And Back to Wisconsin Again...

Our family loved living in the Pacific Northwest.  Two years on beautiful Bainbridge Island were a wonderful adventure.  We had lots of fantastic experiences and forged some lifelong friendships.  A chain of events this past summer led us to decide that despite our love of Bainbridge Island and the greater Seattle/Puget Sound area, we wanted to be back closer to our families and back to truly small town, rural living.  Lincoln took a job back at Lands End and we moved our family back to Dodgeville, WI.  We knew that this time around we wanted at least a few acres and I wanted to be in an old farmhouse.  We were very excited to find that a house I had always loved, on the very edge of town, was for sale.  Coming in at 4 acres, with a barn and a wrap around porch, this seemed like the perfect compromise for our family.  If it was up to just me, we would be on 40 acres, far from everyone.  The kids, however, wanted to be close enough to town to walk or bike to the library and the pool, and be close to their friends. This is a win-win.  After a long and agonizing negotiation, we closed on the house on November 21.

Because our new home is actually a very old home, there will be enough home improvement projects to last me a very long time.  To get started, we decided it would be easiest to tear out all the carpet before moving in all our stuff.  We knew that we wouldn't refinish the floors immediately, but I was anxious to just get the carpet out.

We were also told that not only were there hardwood floors under the carpet, but also pocket doors preserved in the wall between the family room and living room.  That became our next priority.  With the wall closed off, the house did not flow very well,  We determined that it would be a lot easier on our movers if the wall was opened before move in day.

We closed on Friday morning and by evening the carpets were out.  By Saturday afternoon the wall was opened up.  Unfortunately, the pocket doors were not still there.  Despite the missing doors, we proceeded with opening the wall and for now we will just finish it off as an archway.

For this post, I will share lots of pictures of the house on move-in day.


This first view is from the front door.  The closed door goes to the mudroom.

Straight ahead from the front door.  The wall to the left is the one where the pocket doors should have been.

Another view, from the other corner.  Daisy is managing to photobomb each shot.

And one more looking back at the front door.  The old windows are gorgeous, but sadly you can't really see them because the curtains cover them.

The dining room has this beautiful built-in hutch/buffet.  

The floors have already been done in here.

The kitchen photographs pretty well, but there are a lot of issues here.  There is very little counter space, the cabinets are kind of nasty, and the tile is not at all my style.  The appliances are older and the microwave is a counter top style and takes up lots of prime counter real estate.

The family room has a falling tile ceiling, an awkward light fixture, and that wall with the shelf is the one that has the doorway to the living room enclosed in it.

The woodburning fireplace has no mantel and a dated insert.

The final room downstairs is the powder room.  It needs to be completely gutted.  The sink takes up a solid half of the doorway.

We have our work cut out for us.  Upstairs tour another day, since this post is getting lengthy.

I am so happy to be living in an old house.  The previous owners lived here for 45 years.  I love living in a house with a history.  I love knowing that a family was raised here.  This is the kind of place where you can put down roots and raise a family.  I'm looking forward to the journey.