Look at these houses - Victorian

**homesteadmamma** · 04-03-2003, 06:25 PM

http://groups.msn.com/VictorianHomes/shoebox.msnw

Click the picture of each house - awesome!!

**Ellise** · 04-03-2003, 07:41 PM

I can't look! I've always wanted an old Victorian home. WAHHHHHHHHH! these are so beautiful

**Heather** · 04-03-2003, 07:46 PM

I love looking at Victorian houses!! You can get so many wonderful ideas, they are beautiful!!!

**captclearance** · 04-03-2003, 07:57 PM

I love those homes, thanks CJ !

**doodlebug** · 04-03-2003, 08:47 PM

Oh wow, Rons Victorian to restore brings back a lot of memories. We had a house very similar to that one and it was in even worse shape, we spent 8 years renovating that house, in some ways we loved it and in other ways we grew to hate it. We sold it in 2000 and I still miss the bays and all the windows and all that lovely woodwork, and boy do I miss my old stove and clawfoot bathtub

but I have to say I don't miss the drafty cold winters in it. I still love Victorians but don't know if I would ever want to renovate one again, wow that was a whole lot of work!

**homesteadmamma** · 04-03-2003, 09:23 PM

Dana, I can relate to "draughty". I don't think any Victorians were insulated!!!

They were too busy with all their fancy furniture and wallpaper, to think about insulation I think.

I love our Victorian home though, even without the insulation, although we now only have 2 rooms that aren't insulated. The work was well worth it.

**doodlebug** · 04-03-2003, 09:48 PM

Cj, we insulated the whole house and even installed storm windows and that house was still COLD in the winter, upstairs wasn't too bad but downstairs was very cold, I just couldn't get warm in that house even with the woodstove going. But I do miss it, it was a neat house. I'm so glad that you found a house that you love, those old houses are so neat and the new houses they build today just don't have that "homey" or warm fuzzy feeling (if you know what I mean). Keep looking for that clawfoot tub, they are wonderful!!! And I'm looking for one for our newer house, I sure hated leaving the other one when we sold the house but we couldn't very well rip out the tub and leave pipes hanging out of the wall, lol

**homesteadmamma** · 04-03-2003, 09:57 PM

Dana, boy if I had room in our teeny tiny bathroom, there would already be a clawfoot bathtub!!! I love those.

We put $5000.00 worth of new windows and doors in, made the walls into 6 inch walls and then insulated. It made a huge difference. We just have our m/bedroom and the living room to do. That gets done this spring or early summer.

Did you heat only with wood? We have natural gas and we've cut our gas bill down almost $150.00 per month this winter from last winter and this winter was colder and gas prices were higher, so its certainly paid to insulate and change the windows and doors.

Funny, none of the doors are straight in this house. It was quite a job for the contractors to get our new doors straight!!!

**mrscornbread** · 04-03-2003, 10:06 PM

I want to get me a gingerbread house when I grow up!

**doodlebug** · 04-03-2003, 10:07 PM

CJ, we installed a propane furnace but it used tons of gas and we still weren't warm so we heated for about 7 years exclusively with the woodstove, it kept part of the house fairly warm but the other part was always cold, I suppose if we had been able to install another woodstove in the living room it would have been a lot better but it would have meant totally rebuilding one of the chimneys that had fallen apart. I know what you mean about the $, we figured we spent at least $20,000 on our house and we did all the work ourselves, we even installed the furnace, the only thing we didn't do was blow in the insulation, we had a company do that. Lol, our doors weren't straight either and we had one window in the parlor that wouldn't even open it was so out of kilter. I guess after 100 years I'd be off kilter too

If you can find space for a clawfoot tub you just have to have one, I've never enjoyed bubble baths as much as I enjoyed them in that tub!

**doodlebug** · 04-03-2003, 10:10 PM

Lol, Robin, we had lots of gingerbread on our house and I got to know it quite intimately while scaping off all the old paint, it's beautiful, but after a while you get really tired of scraping little nooks and crannys and little diamonds

**BelindaUK** · 04-04-2003, 11:56 AM

A number of our friends/family are living in and renovating Victorian or Edwardian homes - lovely, but lots of work. So much character though! I've always lived in older homes and they just feel comfortable to me. Our own house is 1930s with many original features - I'd love Victorian but round here (commuting distance of London) they cost a small fortune.

Belinda