The Historic District

I need to have a little vent right now and you old house people are the only ones who will likely understand it. A couple things happened recently that annoyed me. I find it frustrating when acquaintances seem to view renovation as an onerous, painful burden and one to pity. It's not! It's a joy! It can be truly hard work at times but I am so happy to do it! I had posted about how annoying it is to remove 4 sets of cheap curtain hardware on solid hardwood window casings and an acquaintance said: "It sounds like you live in the house from hell!" Wow isn't that a huge extrapolation from talking about cheap hardware to calling my house a house form hell...? Sheesh!

The second thing, I follow a page where a couple is doing an exceptionally good job on a restoration and it really makes me so happy to follow their progress. It's a beautiful thing to see! Not many people have the means or the vision to accomplish this, but I think it is incredibly inspirational and honestly makes me strive harder on my own home. They have been making posts asking their readers to post photos of specific parts of their house (ex: front door, and this time it was door hardware). Two comments drew my attention. One was a post about how the individual was jealous that they would never own a home and so would never have beautiful hardware. The other comment was kind of a smug comment about how they sold their house and are sooooo happy that they will never have to complete another home repair. Well! Bully for you! Please move along then, why post on a page about restoration then if you are loving the renting lifestyle?! It looks like sour grapes.

It just annoys me because I feel like: why bother putting out that sort of negativity? What sort of response are you looking for? Save it for your mom or your therapist! Why try to drag down a group of people who are taking joy in what they have worked hard on? Ugh! Ok I am done venting! Thanks for listening. lol!

Corsetière wrote:
The second thing, I follow a page where a couple is doing an exceptionally good job on a restoration and it really makes me so happy to follow their progress. It's a beautiful thing to see! Not many people have the means or the vision to accomplish this, but I think it is incredibly inspirational and honestly makes me strive harder on my own home. They have been making posts asking their readers to post photos of specific parts of their house (ex: front door, and this time it was door hardware). Two comments drew my attention. One was a post about how the individual was jealous that they would never own a home and so would never have beautiful hardware. The other comment was kind of a smug comment about how they sold their house and are sooooo happy that they will never have to complete another home repair. Well! Bully for you! Please move along then, why post on a page about restoration then if you are loving the renting lifestyle?! It looks like sour grapes.

What's the page name?

i'm with you corset woman! we live in a toss away society and fewer folks have a positive regard for maintaining old stuff that has lasted through the centuries....for the most part, we can do away with terms such as 'builder' and 'carpenter' and replace them with 'installer'....

you'll always have folks like us who are filled with an appreciation for hard work and beautiful old house parts...

...jade

The challenge I often have is with the family giving the time needed to complete projects. When doing things on your own, it just takes time. In this one bedroom I took on, it's like 20 projects in one - plaster, wiring, flooring, molding, etc. Unless you do the work, it's hard to even explain what you are doing and how much work it is. As stupid as it sounds, I keep a blog I share with family and friends where I post up the projects along the way. Frankly, I think I'm the only one that reads it. But it's a bit of an outlet for me and I find myself looking a back on what I've done. Sometimes it's renovating a window or repairing a railing and sometimes it's replacing a light fixture or a rotten piece of wood. The work isn't always hard. Sometimes it's almost more mentally challenging as you encounter a twist and turn at every step. Nobody means anything by it - but you just get a "that looks nice" or "looking good" when you talk about something you just did. What were you doing all day? I moved the light over. Oh, looks good... Meanwhile, I struggled with locating the wires - ran up and down the stairs to the fuse box four times, almost cut the wire because the last guy ran the wire under the joist and in the new plaster and I almost hit it with the saw, I couldn't get the fan box even with the ceiling using the new box I just ordered because the old wood is so hard the screws stripped multiple times, had to patch the plaster around the fan box including adding washer screws where the plaster was now sagging, had to replace the switch box to include spacing it out even with the wall because the lath was cracked and the wall generally uneven, and had to replace the light switch with barely enough lead wire. Yes, I just moved the light...

I notice this sort of negativity often. When I grew up here, most owned single family dwellings, it was normal. Low income households rented apartments and condos.

fast forward 40 years, add a million people doubling the population, invite foreign investors, now they don't build houses, they build towering compartment buildings. Most young people can't dream of owning a single family dwelling. You need at least a million to touch anything unless you like driving 2 hours to work.

sooo, young people have a different set of expectations and many are just jealous if you start talking about your house restoration. It's a dream many can't afford. the jealousy promotes negativity, particular on forums where people are free to hide behind fake names and rant.

we are entering a society where only the rich can live in single family dwellings. Outside the city that is not the case but in many cities, a house is unavailable and out of reach to many. the rest live in compartments and feel sorry for their dog, because you know.. it isn't fair to the dog to have to live in a compartment.

Well, if we're playing True Confessions here I'll admit that there are days where I look around and feel utter despair. We're NEVER going to get this house done, I've gone almost 5 years without a real kitchen (I cook for 8 people everyday plus canning), the bathroom is a disaster.... etc. We bought what we could afford and it will be paid off this summer, I realize many folks think a 5 year note wasn't much, but believe me it's been hard on a single income. I too blog about the house, though it hasn't been updated in months. No money = no house projects. If you want to look it's www.thornburghhouse.com

There certainly are those who sneer and scoff at old windows, rooms with doors (as opposed to the ubiquitous 'open floor plan') and other "outdated" features of houses, but sometimes I think those who make comments on the "house from hell" are trying to show sympathy for those of us who are enduring the inconveniences of restoration work. There are some dusty, stinky and uncomfortable times in our houses and he or she who has not complained may now submit his or her name for canonization. Perhaps it would soften the blow if those who, in the process of commiseration, say, "Isn't it a pain?" would add, "but it will be well worth it when it's done. It's going to look wonderful."

In my experience there are very few people like us in this world, and to an extent I can understand why. To many people the idea of living in a construction zone for years is the last thing they want to do, and many people lack the interest, skills, tools, or talent to embark on such a task as restoring an old house. Yet for those of us that do, the work tends to be gratifying in ways often personal and difficult to express to others. If there is one immutable truth I have learned in my time working on my house it's this: Never expect others to be as interested or excited about what you have done to your house as you are.
The last eight years have been of self discovery; of finding out that I am capable of things I never imagined I could do and of realizing my true passion in life...breathing life back into a neglected old house which now serves me as a comfortable and (getting there) beautiful backdrop for the rest of my life to play out in. As much as I am delighted to finish a room only to move on to another, in some ways I never want the process to end.

I'm already used to people thinking I'm crazy for wanting to live in a house without insulation, siding or plastic windows and I don't care. You can't expect everyone to understand. It's an old house thing thats the way I see it. For us living in a house made of 100% real wood and materials with fantastic old world craftsmanship trumps living in a vinyl box every time.

Plus if there are people who are unsupportive I just don't talk about my restoration work with them. Easiest solution IMO.

An aspect of this whole process for me is that at the end of the day I can see and touch what I've accomplished on a house project. It's very gratifying.

On my real job I manage a large number of software developers halfway around the world. The output on a day to day basis is very abstract. It's very difficult to touch or feel my daily accomplishments...