and 
So the only one I really have to show (and of course is the most important one at this point, until our next house) is the 1817 farmhouse my hubby and I bought…this year we will have been living here for 6 years – the longest time I’ve lived in one place aside from the house I grew up in. I had a tendency to move every 1-2 years because I always needed more space… 😉 This first picture is how the outside of the house looked when we first bought it:
We jokingly referred to it as the ‘Psycho House’ because it was painted a bluish-gray with black shutters and trim. A couple of years ago we hired painters (because hubby is afraid of heights, and since the house technically 3 stories with the first and second floors sporting 10-12 foot ceilings and the finished attic 6-7 foot ceiling, it is a very tall house). It was a huge project, the painters started May 30th and finally completed the painting on August 31st…it took them the entire summer…
But they did an excellent job, and considering the house sports it’s original wood siding, they were very careful when they sanded the old paint off and repainted it – all by hand. They also removed the ugly storm windows and re-glazed every window (22 of them) in the house. Just to give you some perspective, every window (except the attic windows) are each 7 feet tall and over 3 feet wide…those are some huge windows! Here’s how the house looked after the painters were done:
I’ll have to update the pictures at some point, as you’ll notice that the previous owners had painted the original wood floors in the living room white, and had annoying linoleum over particle board that was obsessively nailed to the kitchen floor. I spent a full day with a crow bar and hammer hacking up the kitchen floor to get to the awesomeness of the original floors, then rented a floor sander and sanded the entire first floor, finishing all the floors with linseed oil.
They turned out absolutely beautiful, and made a huge difference. I had taken pictures of the entire house before we moved in, including the barn and Summer House, but those pictures were lost with multitudes of others when my hard drive crashed several years ago. Once the yard starts looking all nice and spring-y and I get my Spring Cleaning done inside the house, I’ll take and post new pictures so you’ll see the ‘after-after’ pictures, too. 😉
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What a lovely home first of all. Secondly, the paint job is even more lovely. Much fresher and brighter. I love it.
Our old home in Galveston, Texas’ downtown historical district looked almost just like yours BTW. Except our home was light yellow with white shutters. Miss it now :o(
Happy WW! My WW is @ http://ordinaryandawesome.blogspot.com/2009/03/wordless-wednesday-i-faces.html
Your house is beautiful! I love the after look, so fresh and crisp!
Our house is a huge work in progress. We moved into it in June after it had sat vacant for about 8 years. It’s been challenging!
Hi Stacy.
Looks like a fun project.
Hey- I’m a fan of your site…duh…
the next time that you stop by my site be sure to snag a fan award to display on your nifty sidebar.
🙂
Beautiful house, and you are obviously taking such good care of it. I grew up in a house that had gold and orange shag carpet obsessively tacked over beautiful hardwood floors. Never did understand that. It’s amazing how bad you can treat a solid hardwood floor and it just keeps coming back prettier than before.
Tabbikat’s Thoughts
Man I’m a sucker for old houses – I love your house! 🙂 And the paint job looks fantastic.
Love the colors…
It’s gorgeous! I LOVE looking at people’s houses, especially OLD ones! Nice work!
It looks great!
What a great house. I love the new color.
Love it Stacy!! Looks awesome. I love the re-do!!
You did a great job. That house looks wonderful!
Either way your house is beautiful. But it’s always nice to get a fresh new look. Beautiful.
So pretty love it 🙂
Love the house! Outside and inside. What were people thinking when they painted over the hardwood or lowered ceiling?
Thanks for sharing your hardwork and obvious love for your home.
It’s absolutely charming and lovely now! It has a very welcoming and warm feeling to it. So, when I show up at your front door…
The house looks great.
Oh, I just love “before and after pics”. Thanks for sharing your BEAUTIFUL home with us. It is just gorgeous and LOOKS so homey and inviting–just like something that you would have.
I LOVE this house! I love older homes!!! I wish I could share the pic of the one I grew up in but I’m 600 miles away from it. 🙁
Your house looks like the 4th of July parade, circa 1900, will be passing by at any moment. Just lovely!
Happy WW!
Oh, goodness. I love it! Wow!!
Perfectly beautiful. It looks like it should be in a calender.
wow, that looks amazing! i am often wowed by the power of paint 🙂
thanks for sharing! your home is so adorable
Wow! They did a great job fixing that house up! I like seeing the before and after.
that’s it. i’m jealous. i just adore your house!!!
It looks wonderful, way to go! 🙂
Oh my gosh, this is extraordinary.. this was just paint ?! You should submit this to Home&Garden or House Beautiful, seriously! What a remarkable difference (and took great insight on your part.) Six years is a long time to be in one place, in my definition!
What a beautiful house. What a difference the paint makes!
Happy WW!
what a lovely house it looks so homey!
Gorgeous Home sweet Home!
I LOVE your house! I miss houses that look like that! We have lots of stucco here in the southwest!
Oh wow, the house is AMAZING!!!!!!! Don’t think I’m crazy for asking, but do you have any ghosts?
Going to look at the interior pictures!
Justine 😮 )
Stacy your house is INCREDIBLE!! (I can’t even tell that the floors are tilted LOL)
It is amazing what putting a little love into a house can do for it… restoring it to a little of its previous beauty 🙂
I’m also QUITE impressed with your drive!! I’m not sure I would be able to follow through on all of that manual labor 🙂
Happy WW … just a day late!
Simply Charming. I would never move!
carma
Ohhhh… your home is BEAUTIFUL! I love the green trim… GORJ!
The after pictures don’t even look like the same house, it’s beautiful!
I love you cool older home.. I love a house that has a story, yours is wonderful, lucky you!!!
Jan
Awesome photos and great story! You might like our meme at Tell Me Thursday – you can make your WW really wordless and STILL tell the story! Please join us!