It Begins
After two months of looking, a sale that fell through due to a sketchy septic field, and some deep soul searching Natalie and I finally closed on a house. My house. Our house. The house.
I've never wanted to own an old house. I've never, ever, wanted to remodel a home. And yet, somehow, I'm getting ready to do both. The house in question is a 1926 dutch colonial that's in better nick than I would be at age 91.
I'm no stranger to the remodel process. As a child, my parents bought an old house perched in the Berkeley hills. That house needed some serious work, including structural I-beam reinforcement and a brand new retaining wall to keep the neighbors up the hill from becoming roommates. I still have boxes of fixtures and tools from that remodel, complete with vintage plaster dust and '90s era plastic baggies.
But at the end of the day, instead of a new-construction "craftsman" box, Natalie and I decided that what we wanted was a beautiful piece of history: and what a beauty it is.
I'll be writing more about the first owners as I dig through old newspaper articles, but based on the construction of the house, they were probably very well off. As I mentioned earlier, the house is in surprisingly good shape and still has most of the original hardware and windows. We think the oak floor on the first floor is original to the home, and we are desperately hoping that there is the original wood floor under the carpet on the second.
I've never wanted to own an old house. I've never, ever, wanted to remodel a home. And yet, somehow, I'm getting ready to do both. The house in question is a 1926 dutch colonial that's in better nick than I would be at age 91.
I'm no stranger to the remodel process. As a child, my parents bought an old house perched in the Berkeley hills. That house needed some serious work, including structural I-beam reinforcement and a brand new retaining wall to keep the neighbors up the hill from becoming roommates. I still have boxes of fixtures and tools from that remodel, complete with vintage plaster dust and '90s era plastic baggies.
But at the end of the day, instead of a new-construction "craftsman" box, Natalie and I decided that what we wanted was a beautiful piece of history: and what a beauty it is.
A Brief House History
The house was built in 1926 by the first occupants and has changed hands six times since, making us the seventh owners. It started life as a 2-story with an unfinished basement and, as is typical, has grown significantly over the years. An addition and detached garage were added 1958 and the basement was "finished" in 1963 to add a bathroom and living space. Surprisingly, all the major structural changes were made by the original owners with only minor interior remodeling done by any of the later occupants.I'll be writing more about the first owners as I dig through old newspaper articles, but based on the construction of the house, they were probably very well off. As I mentioned earlier, the house is in surprisingly good shape and still has most of the original hardware and windows. We think the oak floor on the first floor is original to the home, and we are desperately hoping that there is the original wood floor under the carpet on the second.
Now What?
So now we own a 1926 vintage house, complete with all the problems that come with a 91-year old anything. I keep pausing to ask myself how I got to this point in my life; how, after staunchly declaring that I would never remodel a house for as long as I lived, I could be getting ready to live part time at the home depot. But here we are, excited and ready to get our hands dirty.
It's going to be an adventure, but we both think it's one we are ready for. (Not that we have much of a choice now.)
So... now what?