Buying an old house has its ups and downs. After seeing the state of the wiring in the kitchen I was sure our new home was a fire hazard. I’ve calmed down since that minor fit of panic (and learned a bit about wiring in the process) but the truth of the matter is – you never know what you’ve got yourself into with old houses. Our old house is no exception.

So what did we get ourselves into? We may never know the full extent of it to be honest. The wiring is outdated in some parts of the house, termite damage is apparent but not spelling our impending doom, and only half of the outer walls are insulated. In short, we have our work cut out for us. But it’s not all bad – we do, after all, own an awesome house.

When our cat ran away last week I had the perfect opportunity to meet people – many of whom have lived on our street all their lives. One particular neighbor, an elderly woman who is a first cousin to the previous owner and builder of our house, was kind enough to talk to me for over 30 minutes about our home. She told me that our home was started in the late 1940’s. The owners before us were frugal people and only built when they had the money in the bank (smart people). The original house was two rooms (what is now our kitchen and dining room). The bathroom didn’t come until a few years later. After the bathroom came what is now our bedroom – followed by the living room and the other bedroom. Finally our office and the other half of the kitchen was added. How cool is that? All of the construction was done by the owners and their friends – a tradition that we are glad to continue. Our beautiful terazzo floor was poured in 1961 and still looks fantastic.

All of these little facts about our house make me love it more – a lot more. Another of our neighbors – also a first cousin to the previous owners – has photo albums documenting the construction of our house. You better believe I can’t wait to see those pictures!

With this kind of history I’ve expected a fair share of discoveries. I haven’t been disappointed. . .

At first the things we found were small. Small antique toys, empty vintage packaging, notes written on the rafters in the attic; but we’ve been blessed with some bigger surprises too. Several days after closing on the house I stumbled upon an antique toolbox filled with copper pipe supplies in the garage, but my favorite discovery so far came yesterday in the old playhouse. . .

Over thirty issues of TIME Magazine from 1974 to 1976, plus several issues of Skeptic Magazine from the same years and one issue of National Enquirer – all in excellent condition. Woohoo!