Perfection is in the eye of the beholder, just like love.
Although my home is perfection to me, to others it might not be.
There's 85 year old cabinet doors that don't line up (I wouldn't change them for the world though), chipped paint, leaks that pop up suddenly in the roof, plumbing problems that need to be fixed, electric switches that I can't seem to find the light to..... Oh and windows that need to be replaced, because someone thought it would be a good idea to replace the original ones with newer ones.
Guess which ones still work fine and don't have any problems?
The only four original windows in the house.
Sigh....
It definitely has it's quirks, but I'm working through them.
Honestly though, even with those issues, it's still perfect to me.
I love...
That I have a kitchen that is small, so that I only have three or four steps to everything.
(By the way, did you know they did studies on kitchens in the 1920s through the 1940s to find out what what the most efficient kitchens would be, so that women would have an easier time cooking in them? You can read about one such study
here.)
That it has the original tile and sink in one of the bathrooms, and the original tub in another.
That I can close a door or two and not hear the television in another room.
That it has character, and that no one has a house like I do in my neighborhood.
That when I walk through my door it feels like home...
like grandma's house
like love.
The problem is, that I keep having this nightmare that one day, when I die (or God Forbid, have to leave for some other reason), someone will come in this home and gut it, just like the last owners of this house were going to do.
They'll take out the original cabinets, built-ins, light fixtures, countertops and sink that I so lovingly restored, and put in stainless steel, granite and dark wood or whatever the latest trend is.
Worst of all, they'll make it.......
OPEN CONCEPT.
All the character will be gone and I will have to haunt them forever.
You probably think I'm kidding, but I'm not.
I love my old home.
In fact, I love all old homes.
Every time I see a house built before or in the 1950s, that's been fitted with the latest trends, instead of restored to it's original character I die a little, and I think the souls of the people that lived there die too.
What I can't wrap my head around is why anyone would do that when there are thousands of new builds that are waiting with 'Open concept, granite and stainless steel' already in them.
Why spend all that money to turn an old home into a new one?
Why destroy the historical integrity, because it's not your taste?
Do you have any idea how hard it is for people that restore old homes to fix all that "remuddling"?
No need to answer those questions.
I'll never understand it anyway.
Please, if you ever buy an old house.....
Love the home and it's past.
Respect it.
And don't destroy the integrity.
Or else....
the previous owner might just haunt you ;)
xo
rue
PS
The pictures came from the children's book "The Little House" by Virginia Lee Burton. It's about a little house that was loved, then forgotten and then saved.
My very dear friend
Nikki gave it to me a few years back, because she and I share a love of restoring old homes.
