| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| ladybugsmom6 |
Posted - Sep 07 2005 : 4:01:47 PM
Does it make any one else truely sad to see the big old graceful houses sitting empty? while the farm land is owned and planted by big corporations, or just neglected. I see so many "abandoned" beautiful homes just sitting, falling in on themselves with no one to keep their hearts and hearths warm. I hear, "no one wants to heat that old thing!"" who needs a house that big?" The charachtor and grace I step into old farm houses and feel that the house can protect me, in some way. They feel safe, loved in, truely home. New houses feel wimpy by comparison. Remodeling can be tricky, but if you can make a barn a house, you can live in asn old beauty with out making it apartments! And by the way, I would heat it and I need a house at least that big! families need space.
-Tami
livin' right and loven' life! |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Alee |
Posted - Apr 26 2007 : 4:52:14 PM
What a beautiful house! I would buy it in a heartbeat and restore it! Even if we had to pitch a tent IN the house while we fixed it- I would do it! That house looks like it has great potential. It would break my heart to see it rotting away.
Alee
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| Tracey |
Posted - Apr 26 2007 : 09:58:59 AM
We spotted this old, abandoned home near Fox, Oregon. There were old homes everywhere, no one living in them. We snuck inside this one for a quick peek; windows had been blown out (or in, really), and there were rat droppings everywhere. Plus a huge hole in the kitchen floor.
No clue why folks move out and places get left like this. You'd think they could at least salvage some of the wood before it rots away?
Visit Quiet Storm, our adopted Mustang! http://wildaboutquietstorm.com
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| Alee |
Posted - Apr 21 2007 : 09:20:30 AM
Sheryl-lyn-
Moving to the mountains- you are very lucky! And it sounds like you restored that old house beautifully. I am always so glad when older houses get restored, rather than demolished for another big "cookie cutter" house.
Alee |
| sewgirlie |
Posted - Apr 20 2007 : 5:04:36 PM
My house was built in 1933 and we moved into it in 1983. Fortunately, the house was built very well and everything is level and squared still!! No wobbly walls, etc. We have been working on it pretty much since the 80s, and my husband, who is a landscaper and carpenter has made it lovely. He wants a NEW house (to build himself) and I am sure I owe it to him to give him that chance. He will build it to look old and charming like this one, but it will be custom made for us. The grace, character and history of the old houses will always draw me in, even when I am no longer living in one. Maybe my kids will buy this when we move to the mountains and build the new dream.
Sheryl-lyn |
| Alee |
Posted - Apr 16 2007 : 5:39:23 PM
Marcia-
I am so glad that you are restoring such a great old farm and farmhouse! There are tons of abandoned houses in the middle of fields around here and it always makes me sad. I am glad that a few of them are being saved!
Alee
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| Thistlewoodmanor |
Posted - Apr 16 2007 : 4:56:37 PM
I love old houses too. Mine is 106 years old and solid as ever. It's a little short on romance, but I plan to add a wraparound porch to help with that. The biggest problem is that it was updated in the 70's and very badly needs updating now.........ugly green shag carpet is the worst thing. I just had the furnace replaced, and now working on windows and doors.......fuel this winter cost us $2400! But after the work is done, it should be alot better.
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~annavon431/ |
| westernhorse51 |
Posted - Apr 13 2007 : 1:59:26 PM
oh Bramble I know exactly how you feel, theres an old farnhouse in Farmingdale that I love & its all boarded up. It's my idea of the perfect house & it saddens me so much. The pine Barrens are full of old boarded up farmhouses, at least it used to be way out in Bayville by the old spanish mansion where we used to ride horses. It may not even exists anymore.
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
| Celticheart |
Posted - Apr 13 2007 : 10:05:59 AM
It took us years to finally find our old farmhouse to love but we did. Almost a year ago we moved to this house on 7 acres. It was built between 1910 and 1913 and has the look and feel of an old homestead. Lovely porch with pillars and a usable balcony upstairs. The yard is huge as is the garden area and we have a creek that runs across the back of the property to which we have the original water rights. The house itself has been pretty well maintained but the yard, garden and pastures have been sadly neglected. The same family owned this and lived here for 55 years. The woman sold to a younger couple three years ago but they did nothing except put miniature horses on the pasture and paint the house. The lawn hadn't been watered at all and everything was weeds, weeds and more weeds. We bought from the young couple although I tried to get my DH to look at it when they bought it. Maybe he'll listen next time because we could have paid 40K less for it at the time.
Most of what we did last summer was work outside--cleaning up putting irrigation on the pasture and working in the yard and garden. We planted a garden the weekend after we moved and it was gorgeous. Probably the best garden we've ever had and we've had many. We are on a main highway and we worked outside so much last summer and fall that it was a wonder there wasn't an accident out front. People would slow down to see what we were doing. Pretty funny! This is such a small town and everybody is snoopy. Good thing we've lived here a long time and know that already.
Now we have cows on the pasture, chickens in the coop and this year's pigs will be here soon. The grass is green. More roses and fruit trees are going in. It's looking pretty good around here. Last fall I visited the old lady that lived here all those years and I thought she was going to cry. She met me at the door of her apartment in the retirement complex and said "I'm so happy you live in my house!" She asked if I had any questions about the house and told me where they had grown their corn(in the pasture). She said she was so unhappy about selling her house to the young couple that she couldn't even talk to them about it. I told her she is welcome to come visit her house anytime.
People tell us this old house is smiling again.
"I suppose the pleasure of country life lies really in the eternally renewed evidence of the determination to live." Vita Sackville-West
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| Mikki |
Posted - Apr 11 2007 : 10:55:37 AM
Ohhhh I so know what you mean. It's so sad. There's a lovely but very delapidated old farmhouse right in our Amish community that has been abandoned. I asked the Amish about it as we go visit often. They built our get-a-way log cabin which by the way I'm moving into this week, FINALLY!!!! I'll have more pictures soon. They said it belonged to an Englishman they thought. Well, this little Englishwoman would love to fix it up. And of course the community is wonderful with the Amish there. If hubby and I weren't already settled we would sure look into that place. They have such character, it's sad to see them empty.
~~Blessings, Mikki
http://burningmeadowsprings.blogspot.com/
http://strawberriesnapronstrings.blogspot.com/ |
| Tina Kay |
Posted - Apr 11 2007 : 10:03:21 AM
I would heat it and love it! I need a big house. I makes me sad to see old houses sitting with no one to love them. I would love to fix up an old farm house. Hubby on the other hand has had it with fixing our house up. LOL Maybe I will hit him up for one in a year or two!
Have a great day!
If you would be happy for a week ~ take a wife.
If you would be happy for a month ~ kill a pig.
But if you would be happy your whole life ~ plant a garden.
~mid 17th century~ |
| westernhorse51 |
Posted - Apr 09 2007 : 6:56:08 PM
it saddens me also and I wish people would buy them, fix them up & live in them instead of building a new one. It kills more trees, takes up more space. Maybe I feel this way because thats what we want to do. I dont want to tear down trees, I want to make an older home liveable(??spelling?) not new but good to live in.
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
| Bluewrenn |
Posted - Apr 09 2007 : 3:58:46 PM
I grew up in an old house and well, it was cold and the plumbing froze each winter. But on the other hand, the house was nice and cool during the summer and had great big rooms. My bedroom was 18 x 22 feet.
DH and I will probably build a new house but borrow the floorplan and look of an old house for our new solar powered house. It would cost too much to move an old house then remodel it, and this way we have a house that will last for a while. An older house would eventually have to be rebuilt.
That said, I miss our old house... :(
My Homesteading Journal http://toomyvara.livejournal.com
My craft journal http://bluewrenn.livejournal.com
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| Amie C. |
Posted - Apr 09 2007 : 1:08:22 PM
I just saw the best of both worlds! A house built in the early 1800s, which needs restoration, with one acre of land and a well-maintained mobile home included. You could live in the mobile home while restoring the old house. Or camp out in one room of the old house and rent out the mobile home to help pay for the restoration. That would sure help, wouldn't it?
BTW, my current house was a HUD house and you don't need to qualify for them (at least not in my area). They are up for whoever bids highest at auction. |
| kitchensqueen |
Posted - Apr 09 2007 : 12:20:23 PM
It makes me cry... that once warm, wholesome lives were lived there. The ones that really pull at my heart are the ones that look as though the last family just up and left one day-- with the glass vases in the kitchen window, the daylilies taking over the yard, the porch swing swaying in the breeze...
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Now Open!: http://shadetreestudios.etsy.com |
| junebug |
Posted - Sep 25 2005 : 1:53:22 PM
Mamamia, hang in there! Do you quailfy for a HUD house or Habitat for Humanity? If so, get your name on any list you can, most have long waits but the sooner the better and you never know till you try. Also, there are alot of new home loans even for single moms, so do a search on the web and what ever you do, don't give up, there's a house out there just wanting for you! Good luck!
I'm not 40 something, I'm 39.95 plus shipping and handling! |
| sanctuarywitch |
Posted - Sep 25 2005 : 1:00:13 PM
My farm & house were built circa 1860. I think I love it obsessively. It is ramshackle in a loveable way...happy shabby chic! By the grace of God, I was able to keep it when I divorced. My house feels like my best friend!
Life rewards action! |
| mamamia |
Posted - Sep 24 2005 : 7:50:39 PM
Ahhhhhhhh! I cannot wait for the day I can love an old home again. I am holding onto homeschooling as a single mother but still have very high hopes of owning (my first) home....alone. I have lived in and out of a storage unit for several years now and it brings me down everytime I have to get into it. I can make things but can't imagine making enough for a living. My $500.00 worth of greenhouse supplies has now warped and yes I know lumber has gone sky high too. What to do? |
| RachelLeigh |
Posted - Sep 23 2005 : 12:36:39 PM
This is an interesting topic. There are A LOT of old abandoned farmhouses in the Hanover/Madison area of southern Indiana. There are actually two abandoned farmhouses that sit between my parents house and the town of Hanover. One of them is long-since boarded up and I've watched it slowly fall apart as I've grown up. Every year though, there is still a tobacco crop that is hung up to dry in the old barn near the house. So it's being used that way still. The other one is absolutely beautiful but I've never stopped to take a picture. It sits in a big valley that you can see at the intersection of two highways. It's way off in the distance and it's just a gorgeous view. Then there is a big farm near the town limits that just got sold. My parents neighbors, who are generally unpleasant people, sold the family farm that her mother owned to a subdivision developer and then the family fought over the money. Soon, that farm will be knocked down, as will the barns and silos, and a subdivision will be put it. I used to play there as a child because i was friends with my neighbor's niece. I still remember running around that gravel lot in between the house and the barn. And there was a tree that was a perfect "Y" and was so low that we could sit in it....I haven't thought about that in years. And now it will all be gone.... Why is it that no one seems to see that not ALL progress is good? |
| junebug |
Posted - Sep 23 2005 : 12:19:53 PM
Oh Jenny, How I would love to see your house, a old motel, how cool! I think you speak for all of us "dreamers" who are connected to our old places, they aren't perfect but they do feel like home! Enjoyed your post, wish it had pictures! Thanks!
I'm not 40 something, I'm 39.95 plus shipping and handling! |
| jenny louise |
Posted - Sep 23 2005 : 06:00:51 AM
I can definitely see both sides, and as i said before, we are a couple of those dreamers that really should have torn down! But I have to tell you that last night I got the biggest surprise concerning this house. We knew that the original family had a fire here, destroying the house, but since it was WW1,and there were not alot of supplies available to build, they found an old hotel, and took it apart, piece by piece and rebuilt on the old house foundation. And now how many years later, we still have numbers on all of our doors inside.
Well, a historian has come up with the original photos of the old hotel, which is quite a shock, since they are from late 1800's, and it was an out of the the way inn.
It is just nice to have it all come full circle, and although we have huge problems with the house structure, we are glad that we have not torn down. But it is an individual choice and there is no condemnation from me at all. I will never have a level floor, the basement weeps constantly, unless of course it is frozen down there, we have switches in the walls that go to nothing at all, and we just hope that the wires are not dangling in the walls, waiting to spark. Bats and birds vie for room in our attic space, and there is one solitary metal post holding up the main load bearing wall in the basement. Because of the first fire,(and there have been three since), The beams around the foundation perimeter are scorched and damaged, but we figure that it will last our lifetimes, perfection isn't our norm, and we are quite content to just keep it held up, then our kids will sell off the whole farm when we are gone and the next folks will doze it.
I like the feel of much living having gone on here, the ghosts of the past are welcome and I do love the old sagging place, it is kind of looking like i will join her in the slow march toward a comfortable state of a life well lived.
No matter what we decide to live in, it is the home that is most important, not the house. All of you are capable of making your dwelling into a loving and inviting home, and i read about all of the remarkable lives you are leading and want to visit each of you!! Thanks, Jenny Louise |
| Horseyrider |
Posted - Sep 23 2005 : 04:37:06 AM
Gosh, I know of quite a few houses that stand empty (I'm between that Springfield/Rockford ride) for the oddest reasons, and company owned land isn't one of them. Usually, when the big companies buy up farmland they'll set aside the house and five or so acres if it's sellable without much repair or rigamarole. Mostly, the ones I know are situations where there are large families who all farm in the area but then Dad dies and Mom moves to town. The family still wants access to the equipment sheds and barns so they can farm, but the house is empty. All the kids already have their own homes, so it just stands due to what I call familial inertia. It's long ago paid for, and they don't intend to let it go to outsiders. But then, enough time goes by that little unnoticed repairs become big ones, and then the tax bill on the building gets irritating, and so they call the volunteer fire department and let them take it down for practice.
I really understand the house hunger that motivates these responses. There's a grace and history with older homes. I often walk around mine and think of the previous occupants, wonder about their lives, and if they got to fulfill their hopes and dreams there. I love the solidity of the construction materials. Mine was built 140 years ago with honest to gosh two by six inch studs in the walls, plaster and lathe, and solid hardwood doors. It's quiet in here, and cool. Each part was built one at a time; assembly lines hadn't been invented yet. I'm lucky in that each occupant took care with it, updated things like electrical and plumbing as needed, and although there are some funky features, it's a wonderful old home.
There was one northwest of me, a grand old three story Queen Anne that had been largely untouched, that finally was purchased and rehabbed. I thought for sure it was going to be left to decay beyond retrieval. Oh my, how I would have loved to get into that house and see it before it was redone! |
| bramble |
Posted - Sep 22 2005 : 8:21:30 PM
Our 70+ year old house actually needs more work than the 214 year old one we moved from! And being married to the carpenter is usually not a perk! We are always the last client on their list! You know, by the time they get home more WORK is the last thing they want to be doing! I love the quirks of old houses and will probably always live in one with the good and the bad.
Oh! DH said to add that MANY of the old houses he works on are not structurally sound.They are an accident waiting to happen, as the framing , roof trusses and structural support beams were often patched or repaired improperly, or the spacing and or weight bearing capacities were never built adequately, let alone built to code. He once worked on a house where they literally fell through the kitchen floor because the main support beam under that section gave way.
The home owner later told him that they never had more than one person in that area at a time because the floor felt "funny". I should say so! I still love my old houses and I am a dreamer, it's a good thing I married the wet blanket who keeps my feet on the ground while my head is in the stars!
with a happy heart |
| Candy Segar |
Posted - Sep 22 2005 : 12:35:17 PM
Hi Everyone,
I am looking for a farm in Northern Alabama, Tennessee or Kentucky or Southern NC or SC or Northern GA. I am in Florida and I can't take the pressure of evacuating and not knowing if I will have a home to go back to or not. It really worries me. I want to give farming on a small scale a try - I am looking for a mostly wooded area 10 - 20 acres with a good house on it. No fixer upper unless cosmetic. I have gutted and rebuilt this old house. I am not up to it again. Also I need about an acre for planting an organic garden. I want to do this badly. It will also be a place my family and friends who live along the Gulf Coast can evacuate to. It is getting too crazy with all of these hurricanes. Please advise. I am searching and could use your help. Thank you and it is nice to meet you all. Organic farmer Wannabe, Candy |
| Park Avenue |
Posted - Sep 22 2005 : 07:13:58 AM
I also get so sad to see old houses abandoned, or worse yet, when they are mistreated, and neglected.
We don't have many really old ones here in Alberta. In my community I live in one of the older ones, built in the 40's. Luckily my husband is a structural draftsman, and we are both pretty handy with renovations.
We see so many new homes, and new home plans, and I always come home to my house, which isn't as flashy or as shiney, but it does have a charcter that you just don't see anymore.
Michele |
| verbina |
Posted - Sep 21 2005 : 4:01:14 PM
i know how ya feel okie,old houses can eat you alive. we had one we restored.man they were some rough times,thought i might punch my hub.in the head a few times but i didnt want any more bills ,cause i really might have hurt him.lol. we have since moved to a 15 year old cabin w/guest house or maby it will be a pottery barn but right now we are letting a snake live in it.we still have work to do in this place but not as much. we have 10ac. in the middle of the woods(spirits all over the place) but i hope to move out in two years to a old house that is DONE.yes i am a dreamer with a old soul.good luck to you and your new home randi |
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