This Old (Weird) House

When we were trying to find a house to buy, we looked at many beautifully restored old houses, and we even got it in our heads that that was exactly what we wanted. A perfect house. What we ended up buying is a bit of a Frankenhouse (not an exactly fair reference, but it’s a funny one nonetheless). As we plan to renovate parts and leave others as is, I’ve a feeling this old house and we weird people are going to get older and weirder together.

So, not only is this not a turnkey house, but it doesn’t have the guest suite we’d hoped for. Or a bedroom on the first floor. Or any of the things people tell you to get when you buy your final house. But it does have qualities that we appreciated right away and others that I think are going to grow on us.

The Amazing Parts

It’s on a quiet side street adjacent to a “hip” area of Madison (although when I use that word, does that mean it’s no longer hip?), with restaurants, bookstores, bakeries, music venues, bars, friends—all nearby. In the summer, in the winter, we can walk out of the house, down the street, to most anywhere we want.

And, it’s a big old house. Hardwood floors, old doors and trim, original hardware, funky nooks, a full basement (in a kind of creepy state) and a full attic (in an even more creepy state). But the bottom line: a big old house.

Lots of windows, lots of light.

A back yard, off-street parking, room even for a garage. It does have its qualities.

The Weird Parts

It’s also gone through quite a few transformations.

1. Originally, I’m betting it had four bedrooms and the only bathroom, all upstairs.
2. Then a second bathroom was added downstairs.
3. At some point, the whole house was converted into two apartments, with one of the bedrooms upstairs becoming a kitchen (see above), and a small bedroom added downstairs alongside the new bathroom.
4. Recently, it was transformed again—in part—back to being a single family home.

There are remnants of all these versions and their Frankenhouse-style stitches throughout. They add interest, but they also make it tricky for us to make it into the kind of house we’d envisioned. If we had a kazillion dollars, we’d knock down walls and expand bathrooms and create the house of our dreams. Instead, we’re going to change some things, leave some things, and see how the house fits us and how we fit the house.

The Exhilerating Parts

Closing went smoothly, and to our delight our Madison friends met us at the house right after for a quick tour. I’ll admit there were a few silent moments while they stared at weird spaces and tried to imagine why on earth we’d purchased this, but those silences were cut short as I herded us to a local brewery (on foot, of course!) for a celebratory drink.

Thank you Laura, Doug, Guy, and Patti for your good humor and good will and for sharing in our celebrations. (You are the reasons we moved to Madison, so, if you had started to avoid us at this point, we’d be in trouble!)

The Surpise Parts

At closing the seller kindly gave us this map of the “back forest.” She’s got a graduate degree in a related field with a specialty in urban forests (something like that), and it was a thrill to hear her talk about what she’d planted and why.

We’d only been back there briefly and hadn’t actually noticed much yet, so thank goodness for her map. Really!

Tracy has already spent time back there getting ready for winter and doing some micro-exploring.

Oh, and we met our neighbors, who are birders and who had a deal with the former owners regarding who maintains a bird bath and who the bird feeders. We’re in with the feeders.

My friend, Jacqui, told me to look out for “treasures” I might find inside, and treasures I did. This piece of furniture has tin sides to the drawers, and I’m thinking might make a nice bar in the dinning room.

Not Le Creuset, but damn close!

Now, I’ve had “aquarium” on my wish list since I started thinking about settling down, and look what we found in the back yard. I’ve got it filled to test the leaking, but so far so good. We even found the lid with a working bulb. It’s HUGE, like I could not drag it across the yard myself. And yes, it looks like someone’s hand was eaten off by piranhas at some point, but small details, right? We’ll see if it’s still not leaking tomorrow, in which case I’ll be hitting up my other Madison neighbor (whom I haven’t spent time with!) for aquarium tips. Hear that, Mark?

This is a thin wall hanging made of very thin shells! Except it’s cracked a little. Also found in the trash. I’m brainstorming how to resuscitate.

Well, good neighbors, interesting finds, and a lot of work cut out for us before we move in in March when our apartment lease is up. That sums up the last couple of days! They were big ones, too.