Monday, August 04, 2008

A "Hooked on Houses" House Tour



Well, here we go! We are excited, and a bit nervous showing snapshots of our family home....you just don't know what people will think - heaven knows how we share our thoughts on Julia's posts on Hooked on Houses.....is it payback time????
Hmmmmm - well we'd love to share "the homestead" with you.
This is the family home - in fact, it's been in our family for three generations. It has quite an interesting story, and - though it might not be your style....we know you will love and appreciate all of the wonderful architectural details that we took for granted as kids!
Built in 1904, our big and beautiful Queen Ann home was patterned after a home in Chicago. We'd love to find it some day - to compare the two! When we were kids there would be people stopped along the side of the road taking pictures of the house - we could never figure out what they were doing!!
What is really neat about our home is that our paternal grandmother's family lived here for a while, then after they moved out, our paternal grandfather's family purchased the home - just a fun little fact about the house - talk about destiny!!

Well - come on in.....let's go up to the front porch and head to the door. Don't you just love this door? Its garland and bows are very typical motifs that were used at this time.
Welcome! Come on in......









As you come into the house you see the beautiful woodwork on the stairway to your right. All of the woodwork in the house is oak, and was taken right off the farm's property.





There is one thing that you will notice - that there is a lot of pattern going on in our family's homestead. This is Mom's doing....mixing and matching things to play up the wonderful woodwork and details in the home (this is why we do what we do today - we're sure!!). Notice the wallpapered ceiling in the top left picture - boy, do we remember the day that went up......it's a wonder anyone wanted to wallpaper again!!





Let's take a walk up the stairs! Notice the detail here - do you know how long it took us to dust this staircase every week???? AGES and AGES!! Have you ever walked up a curved staircase?? It's quite fun and almost regal - especially walking down (or sliding down like we did as kids!!). Almost at the top - what surprises await you up here.......ohhhhh we can't wait to show you.....


Here we are - look - do you see the book cases? This is the library - what a fun place to hang out as a kid. When the cousins would all come over - this is where we hung out - playing games on the floor, picking out books to look through, or just talking about the boys.....!!






Here's another shot of the book case on the left to the stairs...
but wait, here is the neat part about the upstairs - something you just don't see anymore......






a curved wall - isn't that the coolest? Look at all the woodwork. It is unusual to have the same, really nice woodwork upstairs in the house as the downstairs, but because the wood was taken from the farm - it wouldn't have been as costly to do this, so they spend the extra time in all the detail.












Look at the fretwork - the same garland and bows as the door in the entry way. It's missing some of the detail - and, no, it wasn't from our generation playing around upstairs - Dad said that he remembers jumping up and hitting the spindles when he was younger.......hmmmmmmmm!

Shall we head back downstairs? Before we do - take a look at one of the post's detailing. While growing up the woodwork upstairs was dark, while the downstairs was light. Our grandparents had stripped the downstairs woodwork, and had left the upstairs dark. One winter, Karrie and I stripped the whole upstairs - and all of its wonderful wooded detail - it was hard work, but we had fun (really it was the fumes making us think we were having fun!!)

















As we get to the bottom step, we face the dining room. Pocket doors - we love them!! Let's head on in and check out this room that was once the parlor....

The fireplace originally had green tile on it, but our grandparents took it out and put in the marble. The second entry way also had pocket doors at one time, but these were taken out.





As we leave the dining room we walk into the living room. This room originally was two rooms, and it was made into a larger single room.
From the living room we walk straight and find ourselves in the kitchen. A little over ten years ago, Mom & Dad remodeled the kitchen. The ceilings were raised to the original height. It was fun seeing the kitchen gutted - we got a glimpse of what it once looked like with the few tiles that were left, and colors that were hidden under the existing cabinets.
Bigger windows were added - and Mom had transoms put in above these windows in the kitchen - just to give it personality - but not deviating too much from the time period of the house itself. The windows that were in the kitchen were small - but now she has quite the view outside!


Hardwood floors were put in - and Mom says that she has never regretted it! They are pretty - and look original to the house. The cabinets that she chose were made of hickory and were a bead board style. It's the perfect for a farm house in the early 1900's.











From the kitchen we walk out to the addition that was added on in 1986. Mom has just started redecorating this room. She is enchanted with anything Williamsburg at the moment, and has such a passion for collecting blue and red toile plates - as well as pewter things. Here is where we enter from the kitchen into the foyer for the side porch.


Below to your left, you can see the new wallpaper that we put up last year.
Mom has quite the collection of plates for a beginning collector. She has them hung on the wall, and has quite a few in the hutch out in this room.
This room was originally the family room in 1986, now the back end of the room is Dad and her office area. I don't know about you, but I'd sure love to have a pretty little office area like this!!















Well, that concludes our tour of the Summer Kitchen Girls homestead.....for now! So, out the door we go and we'll find ourselves on the side porch - oh look - what's that behind the house peeking behind the tree??

Why - it's The Summer Kitchen!!
Hope you've enjoyed the tour of our family's home! We've had fun going through it with you - be sure to stop in the store for a cup of hot tea before you head home!!

34 comments:

Julia @ Hooked on Houses said...

I have to say this has got to be one of my favorite house tours yet. There is so much history and character in the house, and I loved hearing all the stories about it.

Thank you so much for participating in the blog party and sharing it with us! -Julia :-)

Ceekay-THINKIN of HOME said...

GORGEOUS! I would LOVE to live in a home like that...they don't even have homes like that here in Arizona. So pretty...thank you for sharing it.

Lisa Cobler said...

Your house is beautiful. I love that staircase !

Quirky Cottage Owners said...

Someone actually gets to LIVE there? My heart is racing. So beautiful. The workmanship is so lovely. The wallpaper is perfect for that home. What a lot of work. Thank you so very much for taking the time to photograph those rooms.
Rita

Linda@ Lime in the Coconut said...

What a privledge to have a peek into your home! The woodwork is just marvellous. How fortunate for you to still own such a piece of your families history!!

Unknown said...

How wonderful! My family had a beautiful "homestead" that was lost to us because the family member/executor panicked and sold when the last resident/owner got sick. The rest of us are still sick about it.
Your parents did a great job on the kitchen remodel!

Blogger said...

What a beautiful labor of love! Those curved walls are gorgeous and that eating space is just the perfect spot to have a cup of coffee in the morning :)

I love thatyour shop is right there, how cool is that?

I hope to get there someday...I am about 2 hours from you!

Please come see my open house, if you get a chance, thanks!

Bella

Marie Louise said...

What a beautiful old Victorian Home. I have only driven through Ohio - next time I'll have to stop!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for sharing your lovely family home on Julia's tour. It's not only a beautiful home, it has a rich history. I love the story.

Kristi said...

When can we come over for lemonade? Oh, that porch, I just love it. This house looks like it is full of incredible memories and lots of love and joy. Thanks for sharing. It's my favorite one on the tour...but don't tell anyone I said that.

Unknown said...

This is a charmer let me tell ya! I love all the detail and character. Thanks for the wonderful welcome.

angela | the painted house said...

I love the history here. You are so fortunate to have a home so rich in family history! Lovely!

Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality said...

So nice to meet you girls on this house tour! What a wonderful, special home to grow up in. That must have been so much fun. I can't even imagine. It's a beautiful older home & how neat that it's been in your family for so long.

Enjoyed the tour so much!
RHoda

Unknown said...

What a wonderful house, no wonder your so proud of it, it's just lovely and it has a second curved wall in this tour, how neat! I'm really enjoying this tour and I'll be back soon!

The Berry's Patch said...

What a beautiful home! I love all the architecture and character. I can't even imagine having my childhood home. So much history and love!

Marie said...

What a fabulous old home! I love homes with character and you can see it's been well loved. Thanks for the tour!

Anonymous said...

Very cool staircase. I have stripped some doors and door jams, but I can't even imagine tackling a project like that. It's just beautiful!

Thanks so much for opening your home to the tour. What a fantastic place for your girls to grow up!

Tara (Random Acts of Home Decor)

Charlotte said...

Great tour. The staircase is wonderful as well as everything else.

Decor To Adore said...

This is the perfect victorian home. I love all the hisory behind it.

Abbreviated said...

Thanks for the tour !

Lisa's RetroStyle said...

What a beautiful home! And your parents must enjoy having you girls so close by!!

Unknown said...

This is a beautiful home. You don't find the details seen in this one in newer homes! I love it.
Dian

Gone said...

What a BEAUTIFUL homestead. I love QUEEN ANNE style homes!! This is a gorgeous place...and I like how mom & dad have decorated it and remodeled the kitchen.

Thanks for visiting my Place tonite and leaving your sweet comments.

Jan

Joanne Kennedy said...

How could any one not love that house! There is so much beauty and love and hard work in that house.

I sure wish we had a family home like that. I moved around a lot so there was never a house that held all my childhood memories.

You are so lucky to have that house in your family.

Hugs,
Joanne

Lost Aussie said...

What a feast of wonderful photos on your blog! Thanks for sharing!

Nikki via The Scarlett Rose Garden said...

What a GORGEOUS home and wonderful memories. What a job to strip that staircase!!
I love the vignette with the red chair.

They always papered the ceilings back then, sure is a chore to strip about 7 layers of it. Some were so pretty in the homes I've had, I wish I could've left them up. But kinda hard when it's about the 3rd layer down, lol!

I hope the home stays in your family forever, and you find the Chicago house. You may want to join this group, someone there might even know the house you're talking about!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vicarr/

Thanks for the tour!

Donna said...

What a beautiful family homestead. I love the stairwell and the pocket doors. We had pocket doors in a house that we lived in when we lived in PA.

Thanks for letting us peek inside!

~Donna

Alice said...

Oh, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed every detail of the homestead. I live in a Queen Anne also built in 1904. I loved seeing similar details in your home as well as seeing wonderfully different details like the curved wall. Kudos for all of your family for preserving and restoring!

Ramona said...

Oh my good golly...you have such a wonderful home! Thank you for sharing. I love, love that stair case. Everything is perfect in that house. I would never leave home if I lived there. Great blog too. Thank you for visiting my house tour earlier this week. This has been great blog~fun! I will visit often.

Smiles ~ Ramona

Rhondi said...

Your home is wonderful. I love all the beautiful wood details. .It must be a joy to live there

rivergardenstudio said...

Your house is very lovely! I also took a tour through you beautiful shop from your friends blog. Oh! I wish I could see it in person! Thanks, Roxanne

Catherine Holman said...

Your home is sensational. You just can't replace the charm of an old house or the history. It looks and feels like home!
Cathie

Beth Ann said...

Oh how I am pouring over your photos! I love everything, the porch, each glorious room, the woodwork, spindles, rounded corner...just gorgeous! Can I come over and play?

One Shabby Old House said...

Wow! That was a beautiful tour. I so enjoyed your Victorian home.
We are in the process of renovation with ours so seeing a completed home is always a thrill.
Thank you for sharing.
Becky
Laceandlures.blogspot.com

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