We live in an old house -very old. Like older then Cody's 98 year old Great-Grandma (that still amazes me every time I think about it). For those not from STL a quick lesson: St. Louis City is not part of The County (it's not part of any county), it's called an "Independent City" - then there is St. Louis County made up of a zillion little municipalities - "The County" is where urban sprawl hell happened - these people have larger yards, larger (and cheaper) homes, better schools and an hour drive to work. When we went to buy a house we thought about buying a "new" or "newer" house in "The County" - we looked at a lot - they were nice - in nice, safe neighborhoods - with nice, safe schools - and generally nice, new or newer stuff. Then we looked at the city. It's gritty (about to be named - again - one of the top 5 most dangerous cities in the country - I can't believe I'm not dead yet!), it's a mess at times, the schools suck (good thing we don't have kids and won't any time soon with Cody in school now), and the houses are old. Very old - like ours. But we loved it. My drive to work is about five minutes. Our house has all these cool old quirks that you can't get with a new house.
First, we swear there are dead bodies buried in our backyard since we hit stuff when we dig and we are close to "The Hill" where all the Italians live - and we assume if you're Italian, you're in the mob and if you're in the mob you kill people and need places to bury them - hense my backyard (don't mean to offend all my Italian readers - hell, everyone thinks I'm German now and asks me how much I drink). Then there is the statute of Mary that is seriously cemented in the ground at least two feet. Someone, likely 100 years ago thought they would go to Hell if their statute of Mary fell over in a tornado so they put at least three bases of concrete to hold her in at least two feet underground - add that to the rebar that runs through her- she's never moving.
So there are things I love and things I hate about our old house:
1. I hate that our walls all took two coats of paint when we painted them. But I love that they are different then new house walls.
2. I hate that our wood floors look like they're 100 years old. But I love that they're 100 years old.
3. I hate the heavy pocket door between the living room and hall way. But I love the pocket door.
4. I hate that when Cody runs on the treadmill upstairs it shakes the chandelier in the dining room below. But I love that our dining room has the really old ceilings they had before electricitiy and they hung lamps.
5. I hate the way you can hear the water running in the entire house if there is anywhere there is water running. But I love that they even figured out how to get running water in this old of a house.
6. I hate that the upstairs is always hotter then downstairs and the insulation sucks. But I love that we have central heat and air.
7. I hate that the porch is taking two coats of paint to repaint (trying to finish at least one of my 30 projects before Cody's parents visit so they don't totally think all I do is start and never finish projects). But I love that the wood that is drinking my paint is a zillion years old.
8. I hate the way our house looks like a barn (it's barn shaped). But I love the way they don't even make houses this shape anymore.
9. I hate the way the circuit blows if you try to run the microwave, refrigerator and toaster on the same circuit at the same time. But I love laughing at those "quirks."
10. I hate the floors that squeak (our kids will NEVER be able to sneak out undetected). But I love that the house is held up by wood and brick older then anyone I know.
Basically for everything I complain about this old house, I love something else about it even more. One day I'm sure we'll have kids in live in suburbia (or maybe not), but for now we're really digging our funky old house in the city. It's got character - and spunk. And while at some point there may have been others just like it - with the same floor plan and stuff - at this point they've all be rehabbed so many times that I doubt there's even one left with our exact floorplan - so it's unique too. :)
....plus it's actually made with real brick so in the event of tornado hopefully we'll still be standing - or at least hiding in our creapy basement (yeah, since the house is old, we have a basement, but it can't be finished - limestone walls and 6 foot ceilings - so it's creapy - but still cool for someone from Florida not used to basements)
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We liked our old house that we had on Old Saint Augustine. It had lots of character. It was a little small for the lot of us. The final straw that our landlord would not get us the Windows units (we hate Windows units anyhow) that where necessary for A/C.
This trailor makes do, but it has no personality.
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