In the beginning...

Hey Guys!  And welcome to the first post of our home blog Tudor Revived.  I’m not normally the person to start up a blog, but I’ve had SO many requests from people that want to follow us on our journey of renovating our beautiful 90 year old home that a blog seemed like a no brainer.  If you asked me 6 months ago if I’d be in this spot I would have LAUGHED at you.  Really.  6 months ago I was happy inside of our 4 bedroom updated home with a huge beautiful backyard, perfect for our two little boys, grumpy cat, giant dog (and baby on the way).  We had all the space we needed, loved our neighbors, and honestly, were content.  But sometimes, content just doesn’t cut it.

We’re that family when we get bored we load the kids up in the car and go on drives around town to look at neighborhoods we admire and dream of one day living in, but no neighborhood stood out to us more than the historic district in downtown Starkville.  Is it the most beautiful neighborhood? Not completely.  Is it the safest neighborhood? Actually, it totally is but you might not assume that… Are some of the homes old as dirt and beg for someone to buy them up and make them beautiful like they once were?? Yep, they sure do.  Lets not forget that downtown is in the middle of huge changes itself.  Renovations of homes, businesses, and entirely new and exciting other opportunities are popping up all around, and that’s something I’d love to be close to.  Unfortunately, homes rarely come available in these areas, and if they do, they are way over our budget, or they’re snatched up too quickly for us to even take a look. Honestly, very few are actually listed with an agent, they usually sell through word of mouth in the neighborhood. 

However, one day while driving down a particularly picturesque street downtown I noticed a home for sale (through an agent?!) and it didn’t look too snazzy, but did look like it had plenty of space.  I looked it up, and IT WAS IN MY BUDGET! Whoa!  Called agent, so excited, I want to look!  Darn…already under contract, big shocker.  So then I thought, well, since most of these homes are word of mouth, I might as well let people know that I’m interested.  Again, not because I’m in a hurry, but who knows when my ideal fixer upper will come available?  It could be 5 days or 5 years, but it was worth letting some people know, right?  So let them know I did.  I reached out to several friends that lived in the area and told them if they heard of anything to please keep me in the loop.  So of course, 5 days later I received the same email forwarded from 3 friends with exactly the info I was looking for.  The description read:

“The house was designed by H.W. Stevens and built in 1929, in the Tudor Revival style. It is a 5 bedroom/3 bath (3/2 downstairs, 2/1 upstairs) house with approximately 2417 square feet. We have the original plans for the house.

The second story has a great deal of additional living/public space and a large laundry/utility room. Two bathrooms have been refinished and the floors are hardwood throughout.”

And lets not forget the picture that followed: 

Needless to say, this email was a shocker.  What?!?!  OMG…look at that brick (swoon)…Hardwood floors throughout?! Loads of additional living space?! 5 bedrooms and 3 baths?!?!?! IN MY BUDGET?!?! Surely this was a hoax and too good to be true.    

Later that same day the hubs and I drove by the house and we remembered it for sure.  “Oh yeah!  There used to be that creepy house next door to this one with coffins in it, remember that??” (I’m not making that up, it really did have coffins). Next to this house sat two vacant lots where two older homes were torn down (there are plans there, no need to worry).  Behind the house is the school district bus barn and mechanic shop, and just a house away are the city railroad tracks, but luckily I doubt our little town will every see a train on those tracks since they shut down several years ago (I’m pulling for a rails to trails personally).  We had several groups of friends live in this house over the years and knew it had been a rental since I was in undergrad.  We were convinced the inside would be ripped to shreds and not worth our time, but hey, why not look.  We went in with very low expectations in the home and honestly thought we would write it off the moment we stepped in the front door.  Low and behold, we loved it…

It had all the beautiful features I drool over like the original hardwood floors, and built ins, the glass knobs, the fireplaces.  Granted, it needed some TLC, but honestly that's what I was looking for!  I'm crazy, I know.  The family living in it was very clean and had it decorated nicely which made it much more appealing as well.  And that upstairs…wow.  The entire upstairs would be kid haven.  I can send my children upstairs to play with nerf guns or light sabers or legos, or sit on their bean bags and watch WALL-E AGAIN.  It was perfect.  There was a bit of an issue downstairs, but we’ll get to that later. It was just more inspiration for my ever expanding pinterest board.  We both left in shock because we thought we would hate it, and all the sudden here we were, hugely considering it, and ultimately, (surprise) we now own it.  It’s official, signed the papers and all. We’ve got LOTS of plans….so get ready!!