully it will only take a couple of weeks, and then we’ll have the space back and better than ever. It’s our last big project, so I’m excited and eager to see it done. We’ve had to pull back on some of what I wanted to do, since Baby Girl’s due date is getting closer and closer. I’m a little worried my tile choices will look a little plain, since we won’t be putting up wallpaper. At least not yet. But I think it’ll be fine. If nothing else, it will look bright and fresh!

I know I keep forgetting to post pictures of the downstairs bathroom, so I’ll try to do that this week. Trust me – the pink tile was the right choice.

So, onward! It’s going to be a busy week, y’all.

It’s Official: I Have the Kitchen of My Dreams

/ Katie / 26 Comments

Y’all, it’s done. The kitchen’s done, and it’s the stuff that kitchen dreams are made of.

We still need to move things back in, and the range hasn’t been hooked up yet.

But other than that, we’re all set and sorted, and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. To remind you, here’s the before…

It’s so much brighter, and lighter, and I just love the butcher block countertops.

It’s so nice, I really don’t even want to cook in it.

Better get over that, though, because three-ish weeks of takeaway dinners is certainly more than enough!

Now, onward to the upstairs bathroom. We’ve got about 11 weeks until Baby Girl arrives, so here’s hoping the work goes fast!

Kitchen Things!

/ Katie / 22 Comments

Good news for a Friday: work on the kitchen has started! It’s feeling a little like barely controlled chaos at the moment.

And it’s certainly a challenge to be without countertops and other functional kitchen things for a little while.

But it’s just a temporary inconvenience, and it will be worth it in the end.

Progress is progress!

/ Katie / 12 Comments

Alas, work on our kitchen has yet to begin, but we did order our new appliances, and they look so good! We went ahead and installed the refrigerator, since ours was broken, and y’all…

…I love it so much. It’s bright and fun, and I think it’s going to look perfect in the space. We also got a new, retro-style microwave, because why not?

I’m getting sort of antsy knowing that the work hasn’t started, and we’ve still got our upstairs bathroom to finish, and Baby Girl will be here in about 16 weeks. But whatever happens, I know it will be fine. And when I do get anxious (which is a lot), Merlin reminds me to slow down.

Cats, y’all.

Our basement bathroom is also (finally) finished, so I’ll post some pictures of it soon. In the meantime, I will repeat to myself: Small steps are still steps forward. I’m grateful for progress.

A Tale of Two Bathtubs

/ Katie / 14 Comments

For as long as I’ve known they existed, which is basically my whole life, I have always wanted a clawfoot tub. I think they’re so pretty, so classic, and most importantly, a very comfy way to take a nice, relaxing bubble bath.

I was ecstatic when we first looked at our house and it already had one. We made plans to move it to our main bathroom upstairs…

…which we’ve now expanded and prepped for its weight.

Clawfoot tubs are heavy, y’all, and we thought that reinforcing the floor would be our biggest issue.

How naïve we were.

See, somewhere along the line in its lifetime, the bowl of our clawfoot tub got painted with standard white house paint. You can paint a clawfoot any color you’d like on the outside, but they’re meant to have a porcelain finish on the inside, which is durable and shiny. Not sure why someone painted ours the way they did, but we figured we’d deal with it. No big issue, right?

Wrong.

After weeks of trying to rent a sandblaster for an afternoon in order to remove the white paint – a seemingly impossible task that was coming in at estimates around $300 – and then receiving a quote for $600 to have that work done for us, we finally gave up. We decided to just buy a clawfoot tub that we found for $350 from a very nice older gentleman in West Virginia.

Does it feel dumb to buy a tub when we already have one? Yes. Yes, it does. But when it’s a lower price? And all we have to do is drive an hour? No, no it doesn’t.

So a couple of weeks ago we took a small road trip and picked up a new (old) clawfoot tub, which is in great shape and only needs a good cleaning. The tub we’ve already got? We’re giving it to a creative friend for a gardening project, which I’m sure will be beautiful.

For now, both tubs are sitting in our garage. Soon enough, though, we’ll have the bathroom of my dreams, complete with the tub I’ve always wanted.

Renovations are crazy.