I feel like the blog has really been in background mode for a while as we navigated on two really big life changes. We had a new baby! And we bought a new (very old) house!
We have loved the last seven years in our little craftsman cottage on Beacon. Unfortunately, three kids + the need for two home offices has us bursting at the seams! After months of browsing Zillow and popping into open houses each weekend, we chanced upon a gorgeous old house that was For Sale by Owner on one of our favorite streets in one of our favorite neighborhoods. After a short but nerve-racking bidding war, we were under contract – before a “for sale” sign even made it into the front yard.
The House
City tax records list the house as being built in 1920, however our initial research on the house actually puts the construction date closer to 1915. Part of what led us to fall in love with this house based just on the listing photos was how many of the home’s original features had been preserved over the last 100+ years. The home has four original fireplaces, transom windows above all of the interior doors, and original woodwork and built-ins throughout. Past owners have done the hard work of updating electric, plumbing, and heating/cooling systems, so most of our restoration work is cosmetic.
The house also checked off a lot of our “must haves” that we were struggling to find in the area. The main house has four bedrooms, a downstairs office, and a parlor off the primary suite that we’ll use for a second home office and sewing room. There’s a garage workshop for Cody, upstairs and downstairs playrooms for the kids, and more storage than I could ever dream of – which is incredibly rare for a historic home (oversized second floor laundry room with three closets featured below). Plus, there’s an apartment above the garage (currently in disrepair) that will be a fun project to tackle a few years down the road.
I won’t sugar coat it – the house has great bones however the cosmetic work – and some structural work – that needs to happen before we can move in is extensive. I’ll go into more details on the renovation and restoration plans in a separate post. Until then, I’ll leave you with a few more “before” pictures from our biggest project yet!
