I picked up my cell phone the other day and noticed that I
had a new Facebook message on my personal account. What really surprised me was
the content of that message. It was from a friend who doesn’t follow the Horner
House and she asked me a number of questions about our project. I realized that
I had been asked similar questions by other people who are thinking about
purchasing and fixing up their own older homes, so I will try and answer some
of those questions here over the coming months.
The first question I would ask anyone looking at purchasing
a house that needs a lot of work is… Do you love it? This type of project is
much like a deep and romantic love relationship and will follow many of the
same ups and downs as a wildly passionate relationship will. You will have
super highs, like when you remove a false ceiling and find the original plaster
molding still in pristine condition or remove a wall and find the original
pocket doors had been walled in. Then there are the days when you have those
horrible fights and things go terribly wrong. Money spent on stabilization
feels like a wasted effort when you learn that the whole addition has to be
deconstructed anyway or that, yes, those are termites in your rafters…
And the bigger the project, the more you had better love it,
right from the beginning. There needs to be enough that when things begin to go
wrong, because they will, that you can take that step back and ask yourself,
why did I fall in love with this place to begin with? Just as you would in any
marriage, and hopefully there will always be enough there for you to remember.
Have a lovely Valentine’s Day from all of us at the Horner
House.
