I have had an interest in restoration for many years. I've worked on two late 1800's buildings in the past (one a standalone office for a mill, the other a former servants' quarters for an estate that was converted to a multi family.) I also grew up in a very DIY family, and my father is a hobbyist wood crafter, which I helped with when I was old enough. I also went to undergrad initially for art, focusing on sculpture (wood/metal/stone), then ended up in tech theatre where I did both stagecraft and light/scenic design.
Spouse and I are finally settling down after having lived in many places in the almost 16 years we've been together, and are looking to buy our first home.
We stumbled upon what is looking to be a roughened by time gem sooner than planned, so now we're scrambling to get our ducks in a row to make an offer. It's an estimated 1940s built cape. She's just shy of 1,000 sq. ft. of finished spaces by the tax card, which does not include the full basement with a storm cellar type entrance. (Original laundry sink down there!) Here's a pic from the RE listing, and quick picture I took of the front door upper detail:
From what we saw during the showing, there was very little remuddling other than siding and newer aluminum storms on the first and half floor windows. They did, however, hide the two sidelights flanking the mud porch door with siding outside, which baffled me--security worries maybe? The basement windows still have the original wood frame storm inserts. The bathroom is at least partially original, but has some oddness going on I won't get into unless things move forward.
Since folks love pics, here are two more of some built-ins I took last week when we had our showing. My apologies to all that I only had my cheap camera with me that day. The RE listing didn't do this home justice, so I had no idea what we would find once inside.
The first is the landing area of the 1/2 floor. You can see the knee wall storage door as well, and there's an identical on the other side of the stairs. They did blow in insulation to the attic somewhat recently, but it seems well done from what spouse said (he used to do extermination/related cleanouts, so he's seen/worked on a lot of attics).
The second is the dining area to the left when you enter the front door. The door to the left of the cabinet leads out to a wee side porch that does have modern windows to convert it to three season usage. They are the only newer windows (save the storm inserts) in the home. An additional neat thing about that porch is you can see the original siding on the west wall that is the back of the mud porch exterior wall beside it. There is still original hardwood flooring under the carpet in the front room, and from the peek I took from a doorway, it looks to be in decent shape at the very least.
If all goes well, we should be making an offer this week, and then wait and see how the fates align for us or not.
I look forward to hanging out with folks here, and hopefully if all goes well, I'll start posting project pics when the time comes. I warn folks in advance that I tend to be verbose, especially when I don't have time to edit myself down.
I suspected the same as well once I saw inside. The tax card says "est 1940" which the 
We also have the list of documents they want to start the actual mortgage process, so we're pulling those too to save delays later.
Tomorrow is going to be a long sit down, I can see this already. (We're not getting a loan with them, they are the seller.) 
