Here's my house, again

[Don M]

Hi & welcome! I have done many of the things you want to do. Repainted & hung the pile of original shutters in the barn, replaced all the support posts & a couple of main beams and leveled the barn. Renovated barn from cows to horses. Scraped & painted barn twice. House is stone but it's presently getting repainted for the second time in17 years. Rebuilt stone walls, installed pasture fencing, built riding arena and on & on! Your pond looks like it needs some work and maybe an aerator to oxygenate the water. More pictures please!

[Powermuffin]

Your family home is just beautiful. Love brick houses. I would love to see more pictures, especially interior. It is amazing that it is has been passed down through the generations.
Diane

[Midwesterner]

Here are a couple of interior shots: the parlor, and part of the dining room. In the dining room, the large cabinet on the left is a built-in "pass-through" — it has also has doors opening on the other side, in the kitchen. So you can put dishes in in the kitchen and take them out in the dining room.

[Gothichome]

Midwesterner, that pass though, what a great peice of built in. Making it look like a fine cabinet is great. I haven't seen many pass through so but what I have seen are fancy holes with some nice carpentry doors and a shelf. Any chance the original walkway (as shown in the old pic) could be reinstated. That side of the home looks so forlorn as is.

[Midwesterner]

The front looks a bit nicer in real life, though the current front steps and patio are unfixable (constructed with tiles that are no longer made). I am going to have them ripped off and replaced with a replica of the original front porch, possibly next year, when I've saved up more money to do it. The original front walk is still there, now underneath the lawn. But the front fence no longer has an opening for a gate, so it would lead nowhere, and there are trees where the gate used to be. There also used to be a sidewalk out beyond the front fence, but the town expanded the road and eliminated the sidewalk. So now anyone who walks in just enters via the driveway. The front lawn does look quite nice apart from the porch. This is a town, though, where only the minister uses the front door — everyone else goes to everyone's back door. So the front door is mainly for show! I don't even think we'll sit out on the front porch much when it's restored. The road traffic is noisy and not very picturesque, whereas the back porch is quieter and has a nice view of the woods and birds. We spend a lot of time on the back porch already. The thing to be restored there is the pump, which I remember fondly from my childhood, before someone broke it.

[Don M]

Hand pump?

[Midwesterner]

Yes, a hand pump!

I should add about the pass-through — it's not to hand prepared dishes through — it's to store the dishes and glasses. You put them in when they're washed, and then when you want to set the table, you just open the dining room side and there they are. So different than some types of pass-throughs.

[Don M]

I have a similar situation but the cupboard is where windows were originally. The stone walls are very thick.

[Gothichome]

Midwesterner, Gothichome has the same issue with the front walk(I believe). When the old girl was a new girl the road in front was a carriage way at best. A few homes of the same vintage on the road still retain thier original rought iron fence and gate. Most have been abandoned as functional walks though. Even less still have thier original carriage step. In my head I have a vision of reinstating a fence and placing a carriage step were it should be. It, in all honesty be a modern version of a Victorian folly, but would add a great deal of curb appeal. Maybe some like like that would work for you.

[Mick_VT]

Midwesterner, Gothichome has the same issue with the front walk(I believe). When the old girl was a new girl the road in front was a carriage way at best. A few homes of the same vintage on the road still retain thier original rought iron fence and gate. Most have been abandoned as functional walks though. Even less still have thier original carriage step. In my head I have a vision of reinstating a fence and placing a carriage step were it should be. It, in all honesty be a modern version of a Victorian folly, but would add a great deal of curb appeal. Maybe some like like that would work for you.

Love this idea! If the path is still there but grown over I would certainly clear and restore it, even if it no longer serves a purpose, or even only lead to a fence.