I married young, I was only 18 and my new husband was 23. He worked hard but had no skills or training. We were very lucky because I had saved some money by working while I was in high school.
A local village character owned a home in our little town (population 101). He had become more and more paranoid as time went on. Finally he knew " They were getting closer and closer" because he could hear them outside at night. Finally one day the air force was having practice maneuvers overhead and he thought "they" were after him. He came to my mother wanting to sell his house so he could have money to "hide". Mom told me about it and that she didn't have any interest but once I heard the price, $700.00, I was interested. His biggest condition was that we had to complete the deal by sundown that day so he could "get away".
The house was about 600 square feet with two bedrooms, kitchen, living room and a jack and jill bathroom. I bought the house sight unseen. If nothing else it was good property. My first tour of the house was a mixture of regret, sadness and overwhelming compassion for the man's state of mind. The entire inside of the house was painted Army Green! In broad daylight it had felt like walking into a cave.
I painted over the army green ceilings a nice white, it took many many coats of paint. I painted the army green walls nice quiet happy colors walls, again it took many many coats of paint. I bought many GALLON containers of paint remover and went to work on the window panes, sinks, tub and toilet. I scraped the army green paint off the door knobs and faucets. I bought cheap linoleum to cover the army green on the floors.
The bathroom had a sink, toilet, claw foot tub and a water tank, all were army green. Let me tell you, you don't feel very clean climbing out of an army green tub.
Did you notice that I mentioned a water tank not a water heater? That is because the water supply ran through the cook stove, which was WOOD fueled, and then filled the water tank which supplied the hot water to the sinks and tub. This meant that about an hour before using any hot water I had to stoke and light the cook stove to heat the water. The cook stove was also the only heat for the house in the winter and heaven help you in the summer. Hot water was unheard of from May to September.
There were 3 plug ins in the entire house. One in the kitchen, one in the living room and one in the from bedroom, all of them on a single 15 amp fuse. There was a second 15 amp circuit for the lights in the house, yard and out building.
Once is it was cleaned and rejuvenated it was a nice little house, both my children were born while I was living there so it has many fond memories. But those stories are for another time.
A local village character owned a home in our little town (population 101). He had become more and more paranoid as time went on. Finally he knew " They were getting closer and closer" because he could hear them outside at night. Finally one day the air force was having practice maneuvers overhead and he thought "they" were after him. He came to my mother wanting to sell his house so he could have money to "hide". Mom told me about it and that she didn't have any interest but once I heard the price, $700.00, I was interested. His biggest condition was that we had to complete the deal by sundown that day so he could "get away".
The house was about 600 square feet with two bedrooms, kitchen, living room and a jack and jill bathroom. I bought the house sight unseen. If nothing else it was good property. My first tour of the house was a mixture of regret, sadness and overwhelming compassion for the man's state of mind. The entire inside of the house was painted Army Green! In broad daylight it had felt like walking into a cave.
I painted over the army green ceilings a nice white, it took many many coats of paint. I painted the army green walls nice quiet happy colors walls, again it took many many coats of paint. I bought many GALLON containers of paint remover and went to work on the window panes, sinks, tub and toilet. I scraped the army green paint off the door knobs and faucets. I bought cheap linoleum to cover the army green on the floors.
The bathroom had a sink, toilet, claw foot tub and a water tank, all were army green. Let me tell you, you don't feel very clean climbing out of an army green tub.
Did you notice that I mentioned a water tank not a water heater? That is because the water supply ran through the cook stove, which was WOOD fueled, and then filled the water tank which supplied the hot water to the sinks and tub. This meant that about an hour before using any hot water I had to stoke and light the cook stove to heat the water. The cook stove was also the only heat for the house in the winter and heaven help you in the summer. Hot water was unheard of from May to September.
There were 3 plug ins in the entire house. One in the kitchen, one in the living room and one in the from bedroom, all of them on a single 15 amp fuse. There was a second 15 amp circuit for the lights in the house, yard and out building.
Once is it was cleaned and rejuvenated it was a nice little house, both my children were born while I was living there so it has many fond memories. But those stories are for another time.
