The Romance of a 100-year Old Home

As I post things about our house in TN on Facebook or on here I receive so many comments about it being romantic or a beautiful getaway.  I thought that I should set everyone straight.  I just want to be honest.  I should actually post this closer to Halloween, but since I have today off from work I thought it would be a good day to reveal the "romance" of our home.

Warning:  This is not romantic, but scary.  You may not want to go any further.

This will be revealing WAY MORE than I would like to reveal, but I am hoping one day that the following pictures will be replaced with pictures of a beautiful "getaway" from our hard labor.  Very hard labor.  You will see what I mean.

Some of you know that I do not go upstairs unless I have to.  The big upstairs bedroom is our cat's favorite room.  They love it.  So, I do have to go up sometimes to search for them, but if Kevan is not home and/or it is night time....I don't venture upstairs.

You are probably thinking, "it really can't be that bad".  No!  It really is.  At least, to a woman, it is THAT BAD. 

Are you ready?

This is a picture of the lower steps leading upstairs.  They look great (except for the dust...oops!).  

Then, as you get the the 2nd set of steps you see that things upstairs are not like downstairs.

Notice the white drywall, brown paneling and house/church paneling.  Not sure what they were thinking.  Also, the top steps are carpeted.  When they redid the bottom steps....why did they leave out the top steps?  These are questions we ask all the time when walking around this house.  What were they thinking?

In the previous picture you probably noticed the light on the wall.  Here is a close-up.

Also, there is a chandelier hanging at the top that I can see was probably once really pretty.  I think my mom might like it even now.  :o)  She loves antiques.  [note, I showed this post to her before I posted it and she loved it.  She thinks I need to move it to a part of the house where everyone can see it.  lol]  Reminder, I don't go upstairs...so any dust you see will most likely remain until the items are taking down, thrown away, moved or painted.

Then, you might have noticed that one wall is paneling and drywall.  Why didn't they redo the whole wall?  Why half of a wall?  What were they thinking?

Are you ready to see inside the large bedroom?

 Double doors...could be a really nice entrance one day....I'm thinking pretty french doors!

The first thing you will notice when crossing the threshold is the pretty carpet.

Again, what were they thinking?  I know, I know....a time long long ago this was in style.  Also, they say cats cannot see color.  So, maybe that is why they love it upstairs.

The next thing you will notice is the TV in the corner.  The previous owners left it for us.  I didn't plug it in to see if it works.

Oh, I forgot to mention that this room has no heat or air conditioning.  So, they installed an air unit in the wall...which I will not show in this post because, again, I didn't dust beforehand.  This will be an issue one day if we redo this room since I will, most likely, want heat!

Did you notice the brand of TV?  

General Electric.  Kevan works for GE so I had to mention it.  :o)

One of Kevan's favorite things about this house/room is the upstairs "balcony".  I use this term VERY loosely.  When you open the doors to the "balcony" it is actually the tin roof of the house.  So, when you step out you are not on a level "balcony", but on a roof that is pitched in all different kinds of ways.

Now, besides the beautiful television they also left a pool table for our recreation.  I'm sure they thought they were doing us a huge favor since we now already have 2 items in our "game room".  I think Kevan and his dad see hours of fun playing pool.  I see something that is going to be really heavy and hard to give away.  Maybe my FIL will want it in his basement?  ;o)

I actually think the wall structure is very cute and has character.  But, I also imagine all of the work that goes along with the redo.

At some point one of the owners of this home decided to install an intercom system so they didn't have to yell downstairs.  If you ever visit our house the first conclusion you will come to is that the owners must have been too poor to buy a ruler or a level.  

Growing up my grandparents had an intercom system and I thought it was so cool.  Now, not so much.

Before you think that all of the walls up here are drywall I will disappoint you by showing you that for some reason one of the walls is paneling.  Very pretty house/church paneling.  At least, one day a long long time ago I guess this was in style.

Here is a close up.

Now, one last picture of this room that I will leave you with.  This is a picture of how straight the walls are where they meet.  Again, I think the owners didn't own a ruler or a level.  Poor past owners.  Must have been hard to do so many projects without the necessary tools.  If you can't see what is wrong in the picture below...you probably should not be a carpenter.

Now, my favorite part of this post.  Let's imagine what could be done.  This is what I'm thinking.  Tear out and install nice up-to-date carpeting.  Add a few bookshelves for all of our books and you get...

Or add some bead board to the ceiling...(this is what it would look like if we had the money to pay someone to fix it up for us).  I love it and especially the skylights!

Maybe one day it will be a game room with a big TV like this one...

And one more for inspiration....

So, not everything about living on a farm in Tennessee is romantic.  A lot of it is about hard work and improvements.  If we ever finish the Master Bedroom downstairs I will look forward to improving the upstairs.  Inside and Out.  I won't even go into what the pastures look like or the barn. 

Although, we are only hoping to live here for a few years so I am conflicted on whether we should leave it to the next owners or fix it up beforehand.  What are your thoughts?  What would you do if you owned this home?

Also, don't judge me for the way my house looks upstairs.  When I go up there, I see potential.  :o)  Hopefully, one day....(soon)...it will be pretty and I will be proud to show you my home.

They way I look at it is.  God is Sovereign over all things.  This is the house he has provided us during our "trial run" at living in the country.  The house he wanted us to be in.  He could've provided a mansion that needed no improvements, but he provided a home that will require hard work instead.  I will be thankful for the things he has provided us in this home and for all the things we will learn along the way.  Maybe that will be my next post...."The blessings of a not so perfect 100-year-old farmhouse".

"Be thankful in all circumstances..."  I Thessalonians 5:18