Hi everyone! I hope you all had fantastic Memorial Day weekends and enjoyed the unofficial start to summer. We had our home inspection last Thursday and as promised, I'm back today with a few more photos of the house. The inspection went pretty much as expected. A little termite damage, some plumbing that needs to be replaced in the basement and other various issues but nothing unusual for a home of this age and nothing that would scare us off. So it's official! We close at the end of June and will soon be the owners of a new (very old) house.
A few things that have become abundantly clear:
1. I am going to need lots and lots of area rugs. This is kind of my dream because I love
rugs (if you can't tell by the 50 posts I've done about them here on the blog!)
2. I am going to need lots of curtains. I sold our NC house with all the window treatments so I am effectively starting over. I know this would give most people hives but I am so excited about it!
3. There is a lot of pruning, pulling and planting in my future. I don't know when the last time anything in the landscaping was touched with a trimmer but it is very overdue.
4. I will be living in painting clothes for the foreseeable future.
5. I am going to have to sell a whole lot of furniture that just won't fit in this house. I guess that kinda happens when you go from almost 4,000 sq ft to barely 2,000 sq ft! Stay tuned - I'll be posting the stuff I'm going to sell on the blog very soon.
A better shot of the outside with some very big rhododendrons in bloom. As much as I'd love to just trim some of these back, much of the landscaping is so overgrown that it might be better to just tear out - especially those big cedar bushes on either side of the stairs.
Still love this original front door though I'm not really a fan of the sheer curtain things.
There are leaded glass sidelights on either side of the door.
And in lieu of a mailbox, we've got this old time mail slot below one of the sidelights. I love it.
View from the foyer into what I think might be the future family room. The debate about whether or not to paint all that wood trim has already begun. You can see in the room in the distance that's already been done. But all other trim downstairs is in the original wood stain.
Fireplace detail. Definitely need to build up more of a mantel on this.
Interesting pierced brass hanging pendant in the foyer. Doesn't go with the style of the house at all but I like the idea of re-using it elsewhere.
There are a ton of these leaded/stained glass window panels and while they're beautiful, they do pose a bit of a challenge for hanging window treatments and blinds. After staring at them for a while, I pretty much decided that blinds are out. But I'm also not a fan of the cafe curtain thing the current homeowner has going on here. I get it though...don't want to block the pretty glass but I think there's a better solution.
One of the challenges with these old houses is that there is a general lack of uninterrupted wall space. Between radiators, windows and openings to other rooms, furniture placement is going to be a little like solving a puzzle. That door there in the dining room leads to the back porch.
It's so pretty from the outside!
One of the two built-in china hutches in the dining room. Would you dare paint all this trim? I love the idea of it being a high gloss, crisp white but it seems like such a huge decision!
Upstairs hallway and a sea of royal blue carpet. There's hardwood under all of it so it's all coming out the day we close.
For a home of this age, it has surprisingly generous closets. This thing is dying for some
elfa!
The upstairs bath is definitely going to have to be addressed in the near future. It's a decent space but feels very odd in terms of layout (sink and toilet are around the corner to the right).
Off the bathroom (the door on the far left in the photo above) is this inexplicably large closet. Isn't this such an odd thing to have in a bathroom? This space definitely needs to be reclaimed in whatever renovation we do.
In the hallway (and backing up to the bathroom closet you see above) is this linen closet with built in hutch. I am thinking this + some of the closet space would make an ideal 2nd floor laundry room. The plumbing is already there since it's right next to the bathroom and I HATE the idea of doing laundry in the basement.
Back downstairs, I stared at the kitchen and general lack of pantry space for about 20 minutes. Where is
my baking cart going people?! This wall between the powder room and mudroom is crying out for some kind of makeshift storage solution.
Speaking of powder room, the basement stairs run right under it, resulting in this very bizarre tiled cube thing. Oh the joys of old houses. There has to be a better solution.
Back door off the back porch leading to the tiny mudroom and kitchen beyond.
The back porch is adorable but like the front porch is also sporting a black ceiling. Who wants a black porch ceiling?! So depressing, I don't get it. To be painted asap.
Path off the back porch leading to the backyard and garage.
Thank you all for the sweet comments and for bearing with me through
this crazy transition. I'm hoping to get back to some regular posts now
that house hunting is officially behind us. And I certainly will have
no lack of content going forward. As I walked through the house taking
these photos I think I amassed a mental "to-do" list of about 70 items! And of course downsizing is going to be tricky so I'll need to be very creative with organization solutions. All in all I'm excited for the challenge though and can't wait to make this house our home. Hope you'll stay with me for the adventure!
We loved the original details in this home. The front door has the most amazing brass hardware (though questionable paint color choice!) Love the leaded glass sidelights though. Those silky, curtain things have got to go!
