Because we are searching for our next old house to salvage, I followed up on a house we had looked at over a year ago.
It was an absolutely gorgeous old house, but we just weren’t ready at the time to commit to taking it down. Storage was an issue, and I didn’t see the point of taking it down, just to watch the salvaged materials slowly rot underneath tarps in our backyard.
Especially considering that the house was in overall decent shape.
I called last week about it, and the owner said that it was no longer available. I can only hope that means that someone bought it and plans to renovate it.
I can’t even bear to think that someone might bulldoze it.
So, I wanted to show you photographs of it, because it really was incredibly stunning. I remember gasping the minute I saw it.
The house was full …. full! … of beautiful old painted and unpainted beadboard.
It also really pretty details: doors, light fixtures, and old hinges.
And the ceiling boards on the porch were the prettiest shade of blue you ever saw.
What’s that old expression … you snooze, you lose?
That would apply here.
I’m afraid I will always regret passing on this one.
Love that old screen door.
Oh, it’s a beauty. I do hope someone is planning on renovating it! I’d love to have one like it to redo. So many pretty details throughout. sigh. I think I’ll always love old houses!
Old houses have such wonderful souls, don’t they. Thanks, Cecilia!
That blue ceiling is probably a Haint Blue!! Cajuns say it’s to keep the bugs away… Creoles say it’s to keep out the evil spirits!! Gorgeous old home …. Hope someone is loving it back to life !
Ah. OK. I think I’ve heard that term a time or two before. I hope someone is renovating it. It had really good bones and would make a gorgeous home.
“Haint Blue” was my first thought also when I saw this. I first heard of Haint Blue while visiting Savannah, Georgia. The local lore has it that it keeps away evil spirits as Mary indicates but also keeps insects from nesting on the ceiling. Apparently the color makes them think it is the sky and therefore they won’t try to nest there – that’s the theory at least.
I’d heard the theory before that it kept insects at bay, but never did I hear the evil spirits theory until recently. Thanks, Mike!
Oh, wow Kim. That house is gorgeous. Ugh… I know I would mentally beat myself up for a long time by passing on that if I were in your business. I love it as it is, but realize it would likely cost a fortune to even attempt to fix it up, quite apart from salvaging it. Maybe the deal will fall through for whomever, and the guy will call you back. One can hope.
Fingers crossed!
That MUST be the prettiest hinge I’ve ever seen. Kim, aren’t y’all in Texas ? If so, I have a friend who is trying to help find a buyer for this house. Maybe it would be a nice replacement for y’all. https://www.facebook.com/pickersparadiseonhildebrand/
Yes, we are in East Texas. I shared the post on my Facebook page!
Is it too far for y’all to salvage ?
No, it’s not too far. We just looked at it many moons ago when we were taking a break and now we regret it.
I love all of it! I also hope someone is restoring it. Gorgeous!
She’s a beauty for sure.
Absolutely INCREDIBLE! What stories could this old girl tell !! Wow! I’m a farmgal and that house and the wood details! GASP ! Love the close up of the hinge! Sorry you lost it! I sure hope it will be restored !
I hope so too, Cindy.
Oh, boy, that is a beauty! I can imagine how it must feel to have missed out on that one. I don’t know much about restoring old houses, but I was wondering why you would have had to take it all down and store it. I’m assuming it had to be moved, but couldn’t that be done without taking it all apart? I’ve seen that on HGTV, but don’t know all the issues surrounding moving a house. I do know that it can be expensive if a lot of utility wires have to be taken down. Anyway, I hope the house was restored and is being enjoyed by someone who truly appreciates what a gem it is.
Honestly, I would have loved to move the house and renovate it myself but moving a home is super expensive even before you spend a dime on renovation. Oftentimes the moving is just the start of it, because the house was too tall to move down the road and the roof would have to have been removed. So … there are major carpentry expenses also. Granted, we were looking at it from a resale point of view. Assuming someone bought the house for a song, intending to renovate and live in it, the cost of moving it is justifiable. For us, it would have been more cost effective to deconstruct the house, board by board, then reconstruct it somewhere else, and I was truly considering doing just that.
Wow – what an old beauty that is! I hope someone fixes it up and brings it back to what it once was! I hope you’ll come over and share this at Talk of the Town at http://knickoftime.net/
I will do that! I need to get back into sharing some of my posts on parties. Thanks for the reminder, Angie!
I would love that roof! There is nothing better than an old tin roof. Sure there may be performance issues but you can’t find a better look! The place appears to be in really solid shape. Just looking at the roof line, there doesn’t appear to be much for water damage. And such a huge amount of beadboard! We are looking for ways to do the ceilings on our railroad house in Palestine. There is just TOO MUCH shiplap and I am not a fan of 118 year old grit falling on me while I sleep lol. With all of the ceilings in the house but 1 needing something, what ever it is will require a lot of it! I don’t want them to all be the same but I don’t want to run the gamut of options and have each room be different either. When the time comes, you had better have collected enough for me to come calling for materials!
I really like these photo stories! Thanks!
I love a metal roof also and if we ever need to re-roof our home, we’ll be choosing metal for sure. Concerning the ceilings in your Palestine house, I personally love shiplap, especially when it’s painted, but I realize every person is different. You could also cover the ceilings with another type of wood, such as beadboard or tin. Speaking of the latter, have you ever seen our master bedroom ceiling? We can get those ceiling tins and they are reasonably priced.
That house is gorgeous! It looks like it could be from a movie set. That reminds me of my old house in Virginia. Every wall and every ceiling was beadboard. The rooms were large and the ceilings were high. There were about eleven rooms and they all had to be primed first before painting. And they all had to be painted with a brush because, like your house, this was real beadboard–individual slats–and you couldn’t roll the paint on with a roller and get it in all the cracks. So I did it all by hand while my husband was at work. Including the ceilings! It took me almost two years to paint that house! When I was done, Country Living was interested in doing a spread on it! But sadly, the house was next door to neighbors fondly known around town as “the Evils,” and they tormented us for two years and so we had to get out of there. I hated leaving that house! It also had original light fixtures, doors, and four fireplaces. It had the original unpainted banister and steps with the original Victorian brass dust catchers in the corners–still there! There were multiple porches including an upstairs sleeping porch with hickory rocking chairs, ceiling fans, and an old fashioned clothesline that went across the yard. That’s where you could chew your tobacca and maybe sip a little moonshine. Admittedly, if the neighbors weren’t going to kill us, the house was. It was impossible to heat. We nearly froze to death even though we had all those fireplaces AND some woodstoves AND an outside woodstove AND two propane furnaces. And it had insulation. A prior owner had taken all the beadboard down, numbered it, and put it all back up again. And still it was that cold. It also had a ladybug infestation. I have pictures of so many ladybugs on my ceiling one time that you couldn’t SEE the beadboard. And don’t get me started on the work outside. I’d start weed-wacking on one end of the property along the road and by the time I got down to the end a few days later, I’d turn around and see that I had to start all over again! I used three full tanks of gas in the weed-wacker every single week, and I’m not even talking about the tractor, riding lawn mower, push mower, and branch trimmer…. Hmm. Maybe I don’t miss that house so much after all…. Nah! I do! Old houses are worth it!
I can certainly understand “evil” neighbors. I had a neighbor once who was not technically evil, but they had no (ZERO!) pride of ownership and it was always such an eyesore. My grandmother used to say when I was growing up, “Just because you’re poor doesn’t mean you have to be dirty.” She spoke from experience, too. She raised 7 children in basically a 2-room shack, and no one would have ever known it — her kids always looked fresh-scrubbed and had clean clothes. Anyway, I got off on a tangent. I’m sorry you had to leave your beautiful home because of such a bad experience!
Your grandmother was right. We were poor when I was growing up in, basically a tenement, in Jersey City. But my mother washed the floors in the shared hallways and we swept “the stoop” every day. I even swept the little patch of dirt that was between the sidewalk and the street.
Wonderful photos!!!
Thanks for sharing with us.
Such a beautiful old home. I love the blue ceiling on the porch. Would love to have the hinges on the door. It’s sad these old homes are left to just fall apart and rot. I know 99% of the people would not like this type of house these days, but I thing they are beautiful. I would love to have one.