Bucking The Trend On Long Island, NY
Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2017 7:28 am
My early childhood was spent living in a 1890's folk Victorian farmhouse (razed in 1976), just like this one: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/395894623465722395/
Then we lived in this 1901 "gabled foursquare" (back when it looked much nicer).
https://gyazo.com/02d9052df79c253c563b46660bb1370f
Some say it's not a foursquare because of the roof; I say it's the interior arrangement that defines a foursquare; besides, "gabled foursquare" describes it best.
I don't own an old home now. I live on Long Island (LI), NY; there aren't a whole lot of old homes (especially on 0.5+ acre lots....under $1 million) from which to chose.
The house we bought 7.5 yrs. ago was originally a 20'x20', circa 1941 Cape home, on 9.5 acres, and consisted of a 10'x20' kitchen and a 10'x20' living room/bedroom. A year or two later a single story 15'x25' addition allowed for two bedrooms and a bathroom (we have an idea where the formerly necessary outhouse might have been). In the late 1960's, 9.0 acres were sold to a housing developer. In 1996, an ill-thought-out, ill-constructed mini-McMansion-like 725 sq. ft. addition (with 25' vaulted ceilings) was tacked-on to the rear; giving the home a muddled 1,500 sq.ft.
When we found it we were looking for the least improved fixer-upper in a nice area that could be transformed into something akin to an old home in aesthetics, design, and function. We started the project in 2011. I think the interior will be finished by the end of 2018 and the exterior finished by 2019.
I worked Summers, during my teen years and early 20's, on a crew that desecrated old single-family homes by turning them into apartments for absentee landlords. Then I "saw the light" and have spent periods of my adulthood helping to (interpretively) restore old homes (like Nicole Curtis of HGTV's "Rehab Addict" does). I also have helped in the faithful restoration of a few mid-19th C. structures (my part mostly concerning decoratively painted ceilings). Our current home is just the second project in which I was in charge and did a substantial amount of work on my own (but I'm older so it's going slower).
Architectural design is more of hobby than an occupation now (I won't design what most people on LI want) but I consult, from time to time, on "practical" renovations (just to help people get something that looks less like a McMansion). My "real" occupation concerns writing/editing and political economics.
I met my wife 13 yrs. ago via Match.com; while I was living in Rochester, NY and she on LI (but originally from Argentina). Our 11th wedding anniversary is later this month. For our honeymoon we backpacked Western Europe (via Eurail) and also visited her mother's family in Calabria, Italy. I mention this because I *still* can't believe she agreed to do it. I'm not surprised she ended up really enjoying it.
In December 2015 we adopted two senior dogs ("Lulu" an 11 yr. old black Glen of Imaal terrier mix & "Beau" a 13 yr. old Golden Lab mix) from a rescue shelter (their previous owner died). Beau had advanced renal failure when we adopted him. We learned to give him his twice daily 500mL subcutaneous fluids and hand-fed him prescription diet dog food (he hated) flavoured-up with approved home-cooked vegetables). He died this past December. Lulu (his step-sister...they were raised together) acts half her 13 yrs. of age and is doing well (though, we can tell, she misses Beau, too).
I don't do electricity (it finds a path to me well enough without my help) and I'm weak in regards to replicating traditional paints, varnishes, and plaster/mortar. My strengths are structural framing, architectural investigations, determining how things were and should be (based on numerous past experiences "being bad to old homes"), and fixing muddlings.
When it comes to my attitude about old homes and their owners, I tend to follow the tenets of the Old House Journal Magazine. (I'd list 'em but it's late, I'm tar'd, and I jist ain't goin' ta bahth'r right now.)
Then we lived in this 1901 "gabled foursquare" (back when it looked much nicer).
https://gyazo.com/02d9052df79c253c563b46660bb1370f
Some say it's not a foursquare because of the roof; I say it's the interior arrangement that defines a foursquare; besides, "gabled foursquare" describes it best.
I don't own an old home now. I live on Long Island (LI), NY; there aren't a whole lot of old homes (especially on 0.5+ acre lots....under $1 million) from which to chose.
The house we bought 7.5 yrs. ago was originally a 20'x20', circa 1941 Cape home, on 9.5 acres, and consisted of a 10'x20' kitchen and a 10'x20' living room/bedroom. A year or two later a single story 15'x25' addition allowed for two bedrooms and a bathroom (we have an idea where the formerly necessary outhouse might have been). In the late 1960's, 9.0 acres were sold to a housing developer. In 1996, an ill-thought-out, ill-constructed mini-McMansion-like 725 sq. ft. addition (with 25' vaulted ceilings) was tacked-on to the rear; giving the home a muddled 1,500 sq.ft.
When we found it we were looking for the least improved fixer-upper in a nice area that could be transformed into something akin to an old home in aesthetics, design, and function. We started the project in 2011. I think the interior will be finished by the end of 2018 and the exterior finished by 2019.
I worked Summers, during my teen years and early 20's, on a crew that desecrated old single-family homes by turning them into apartments for absentee landlords. Then I "saw the light" and have spent periods of my adulthood helping to (interpretively) restore old homes (like Nicole Curtis of HGTV's "Rehab Addict" does). I also have helped in the faithful restoration of a few mid-19th C. structures (my part mostly concerning decoratively painted ceilings). Our current home is just the second project in which I was in charge and did a substantial amount of work on my own (but I'm older so it's going slower).
Architectural design is more of hobby than an occupation now (I won't design what most people on LI want) but I consult, from time to time, on "practical" renovations (just to help people get something that looks less like a McMansion). My "real" occupation concerns writing/editing and political economics.
I met my wife 13 yrs. ago via Match.com; while I was living in Rochester, NY and she on LI (but originally from Argentina). Our 11th wedding anniversary is later this month. For our honeymoon we backpacked Western Europe (via Eurail) and also visited her mother's family in Calabria, Italy. I mention this because I *still* can't believe she agreed to do it. I'm not surprised she ended up really enjoying it.
In December 2015 we adopted two senior dogs ("Lulu" an 11 yr. old black Glen of Imaal terrier mix & "Beau" a 13 yr. old Golden Lab mix) from a rescue shelter (their previous owner died). Beau had advanced renal failure when we adopted him. We learned to give him his twice daily 500mL subcutaneous fluids and hand-fed him prescription diet dog food (he hated) flavoured-up with approved home-cooked vegetables). He died this past December. Lulu (his step-sister...they were raised together) acts half her 13 yrs. of age and is doing well (though, we can tell, she misses Beau, too).
I don't do electricity (it finds a path to me well enough without my help) and I'm weak in regards to replicating traditional paints, varnishes, and plaster/mortar. My strengths are structural framing, architectural investigations, determining how things were and should be (based on numerous past experiences "being bad to old homes"), and fixing muddlings.
When it comes to my attitude about old homes and their owners, I tend to follow the tenets of the Old House Journal Magazine. (I'd list 'em but it's late, I'm tar'd, and I jist ain't goin' ta bahth'r right now.)