Old houses

I live in an old house.

It was built before anyone ever heard about Adolf Hitler, television or the internet ... the red bricks were stacked back in 1926, before my mother, who is now an ageing lady, was born. It was way back when my grandmother was young and rosy-cheeked - and she would be pushing 100 were she still alive.

I love the style and the soul of this house, with its old fashioned windows, the red bricks, its high cellar and the old wooden floors. I love the way the stairs wind their way to the 2nd floor, and the way solidity and economy is joined with beauty in this structure.

I like living in a house with a history ... I feel the weight of the years, and I let my fingers trace the house name next to the front door ... "Rosa" ... and I wonder who named the house, and why they chose that name.

But it is also a lot of work. living in an old house like that. The people that lived here before did a number of things - changed the roof, for one thing, and re-did the joints of the brick walls. But after we moved here more than 2 years ago, we've put in new windows. We have re-done the steps to the front door. We moved a wall upstairs, and stripped the floors up there. We renovated the stair to the cellar, putting on new steps to replace the old ones, that were rounded with the many feet that went up and down over the years.

And now we are redecorating the bathroom upstairs - new tile and everything. At the same time, we had plumbers come in to re-do all the waterpipes in the house - the old ones were clogged with age - and put in a new water heater to replace the old one, that was from 1968 and nearly rusted through.

The plumbers left the basement messy and dirty, and today we cleaned up and washed the floors down there. We also threw out a bunch of stuff that has just been sitting there since we moved in april 2008.

Rummaging around down there made me very aware, though, that the basement is also very much needing a loving hand. Some of the outer walls are in bad shape ... we should waterproof them ... and tile on the floor instead of concrete would look nice. Lots of paint should be applied, and we also have plans to make the bathroom down there a bit bigger and more functional.

I guess its just the way it is, when you live in a house that is old. It is always needing your attention, there is always a place that could use a coat of paint or something other.

But I do love my house, as it is ever changing under that hands of my husband and me. I don't think we will EVER finish! But I just want to stay here, live here until I get to old to live any more. This is the most home-ish home I ever had in my adult life.