My Hidden Addiction

This evening I found myself doing it again.  Losing hours gazing at digital images of old rooms, turrets, and wide, open porches.  Hi, My name is Rachel Stogner, and I am an old house addict.

It's been a forever addiction.  But they need so much work! They're a money pit!  What would you do with all that space!  There's no heat or air!  The paint is peeling!

I've heard all of it and I have one thing to say:  I don't care.

There's something about an old house, an antique house, that speaks to me.  There's a soul there.  You can walk in to any of them and feel the people that have gone before.  Walls that bore witness to countless conversations, rooms that saw dinner parties, quiet family evenings, heated arguments, love and affection...it's all there, and I love it.

So I found a few websites that cater to one of  my, ahem, favorite pastimes, which is perusing these places.  You would not believe how many cast iron stoves, mosaic fireplaces, and tin ceilings I've glanced at. If I believed in past lives I would think I had many, because I feel such an affinity for these old places.  Perhaps it's the potential that they have to become beautiful again, perhaps it's the presence of so much history, but there's something alluring and attractive about an old beauty that's become a fixer-upper.

The image at the top of this page is one of my favorite old houses.  It's Varina Plantation, and one of my earliest ancestors lived there after buying it from John Rolfe, husband of Pocahontas.  Sadly, today, there are many places like this in the Deep South that are falling into ruin.  They are unconventional homes for our time...a time when many people are turning to a minimalistic lifestyle and shunning the excesses of square footage and elevated ceilings that so many of these gorgeous homes have.  It makes me sad to see these places forgotten or turned into condos or apartments, but what's even sadder is looking at one of my favorite sites and noting that one of these beauties was demolished.

So I spend some of my spare time looking through these antique gems, imagining what it would be like to own a mid-century Modern in Tennessee or a Queen Anne in Georgia.  The truth is, though, my favorite type of home is the Craftsman or Prairie style home, which is so prevalent in Texas.  It happens to be my favorite style, which is a good thing, because I really can't imagine living anywhere but here.  There's no place like home.  It's ironic that someone like me lives in a 1970's ranch, but maybe one day I'll achieve my dream of restoring a place like that.

As a realtor I can say that some houses like this get passed up because people automatically assume it comes with a host of problems that they don't want to deal with.  This may be true, or it may not, or it may be worth it.  I urge you, the next time you're house shopping, even if you're "just looking", stop for a moment. Imagine it in its glory days and consider the potential.  You just might fall in love.