To gain some perspective on our perspective on old houses, we have to tell you about our first house. Jean and I married in 1987, and moved into an apartment together after we were married (there is a novel idea, eh?). It was a little one bedroom walkup in a complex in Hackensack, New Jersey. It was fine, but clearly not where we were going to stay for long. Less than a year after we were married, an uncle invited us to look around in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania for a place to build a new house. Now I was not too keen on building a new house, but Jean was infatuated. So, we went ahead, looked for, and found a nice home site in a subdivision near Swiftwater, PA. Having only been married for less than a year, and Jim still finishing graduate school, we did not have much money saved for a down payment. With some help from faithful family members, we had a house built, but only the exterior shell and well/septic was finished. Inside was only rough electric, rough plumbing and insulation. We took over from there. In 9 months we got the house sheetrocked, heated, plumbed, tiled and liveable. We moved in and finished the rest of the house while we lived in it. This was a 2300 square foot center hall colonial mind you. Whatever needed to be built inside, we did. It was a lot of house for two dumb kids to take on, but, we did it and it came out great. After 2.5 years of house construction, we began construction of our first son, and then our second. After the babies were born we added an 1100 square foot 3-level deck to the back of the house with a gazebo, too. Landscaping all had to be done as well, and much of that we finally subcontracted to a wonderful local landscaper. The tools were too big and too expensive for us to do that job on our own.

So, now you have a picture of what a pair of early twenty-somethings can accomplish when they have a dream, the support of their families, and determination. The knowledge and experience gained during the construction of this new house has given us many of the skills and the perspective needed to handle the restoration of an older home. Obviously we are not intimidated by dauntingly large projects, or by diving into something we have never done before. After over 10 years in our new house, it was no longer new. As most who have gone through this process will tell you, a new house turns into an old house pretty quickly. It was well built and comfortable, and had all the room we needed. However, we began to wonder about something else. Something different . . .

Go to October 2001 – The search begins, for the next installment.

Or, you can go to Chronicles 2004, which will take you to the beginning of the restoration.

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