Only a few days until closing day! Then all of the hours of talking, planning, and dreaming that Jeff and I have done these past couple months will begin.
Jeff in one of his past careers, was an investors' realtor, and was able to negotiate the deal and write up an offer which was accepted. He spent countless hours inspecting the house, researching, and budgeting the repairs and work that would be needed. (If you are not an old house expert, please get a qualified home inspector that knows old homes and appreciates them, to go through the house with you.) We worked on drawing up plans, and timelines.
In the middle of all of our planning, we took a much needed mini family vacation. It was the perfect chance to talk over things, and run through our what-if and how-to scenarios. We had a very relaxing time at our little air-b-n-b cottage on the Chesapeake. Just the change of scene we need before we jump head first into this journey.
Through our conversations and planning came the idea for me to chronicle this journey and start a blog. I have always loved writing, and we were planning to take notes and pictures and videos along the way. So why not blog? In mulling over this idea, I enjoyed reading other old house enthusiasts blogs, and found many that were fascinating and very well done. Everyone has their own take on the process. Jeff and I had fun laughing over what some people called a fixer-upper, and we would joke about how easy they have it- at least they have walls, or cabinets!
I'm feeling nervous but excited, We've made our "first day" list of items on "keep" so we don't forget to actually get some things done when we go over to our house for the first time.
The Important Stuff
Getting the purchase contract written up and approved, and then securing non- occupied home owners insurance ( check out local insurance companies in your area) for our couple of months transition before we move in, took a lot of time and legwork. Then just waiting for the title company to finish their process feels like chewing nails! Since we are buying the house directly from the owners, we don't have the banks red tape to plow through.
Preservation
A big part of forming a plan is first deciding which direction to go. We knew we wanted to purchase a house that was as untouched by "refuddling" as we could. We wanted the original in tact windows, with wavy glass, plaster walls, and original trim and light fixtures. And finding this type of home meant we would be on a journey. In my research there are different types of people and styles of renovating historic homes. We fall under the preservationist group. We want to update where we can, but also preserve the integrity of our home as much to the original intent as possible. But, there is a bit of the realist in us as well - as in the idea that my 6' husband built like a woodworker, does not shower comfortably in a claw foot tub shower, so we plan to replace the downstairs clawfoot tub with a historically fitting shower. We do plan to keep all the original fixtures for the upstairs bathroom, but that's a story for the bathroom blog!
So what's our plan once we close? Check out my next blog to see our renovation "plan", and to see more interior pictures. I'm working on our before video tour, lots of editing to do. It will be fun to compare our well thought out order of renovation - with what actually happens along the way.
My Favorite Victorian Renovation Blog:
Country living has a great article "8 Old House Renovation Blogs You Should Be Following" Check out their list. My favorite is "Restoring Ross" He does a great job of giving lots of details, and also he is a very witty writer!
Keep up with my blog as I post updates. I plan to set up a "Seven Branches" facebook page soon, where you can like and follow along with our renovation.