this old house, part 2

This is the second part of one long post. If you haven't read the first part, you can see it here. Go on, as Pearl would say, we'll wait.

Back now?

the house about 10 years into our ownership, you can see the 'skirt' around the bottom of the house

Some of my long time readers might remember my lament (it's worth the read if you have the time I think) about abandoning my 125 +/- year old, very cool house in the city. It needed more care than we could afford and once we moved permanently to the country house, with little reason, aka work, to come in, it really started to deteriorate rapidly.

the house about 5 years before we moved, the skirt had been removed to level the house and never replaced

Houses do that, fall apart much quicker when there is no life in them.

Anyway, it had gotten to the point that I didn't want prospective clients to come to the shop, and not just because the outside looked like an abandoned house, which it was heavily resembling, but the yard also. I preferred to meet them at their homes or offices which entailed lugging several very heavy bags of samples, portfolios, and design books along.

I kept telling The Boy and LL what bad shape the house was in but I think they were a little surprised when faced with the reality. Because we got a little busy the week or two before their arrival, we did not get everything done we thought we would do. Because our little studio apartment was in the same terrible shape, that's where our efforts went. They didn't have a toilet because we moved it to our bathroom. Their kitchen sink was still stopped up because we were fixing the leaking sink in our kitchenette.

So they rolled up their sleeves and went to work.

The house looks happier. It still has all the same major problems...termites, ancient plumbing, ancient wiring...but they are fixing up the inside and outside. They are repairing the damage caused by having the house leveled 10 years ago, taking care of all the little things we ignored over the years. There was a time when we engaged in minor repairs but somewhere along the way we quit doing it.

the house and yard now

They installed a toilet and unstopped the sink (no mean feat). They have filled in the cracks in the sheetrock, scraped the peeling paint, repaired the screen doors, replaced rotten boards, given the wood floors a good cleaning (well, given the whole house a good cleaning). They've started giving it a new coat of paint which is making a huge difference and they're working on replacing the skirt on the exterior with something more within their budget.

And the yard is being maintained although they did get rid of my ground cover and planted grass, returned the old turtle enclosure to yard. But they keep the sidewalk and driveway swept, something I rarely did and stuff is getting watered when needed now and they're keeping the ditch out front clear. They are slowly getting to the things that have grown unrestrained for three or four years.

The place is looking tended.

And that makes me happy.

ps. and yes, they are very appreciative of our letting them live in the house as we are appreciative of their taking the responsibility for it off our shoulders.