Introductions

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My name is Cathy and I'm in love with old houses. Yes, love. It's a heart pounding, giggly kind of love. Not exactly the stuff of fairy tales, but my romance is chock-full of wood millwork, squeaky floor boards, original single pane windows, and that intangible thing we old-house-lovers call "character". I hope you'll hang out and we can get to know one another. So, if this thing I have for old houses is a love affair, you're probably wondering when it all began. Well, it began long before my husband and I bought our first old house in 2008. It started even before I met my husband (and being that we've known each other since middle school, that's saying something). I first fell in love with old houses when I was 5 and my parents bought a 1910 duplex with the intention of converting it back to a single family home. I remember spending a whole summer eating out of a microwave when the kitchen was remodeled and then there was the install of the metal roof, removing the second staircase, the endless weekends on the basement and so on. And after all that time getting to know the house inside and out, it became the fourth sibling I never had. At times she was a red headed stepchild, but mostly an older sister who tucked me in at night with a favorite bedtime story. When the day came in 2000 when all of us kids had gone off to college and my parents decided to sell the house, I cried myself to sleep. Fast forward 20 years and you'll find me on the doorstep of my third old house. My husband jokes that I'm nuts, but he's been nothing but supportive when it comes to me and my old houses. And thankfully he's pretty darn good with a hammer, because there would be no renovations without his handy skills. We work together on the remodels as much as possible {can't you just see us on a romantic dinner date of pizza and painting} but when I'm off watching the baby, daydreaming about marble tiles and floor plans, it's hubby who's yielding the framing nailer. And he can usually talk his electrician-dad or another member of his hard-working family into lending a hand. House number three is a little goodie I like to call The Ravenna House. She's a 1926 tudor with 830 sf, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, a shoebox of a kitchen, original oak floors, and ceramic hexagon tiles under the bathroom linoleum. She may be a little run down now, but there's no doubt that she's going to be a beauty. This week I'll leave you with a few of the "before" photos of The Ravenna House interior...