Thursday, November 10, 2011

First House After College!



Hey guys!
I'm going to be graduating in May, and am really excited because I've just finalized my first house after college! So of course I have to share my pics and excitement! I'm actually going to be renting a house from a best-friend of mine in central Upstate NY. (in a small village called Starkville). Its about an hour west of Albany.. She's an artist who recently bought an abandoned church to fix up into her home and studio. Being in the middle of Upstate NY, she got the property for $17,000! Not only is the church incredible, but it came with an "extra"- the original parsonage! Can you imagine getting an extra house with your house? Since she doesn't need an extra house, we've worked out a deal where I'm gonna rent (maybe rent-to-own) the parsonage, likely in exchange for repairs or work done (any work I do will count towards rent). I'm actually already very involved in the local community as I go up there constantly throughout the year, and love it! Very slow pace of life (which I love), yes very economically depressed, but it feels right.. Lots of country, little towns, old buildings and old things.. There's a local cafe we go to on the weekends and know everyone by name, people wave as you drive by, neighbors help out....its so not like that where I grew up in modern suburban maryland..

Anyways, here's the house! It's a little 1865 Greek Revival farmhouse! Thankfully still has its original windows and wood siding, and so many cute details! (porch details added circa 1890)




Even though its much older than most of the furniture I'm into, I kind of like the contrast between the more 1940's-60's stuff against the olderness of the house... And it already fits in a lot of ways.. don't those look like 50's starbursts carved out in the gingerbread trim below? Meant to be ha! And yes, this pic also shows how much work she's gonna need....all I can say is water has not been this home's friend!




I love the front door (but gotta get rid of that modern screen door!)





And the back! So cute.... for some reason some of the siding on the back was replaced with plywood, but that'll eventually get dealt with....All the stuff there will get moved out when I start moving in late spring....






And a little bit of the backyard :)







And finally, in context- with my friend Wendy's church next door!








As some of the pictures have shown, she's definitely a project, but I'm excited! I'm gonna start work this winter to try to make her livable for when I move in after school.. Poor old girl needs a LOT... her plumbing works...ish... her electric has been updated, but there's no heating system, plenty of leaks, and a foundation that needs to be stabilized...The inside's also a mess (she's too packed now for pics).... There's not tooo many original details left inside (besides original doors with iron latches!) but that just means I can make it my own and vintage it up to my heart's content!


Wish me luck! I've been waiting my whole 21 years for a bunny cottage I can call my own!