But first, I want to share a photo with you of what this house looked like back around the early 1900's (I believe this photo was taken around 1910ish?) Where this house now sits is NOT where it was originally built. It was around 1907 when the Swanson family purchased a plot of land about 7 miles east of here, sight unseen. They lived around Chicago, I believe, and when the family moved here, found that the property had a lot of swampy area...not very good for farming, which is what they did. They did build themselves a home, but just a year or so later, they purchased what is now a part of the land this home now sits on, and took down and moved the home in 8 foot sections, and rebuilt it here! I do not know for sure as to how much land was original to this house, but we own 2 3/4" acres.
The original part of this house consisted of the Living room, Dining room, kitchen, and part of our masterbedroom. The window you see to the right is the dining room area, and the one to the left (center) is the livingroom area. The outside of the home was covered in black tar paper! They used old newspapers and such to cover the walls inside the home for insulation! We found lots of it when we were remodeling the Dining room.
This photo below is of the back of the house during the time the siding was being replaced. This is the only photo I have that shows the UGLY GOLD siding.
Below is a photo of the front before we had added the covered wrap-around deck. The second floor addition, the addition added to the back (enlarging the master bedroom, 1/2 bath, and laundry room), and the addition to the front which is now my sewing room, were all done in the mid 1970's by the grandson of the original owners. After he sold the home to the next family, they lived in it until we purchased it in 1993. We removed the large windows you see to the right, and installed a regular sized window, when I was pregnant with my youngest Austin, so we could transform it into a bedroom for him. When he was older, we moved him to the other bedroom upstairs that our daughter was using, and moved her into that room. And, as you know, when she married last year, that room became my sewing room.
And here is our home today. I know, it's hard to believe that this is the same home as the first picture! This home has certainly come a LONG way thru all these years! This is what I love so much about older homes versus newer built homes. They have so much more history and character with them...you just can't get that with a new home.
Don't forget to enter my "Christmas in July Giveaway"! Just click HEREto take you to that post, so you can leave a comment. Remember, the winner will be chosen from one of the comments left!
