This is a fun thread. I find it interesting how each of us makes our "nest" our own.
As for Buck and me, this is the first OLD house we've lived in. Prior to this one, our homes were built in the '70s or '80s. This one was build in 1880 and has lots and lots of character...and a ghost on the first floor. There are three floors.
We have 4 bedrooms, one of which is my office. There's a formal living room, formal dining room, family room, breakfast room, kitchen, two bathrooms, a sitting room off our bedroom, a dressing room off the second floor bath, a laundry room/pantry and a second bath.
The house is Queen Anne Victorian and sits on a big hill here in town. It has a widow's porch on the third floor with a dome-topped roof on it. A deep porch wraps around two sides of the house. There is fish scale siding on the front face of the house and lots of curly-cue trim on the peaks and on the eaves of the first and second floors. The house looks like a great big decorated cake, with a Hershey's kiss on the third floor porch.
There are 52 windows, 7 exterior doors (5 on the first floor, 1 each on the second and third) and 25 interior doors. All the rooms have transoms over the doors. What this means is there is almost NO wall space for hanging art or pictures. The family room alone has 9 almost 8-foot windows in it. The length of the windows is a real challenge when it comes to curtains or draperies. Fortunately, I know how to make just about any type of window treatment and have dressed most of the windows in appropriate Victorian-style treatments.
There are nooks and crannies and lots and lots of stairs. Even though we've lived here nearly 13 years, I still find myself going up or down a lot to get something I've forgotten in spite of my best efforts to be efficient with my trips to and from the three floors. This is the ultimate Stairmaster!
Buck and I are avid antique collectors. Have been for years. The astounding thing about moving here was that all the Victorian furniture we had collected over the years fit perfectly in this old house. I am still trying to figure out where we had it crammed in our house back in Maryland. It was almost half the size this house is and I don't really remember feeling cramped.
In spite of all the antiques, we LIVE in our house. It's comfortable and we share it with several indoor and outdoor cats. With all the windows, it's kitty heaven. On a sunny afternoon, it's common to see someone napping in the sunshine.
We're also "book" people. Both of us are avid readers and that is obvious by all the books we have. They are in every room. Even the dining room I was surprised to discover the other day. Don't think any have made it into the laundry/pantry. I wouldn't be surprised to find some there, though.
As for the color schemes in the house, we're still at the mercy of the previous owner. Until we have a new foundation put in, we can't do any major decorating. Paint is about it, but every square inch of the house has been wallpapered. Our bedroom is the worst. Nightmarish. Black wallpaper with rose/purple flowers. Love wakin' up to that every morning. Oh, well, in time we'll be able to make the changes.
Our kitchen is hilarious. It was added to the house in the '30s. Prior to that cooking was done in the small building a few steps away from the house called the summer kitchen. The kitchen's small. Really small. And has next to no counter space and cabinets. Until we bought a small base cabinet at Lowe's, we only had 1 drawer in the kitchen. I have so much stuff hanging from the ceiling on makeshift racks, it looks like stalactites in a cave. Actually, though, it is quite convenient. Will definitely incorporate some form of my rack system in our new kitchen when we remodel. That's way down the road at this point. I really believe this house will always be a work in progress.
We love our house, warts and all, and wouldn't trade it for anything. Each day is an adventure and I always get a feeling of happiness and safety each time I drive up the hill to the driveway. It really feels like home.
