What did we get ourselves into?

The Living Room

February 2009 - Although we know that few people can appreciate just how bad our house was when we bought it, here is a selection of shots of how the house looked before we bought it. 

The living room featured dirty old teal-colored carpets that were at least 40 years old.  We later discovered large holes in the floor here and in the dining room from the old coal furnance vents that were hidden by the nasty carpet.  The fireplace was just an open hole, covered with years worth of soot and with a mesh screen hanging in front.  The windows (over six feet tall) were terribly old,  peeling (lead paint - mmm, mmm good!) and drafty (when the wind blew outside, the curtains would move).  The lovely window treatments throughout the house were just scraps of old material.

The Dining Room

The dining room was more of the same, with the dirty carpet and an odd hump in the floor (still trying to figure out how to fix that).  Dingy walls and a rusted two-bit chandelier rounded out this room.  At least the dingy walls extended up to ceilings over  nine feet high on the first floor.

The Gourmet Kitchen

The kitchen was a masterpiece of mid-century disastrous design.  Although the room is large, it is oppressed by horrible dark wood paneling, a handful of dirty original cabinets from the 1920's and a tiny apartment refrigerator (which certainly could not hold enough food to feed me).  Not even the super awesome almond-colored range could distract you from the lack of a dishwasher or disposal.

The powder room off of the bathroom was a tour-de-force of old lady decor.  Pink floor tiles and pink tiles halfway up the walls, with a blue sink sticking out of the wall.  The walls were accented by fantastic blue and pink flower wall paper which was covering even older brown, blue and pink butterfly wallpaper.

The Pink Room

The largest bedroom did feature a different carpet color from the teal elsewhere.  Unfortunately, it was pink.  But that perfectly complimented the Pepto-Bismol pink color, which was clearly a favorite of the previous owners, that adorned the cracked plaster walls.  The blinds here and throughout the house were so dirty (think inches of grime) that they couldn't be salvaged.  At least they covered the extremely drafty, peeling and broken old windows present up here too.

The Front Bedroom

Hooray!  The front bedroom had newer carpet, but unfortunately, we soon found it wasn't secured to anything.  It was just a remnant that was thrown in there.  Only later did we learn that it was covering a fist-sized hole in the floor that went oh so nicely with the cracked walls and ceilings.  The window treatments were more scraps of fabric draped over rusted curtain rods here too.

The Third Bedroom

The third bedroom was where the cracked plaster really had a chance to shine.  Large cracks (some over eight feet long) ran through the walls and ceiling and in some areas, the plaster was noticeably separating from the lath behind.  Another remnant of carpet was on the floor here, but this one was much older and didn't cover the entire floor.  The room also showcased the fabulous electrical system (1920's knob and tube) that powered the house, which included wire runs outside of the walls in metal moldings nailed onto the baseboards.

The Luxurious Bathroom

The one full bath was also amazingly non-functional and decrepit.  Again, there was only one sink jutting out from the wall that was barely big enough to wash your hands in.  The floor was covered in peeling linoleum tiles and the tub was actually sloped backwards away from the drain (you had to squeegee it out after a shower).  The walls were virtually covered with festive mold and mildew.

After looking at these pictures, I'm really not sure what we were thinking.  Although the structure of the house was sound, every single square inch of the interior needed to be redone.   

The Haunted House Barn

And then there was the old barn out back that was barely standing.  It had fairly significant termite damage and was leaning at a number of alarming angles.  Because of the dirt floor and the spooky old interior, Monica was afraid to even go inside of it.  It looked more like the set of a horror movie than a functional structure (I thought it was cool).  I mean really, who buys a property with buildings that you're afraid to step inside? 

I guess that would be us . . .