Surprise: I bought an Old House!

Hello, Old House!

Secret’s out: I bought a little old house! Can you believe that I’ve owned this cutie for a few weeks and didn’t tell you yet? I can hardly believe it either. Do you know what’s even crazier? I bought it before telling my very own husband! HA! Makes those unexplained Target runs sound a little better now, #amiright?

How the Old House Came to be Mine

One Sunday, after eating at my MIL’s (like we do every Sunday), I was sitting on the couch, minding my own business browsing Marketplace like I do often and saw the cutest little house for sale! I immediately got so excited because adding more rental properties has been on our radar since we started renting last January. We are constantly on the hunt for smaller homes, but it has been nearly impossible to find anything with the housing market the way it is currently.

Mark was out of town teaching a course so I asked my MIL to take a ride with me to see this little house. She’s amazing and agreed right away. A short thirty minutes later I was standing in the front yard of the cutest little blue cottage. We were able to do a full walk through and boy, it was in rough shape. However, all I could see was all the potential under all the years of neglect. So, I bought it that same day!

A Little History

I know many of you found Thorn Cove Abode from the work we did redoing a home we call “The Little House.” As you can see, I love a good renovation, but you do have to have something to work with. For this cottage, the little front stoop and curved slope over the front door gave me hope this could be a true stunner in the end. But I will say the house is MUCH older than anything I have worked with yet. The house was built in 1940. Could this be my first actual OLD house purchase? 

Work has begun…

We were able to close quickly (as you can imagine the seller wanted this off their hands asap.) I have so many ideas and dreams for this home! My Dad and I have been going over there almost every day and it seems the to do list just grows. It’s been A LOT of hard work and a definite team effort, but we’ve had fun along the way too. I would be lost without my Daddy!

One of the real treasures we’ve come across is the original tongue and groove walls and even ceilings. They are so beautiful! It’s amazing they have made it this long uncovered and unpainted. I’m thinking about leaving them all in their natural wood, but may change my mind later. I hate to paint natural wood walls that have made it 83 years without paint! I may end up needing to paint them to brighten up some spaces, but I still have time to decide.

What’s Next for the Old House

While many of you know that the home we live in is a new build we make look “old”, this house is going to the opposite. It’s old and needs to be updated, but still maintain its character. I plan to preserve what I can and ensure it gives a nod to its 1940’s roots, but definitely functional for this century. Thankfully, many of the doors and the original glass knobs are in good shape so we have a lot to work with.

While I have so many ideas for this house, I am stuck on what to name it. Definitely something with “cottage” in it, but otherwise, I got nothing. Let me know if you think of something cute!

Be sure to follow along on my IG stories “cottage” highlight as I share more behind the scenes. I will be sure to post updates regularly here on the blog too!