The Little Charms of an Old House

Alex and I always knew when we were ready to buy a home, it would be an old home that was filled with character and charm... the whole idea of doing a ton of work rennovating took a backseat when choosing the 'perfect home with the perfect charm'. Which is a little funny to both of us now, to be very honest, buying an older home that needs work is, well, A LOT OF WORK! We take a lot of pride in what we have done to our little charmer home, and more so because of the fact that we injected life back into this tired old house. It now feels warm, cozy, fresh, and still filled with the history and character!

So here are our favorite original characteristics that made us fall in love with our home, some took some refinishing, but look amazing now!

Our front door has a small foyer, since it was built in 1924, we have to assume the purpose was to keep heat in the home when people would enter. I just love the glass pane door with the antique glass knob, you don't see that in any houses built after the 1940's, so unique!

Here is a view of the glass door when you walk into the house, faces the staircase with the dining room on the left and living room to the right.

And a close up of the staircase banister, I wish I had the 'before' picture, it took a lot of sanding to be able to refinish and paint to make it look fresh. This is one of my favorite parts of our house, nothing like original woodwork (but of course had to be painted).

Here is another old charm, one of the radiators. When we first started looking at homes, most of the historic ones had radiant heat, which is something I knew nothing about and haven't seen inside a home ever before. But I like that they add architectural interest in most of our rooms. Alex plans to build a cover on one in our sunroom to create a window bench seat.

Another fun characteristic in our house, the ceiling. Whenever we have guests they always ask us about it. It is original to the house and is in our living room, dining room and kitchen. Appears that someone used a trowel and created a repetitive circular pattern, we like it and think it adds fun detail to our rooms.

Next, the laundry chute! Who doesn't think laundry chutes are fun? We have this little door in the 2nd floor hallway, there is also a door in our kitchen. Makes it nice to not have laundry baskets around the house, just goes straight to the basement (even nicer that Rocco and Sadie never have a chance to pick up random clothes off the floor, which is something they LOVE to do).

And the doorknobs, I LOVE antique doorknobs! The glass knob and keyhole scream history and character. Did you know that Home Depot sells knobs like this? They start at $50 for the knob, which seems crazy to me, you can find them in antique stores, but not sure if they would actually function.

And the doors themselves, they remind me of my grandma's house, I just love the center framed antique look.

I will follow up with more little charms once I get more photos! There are plenty in our house, but of course some need a little TLC!