This Old House--Its History is Slowly Revealed

I have always had a fascination with the 1920's....in fact, I have an old Victrola from the 20's in our Manhattan apartment....occasionally, I step back in time by spinning an old jazz record or two . There is just something about any period of time and all the fabulous details that they offer. That's how I feel about our old farmhouse...the cute door knobs, crown molding and high ceilings all come together to tell a story. Our house is from the 1870's...so much history to be told! I've been wondering who lived here...what did the house look like..was the home filled with love and happy memories??

When we closed on the house a few weeks ago I was hoping to meet the former owner...unfortunately, she did not attend but I was able to contact her via email. My husband and I knew that all the former owners put a ton of love into the place...that was evident by the condition of the house. In chatting with her I found out that the original owners of our house were dairy farmers and the son who grew up in that home actually lives in an adjacent property...still running the family farm. She mentioned how much we were going to love being there in the spring and summer as the land is lush and cows graze the land that borders ours...how dreamy! She sent me a photo she took from the rocking chair porch and I couldn't believe how beautiful it looked. I thanked her for keeping the old beauty in such pristine condition and promised her we would continue the tradition.

This past weekend while looking through a kitchen draw my husband found some old photos from 1995....they were of the house...probably three owners ago. There were photos of the kitchen with turquoise green cabinets (prior to its transformation), photos of the shed, grounds and the front porch. Wow! The house has changed quite a bit in the past ten years. There is now a screened in back porch, the kitchen still has the same cabinets but they are now white and the front porch had a more traditional facelift. This inspired us to want to take this home to the next level...the missing piece is adding a bit more of a decorative flair to the interior....my idea is to make it farmhouse chic on a DIY budget. We spent the weekend on a painting project and I will display some before and afters in the very near future. I also stumbled across an adorable store in Callicoon this past weekend...I'll chat about that in my next post.


Enjoy!

Tech Girl