You might have noticed that it has been a little quiet around here but we are going to change that with a new home tour. Well it all started with the decision to do a little yard sale shopping which ended up with us shopping for a yard. Yep! We have moved! A whole 1.8 miles down the road from our previous locale. We have been known for our impulsiveness from time to time, but I am pretty sure this move takes the cake. Our process in a nutshell: see a house you are interested in, go put your house on the market, and boom under contract in 19 hours. The whole shebang set in motion in less than a week, which certainly did cause some scrambling since we hadn’t even put in an offer on another property. As luck would have it we were able to work everything out so that life and Craft Thyme can continue on.
BUT the houses are oh so different this time. We have gone from new and modern to old and well…old? Oh yes, we have decided to plunge into the land of old home ownership with the purchase of a 1927 brick combined duplex. Fun fact, when I (Brianna) was a kid I spent a lot of time in this house. I loved all the pass throughs, strange staircases, fireplaces, nooks, crannies, and built ins. Seeing as this house is double the heated space and three times the yard size with an attic, two basements, and a garage? What’s not to love?
But every fairy tale has to have the heroes triumph over adversity. Our adversity? Tenants. This home has had tenants for a long time and they have been well… tenants… You really need someone who loves an older home to keep it up in style! And guess what? We are going to love this older home to renovation death. The bones are amazing with hardwood floors, huge rooms, and built ins galore. But being us means we have huge plans. Of course the huge plans have to happen after some basic changes. We are currently in those first stages. The ones where you get moved in, clean, clean, clean, paint, hang blinds, paint some more, try not to kill each other, and paint some more and clean again. We will provide you with lots of before and afters but for right now we are going to do the tour AS IS. Oh yes! You get to see the new homestead in complete un-retouched glory. #nofilter!
Let the Home Tour Begin:
The First Floor
The first floor contains an entryway that serves to combine the two sides, two living rooms, two dining rooms, a three quarter bath, and combined galley kitchen. We are just going with pictures from here on out for the first floor of the home tour. BUT take special note of those awesome fireplaces, built-ins, and staircases. They are the bones of what will be AWESOME.
The Second Floor
There are two ways to reach the second floor. Matching winding staircases flank the fireplaces in both living rooms. Both sides are mirrored making for two modest bedrooms, two gargantuan bedrooms with sitting areas, and two extremely modest (read that as tiny) bathrooms by today’s standards. There is a pass through in the hallways that leads across to either side and up to the attic (Not pictured in the home tour).
The Third Floor
What?! There is a third floor? You bet your sweet aspercreme there is! Head up an oddly shaped and unfinished wood staircase to a large wooden floored attic. Currently, it is not heated or plumbed but the kids adore running around up there and we have very awesome, secret plans for 5+ years in the future. Right now I have lots of winter clothes and fine china stashed up there till I straighten out the closet situation and paint the beautiful builtins.
The Ground Floor
WTH? There is more! Oh yes, there are two concrete basements down below. The access to the basement is solely outside, which, is going to be fun in the winter. Because guess what?! That’s where the laundry is located. We have more of those secret plans to handle that, but we will get to that later. I really don’t have any pictures of dark, concrete areas to share. You should thank me for saving you from that.
The Yard
Well what can I say about the yard… It is extremely large, especially, for a city lot, but the tenants were N.O.T. into gardening. Underneath the over growth there are tons of interesting plants, jack in the pulpits, day lilies in spades, and a host of other plants (including a run in with poison ivy twice now). We won’t be doing much in the gardening area till next spring, but there is so much potential there it is exciting and a little overwhelming. Kind of welcome to the jungle meets English cottage garden.
And that concludes our before tour. We will be posting additional room details as we work to renovate our new home. Expect to see a new style as we go for a more laid back bohemian mix of modern and classic. Should be entertaining for both you and us!
