My Old House
page Under Construction
I love old houses. So when I found this diamond in the rough for sale about 20 years ago, , and it came with lots of acreage...The fact that I lived in a state 1200 miles away didn't sway me, nor did the holes in the floor, the caved in porch , the cracked plaster and the mushrooms growing in the walls of the so called "kitchen" . It has taken many years to get it this far, and there is a long way to go, but we love our little Ochre Moon Manor.
How could I pass up a view like this, even though the house was a wreck?
On these pages, I want to share with you: My farm friends, collecting and decorating with antiques, fixing up old stuff and whatever else catches my fancy.
I jokingly call our house "the Manor", but it is hardly what one would think of as a manor house,,,, more of a cottage in reality. A simple box of a house, sort of a four square, but with a much steeper hipped roof than a typical four square, with colonial revival elements like round southern style pillars which hold up the wraparound porch. Rather a plain Jane in truth, a simple straightforward, honest house. Built around 1890, neglected for many years and in need of some serious help, the Manor was just begging for someone to love her again. That would be me.
I really wanted to make this house special ,add some charm, make it OURS.
Poor old thing! Her list of ailments were too numerous to mention. Suffice it to say, my work was cut out for me. Shortly after moving here, from clear across the country, life passed me some lemons and I ended up as a divorced,single mother of two young boys. As an artist, the going was sometimes rough and for more years than I care to remember, the boys and I "toughed it out" in a cold house whose pipes froze and broke at least 3 times each winter. There were rooms whose floors could not be trusted lest you fall right through and a kitchen which can only be described as primitive. Since funds were limited, my poor old house remained in sorry shape, even though I loved her dearly and always knew that someday, someday, she would be revived. I was able to fix small things here and there, but it wasn't until 9 years later, when I met and married my dear James, that things really began to take shape.
Gus and Woodrow
to be continued...
