Before it all began...
The roofing process begins.
Welcome the the first of what I promise will be many amusing posts documenting the restoration of our 1930's Craftsman style house, who shall hereafter be named Wellington. We bought Wellington in 1999 just before we got married. We fell in love with the fireplace, harwood floors, quaint antique features, bar in the basement (Mark) and it's "potential". If you're laughing already, you know where this is headed. While Wellington is is great shape for his age, he is still 80 years old and quite the money pit in his own right. We put the house on the market for awhile last year and after zero luck, decided to stay and remodel. And while we like our house, that decision will prove to be a test of our patience and luck this summer and fall. For me, blogging about it will be an outlet for my frustrations. But first things first, the history.
Our quaint little town is about 180 years old and my family has been here for at least 80. The town doctor in the 1870's and 80s was Dr. Wellington Holtzman. He then moved to Detroit for awhile but returned to retire here and built our house in 1930. He built it well, it has a solid foundation and the materials are stuff you don't find cheap anymore. Sadly, he died only 3 years later. From what I can figure, we are around the 5th or 6th owners. So in the good Doc's honor, I'll call the house Wellington. We believe Wellington still pays visits but our ghostly side of the house I will save for a future post.
Our goal is to make the exterior as close to the original look of a 1930's Craftsman bungalow as possible. Me being a history major and Mark being an architecture major and both of us loving histoical architecture, we should love this and and be good at it right? (I really hope you all are laughing right now, because this has all the makings of a good TV show) We are also turning the upstairs into a new bedroom and bath as well as various odds and ends throughout the house.
Pray for us, stop by often as we promise to amuse and by the end of the fall we hope that we and the good Doctor are happy with the results!
2 comments:
Remodeling a house that may have a ghost... i take it you don't watch A Haunting on Discovery Channel. That is how you piss of the ghosts. Good luck. Love Matt
Thank goodness you're too far in to wedded bliss to annul your marriage vows.
Remind me to introduce you to my brother and sister-in-law, King and Queen of "Remodel Hell"
Have fun and keep up with the blog... I need a good laugh every now and again!
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