Century Club - Homes 100+ Years Old
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Comments (108)
Nancy S
10 years agoWe've been in our not quite 100 years old house for almost 8 months. Love it, but I'm also constantly distracted by thinking about the various projects we have planned. One is to remove a patio that was enclosed in the 70s and replace it with a small addition which will look much nicer (the weird looking appendage in the second photo is what will be removed). The other projects can be summarized as undoing what was done in the 60s and 70s.
Emily H thanked Nancy S
Luciana
10 years agolast modified: 10 years agoI don't think there's a house newer than 100 years half mile radius from where we live - and I love it. It is a conservation area and we have lists of things to respect, but it's worth it. (ours is the one with purple window frames - apparently Victorians loved purple!)
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bubblyjock
10 years agoLuciana
10 years agoshelleyhmln
10 years ago
feeny
10 years agolast modified: 10 years ago
lellogirl
10 years agoWe bought a 1920's bungalow about three months ago. This is our second old house, but the oldest house we've lived in and we are both in love with it. The previous owner was the third-generation in the house and some modernization was done, which has its good and bad points, but I am delighted most with the quirky old bits.
The childrens' rooms, I finished, but the rest of the house is a work in progress. Here are my dining room photos for before (previous owner) and after. Amazing what four days of work and very little money can do for a room.
Moving the pendant and the table to the other side has had a dramatic impact on the flow of the house.
One day we will buy a new lighting fixture we can agree on ;)
I look forward to personalizing each room, because I will never sell this one!
Iva
10 years ago
bungalowmo
10 years ago
PROKathryn Peltier Design
10 years agolast modified: 10 years agoI love old houses and I love all of your posts!
We have an 1890 Victorian house, moved to this site in the 70s (it was originally in town and was, at one time, the Methodist parsonage). It was built by one of 3 brothers who built several houses in our little town (which has grown exponentially since we moved here - we are about 15 miles east of Ann Arbor, MI) We have lived here for 23 years, but it is our 2nd old house, actually "newer" than the first, which was a brick mansard style built in 1875. We have redone the interior, of course, over the years, the most notable the kitchen, which was the cover and main article in Better Homes and Gardens Kitchen and Bath Ideas 1995. Because there was no garage, I designed and we built a 3-bay carriage style house with a second story storage area in the style of the house (thought I had a photo of the front of this but I can't seem to find it).
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Kathryn Peltier Design · More InfoNancy S
10 years ago- PRO
Kathryn Peltier Design
10 years ago 
Charlotte Dean
10 years agoMKF
10 years agoCharlotte Dean
10 years agogranolan
10 years agoHey everyone! I would love some feedback from folks on here! I'm contemplating an offer on a 204 year old historic home. It needs a lot of work on the interior to restore/convert it back to a residential home (it's been used as office space for 40 years). There isn't a kitchen and only 2 half bathrooms. Those issues don't concern me much as I would probably remodel those spaces anyway. The house has the main entry on the right side of the house with a hallway running the entire length of the house, with the staircase in the hallway. The hallway takes up about 1/3 of each floor (it's about 10' wide on each floor). My concern is that the floors on the second and third floor hallway are really slopped towards the outside wall. The slope is about a 3" dip on the outside wall side. The foundation is solid and all outside doors and windows are still level and function really well. Friends have told me that slopped walls are just part of the historical charm of an old home (especially a 200 year old one). What are your thoughts? Would you fix it? Is it cost prohibitive? Should I just learn to love it?
granolan
10 years ago
Teri
10 years agolast modified: 10 years ago
tjcandle
10 years ago
PROBartlett Design Studio
9 years ago- Emily H9 years ago
bungalowmo
9 years ago- PRO
Bartlett Design Studio
9 years ago bungalowmo
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agobungalowmo
9 years agothebe
9 years ago
Sara
9 years agorebelweeza
8 years agohi, we're restoring an old farmhouse built around 1865. we've uncovered termites which led to entire foundation being replaced. added a small bathroom and installed storm windows. gearing up for interior work soon.
Linda Anthony
8 years agoso pleased, rebelweeza, you saving a significant part of our history. On old house takes a lot of time and maintenance, but is so worth the effort. Our 1833 farmhouse had extensive work in the early 70's, and we've improved and maintained it for over 30 years now. We moved in in 1982 so the storm windows were on for awhile. Until recently, I didn't notice that the felt strips on all of them was practically worn away. Last summer, I bought replacement felt on the internet as no stored carry it (need to know the exact width you need) and replaced it in all! The next winter noticed a big difference in heat retention - so just keep in mind to check them in 10 or 15 years... Happy you didn't replace those old windows and saved the interesting integrity of the home. Because of the constant peeling and maintaining the outside exterior, I gave in to applying vynal siding on the back and part way up the sides of the house. The front part was built in 1833, and the back part in 1850, so basically, we installed the vinal on the 'addition' only. Helped a lot with the painting chore.
Linda Anthony
8 years agoGayle
8 years agoAlthough out house is only 85 years old, we love it's old fashioned charm and features original to the house including the front door, hard wood floors, double hung windows with their old wavy glass, and the butler's pantry.
Linda Anthony
8 years agoGayle
8 years ago
Joel Marshall
8 years agoThe first two pictures are from an 1878 dairy farm house we lived in for a year, fixed up and sold, we left the last remaining cow barn as we fealt it belonged as a reminder. The third home is my wife's parent's home. Land deed from 1858 (was a large farm in it's day...almost 300 acres.) The last photo is a 1912 home, just a plain old family home we JUST snatched up and are working on to this day. We'll be staying in it for a long time. My favorite was the dairy home. ALL of the orginal workmanship was there. I wish I had all of the photos from these homes on my phone to share.
jeremyocampo
8 years ago1910 San Francisco style Victorian. Covered in vinyl siding unfortunately. We are redoing the interior floors and kitchen as we speak. Next on our list is to rip the vinyl siding. Should we or shouldn't we?
Linda Anthony
8 years agojeremyocampo
8 years agojeremyocampo
8 years agoLinda Anthony
8 years agobelieve it or not, for all those years, no different siding was ever put on the house until we put vinyl on part of it. The repairs were well done, and there were few, from what we could tell. The garage/carriage shed was in worse shape, but even then, I made them leave one of the two swinging side doors untouched and can still open the bottom door (low enough for me to scrape and paint at will) - because it's unheated, it will peel quicker than the house. Not sure what those doors were for, except the top one was to put hay in overhead for the horse, I suppose... If you look at my previously posted pics above, you can see the fireplace chimney, added in the 1970's, and no new siding from there to the front. The 'garage', over the back porch, and the entire back are vinyl now. There were two windows removed to put in the fireplace - one above and one below. The fun part is they also made a connection to the FB chimney from that bedroom and I acquired a beautiful old, small wood stove, perhaps a 'parlor' stove, which we have connected. So all updates, last time in the mid 1970's were done from the inside - wiring, insulation, and some reconstructing of the down bath and kitchen to make room for a small hallway with a butler's pantry (which falls between the gallery kitchen and the dining room) DR is where the picture window you see on the left of the ft porch - the other picture window is in living room, with the FP. Here's a pic of the end of the garage (old carriage shed) and the grapevine wreath is hanging on that bottom door.
Linda Anthony
8 years agonow, remember, the old/original siding looks like 'old/original' siding but all painted so it looks neat and clean. Not to everyone's taste, I'm sure, but why would anyone want an 1833 farmhouse to look 'new'? Maintenance was the only reason we did it, and we also put all new soffet (sp?) and fascia on (overhang) because they were painted 'plywood' looking and this also cut down on the high maintenance. All the windows in the front of the house are original as well, except the one beside the chimney and on the other side of the house, the dining room has a pair of replacement windows. On the back addition, most of those windows are newer (1970's) because of some remodeling - back staircase removed to enlarge the 'great room'.
Here's the back side of the house and we are on the other side of the 'garage' which is another back porch - the remnants of the outdoor 'summer' kitchen. These old houses had outdoor kitchens due to the heat from cooking on the old cook stove, which heated the house in the summer!
Everything you see here, except remnants of summer kitchen (now a small open porch), has vinyl siding. Upstairs, on the 1850 addition, windows were replace because of a fire which blew them out (before we bought it). However, it was contained to the 'hired hand's room' which ultimately was turned into an upstairs laundry room.
jeremyocampo
8 years agoLinda Anthony
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agostacia81074
7 years agoHere's my 1865 farmhouse. I've wanted an old home since I was a kid and finally managed to pull it off. I love the quirkiness of it and am trying to redo/update some things while preserving its uniquity. So far no visitors have revealed themselves. :)
Jeanne Smith
6 years agoMy newly purchased old house. Built in 1908 in Kentucky. So excited to get moved in!!
danawiehl