Imperfection
Mon, 9 Aug 2010
Hi everyone and welcome to a new week on Desire to Inspire. I've been thinking of imperfection over the weekend. I went to see a house and I'm trying my hardest now to buy it. We should know in a few of days after the banks and building inspectors and valuers and agents have prodded and poked, massaged figures and stared down sellers. The house was built in 1860 and got me wondering about imperfection and the beauty of gently aged things. If we are successful I don't want to gut renovate but to slowly add my own layers to the old house. To leave a crack or an unevenly plastered walls. To cherish the footsteps worn in the cedar stairs. To gently clean the wood burning stove and live with the warped floorboards. I don't have photos yet to show you but instead I wanted to share the tattered beauty of another home, this one English, one of the locations from Oak Management. Why do we so often race in and rip out ?
Reader Comments (23)
I am so loving the house I hope you buy! I was just telling my husband on the weekend of the house I wanted. AND THAT'S IT. Not many of those in Brisbane though.
Jo, I live in such a house as you have described! Built in 1925, my home is made of weatherboard with french doors to all four sides and the Canberra Cooker still keeping me warm in the kitchen. My house could do with a lot of work, however I love it just the way it is... They get dusty and they get cold but I wouldn't live in a modern sterile home if you paid me. ( Although my OCD does allow me to admire the modern sterile home! Hehe)
Good luck, Jo. I hope you get your tattered old home. My fingers and toes are crossed for you!
Music to my ears! :) I think it's very important to preserve the soul and the history of an old house. Good luck!
Oh Jo, sounds like heaven...and you know how I love the imperfect...this home needs you three, fingers and toes crossed.
So funny...just read Anita's comment!
I love this old home - reminds me of my grandparents house (though their home is no where near as old as this one!) Good luck with your purchase Jo!
Good luck with the house, Jo, I hope it all goes smoothly for you. I'm so glad to read that you don't intend to gut the house when it's yours. It breaks my heart seeing all the Queenslanders and workers cottages around here that have been stripped of everything that makes them beautiful.
your way of thinking is close to my heart. I also wonder about our need to plaster, re-tile, improve, remodel and re-style only later to add new furniture that are made look old. I love the inspirations as well. And good luck with the purchase. I hope you get the house.
I hope that you get it. It seems like it takes forever to get something that you want
imperfection???? more like haunted!!!!! or likely to be... goodluck!
Wow...that house is simply amazing. I would give my left arm (I am need my right!) to live in that house.
I am embarking on a similar mission... my boyfriend and I recently purchased a home built in 1840, and we are slowly beginning to work through the necessary and the aesthetic. The best advice we have been given is to GO SLOWLY... and I think that's the key. If you quickly gut, you may later realize that you wanted to keep that funky fixture or that some wallpaper has really grown on you with time. That being said, I am highly impatient and it can be hard advice to follow! i have started a blog about our progress... http://summerofhouse.blogspot.com/
(I rarely promote my blog, but I thought I'd make an exception since it is related to your discussion here... hope that's okay!) Good luck withthe bean counters and crossed fingers!
How wonderful! Can't wait to hear. I agree that we are all in a huge hurry to rip and replace. Perhaps it was the housing boom. Or maybe we feel pressure with all of the beautiful pictures we're bombarded with every day. xoxo
It is very lovely! You could never build a new home with so much beauty.
I love your aesthic considerations about the house you are considering. See what I have done for one little age spot of my beloved grand old 100 year-old home... http://sparky-youngbloodstudios.blogspot.com/2010/07/celebrating-imperfection.html
Reading this post, I am reminded of the movie Under The Tuscan Sun, wherein the main character Francis buys a 300-yr old home and while renovating it says, "Pick one room and make it yours. Go slowly through the house. Be polite, introduce yourself, so it can introduce itself to you." Good luck in getting the home and keep us posted! :)
Lovely as it is, I'm not sure I would want to actually live in this hose in its current state but it doesn't matter because I'd be happy to spend the rest of my days in the overgrown garden!
Sorry, that should be "house" not "hose." (Most embarrassing—I'm an editor!)
Yes the garden is dreamy.
Ooooh!! The bricks, the plank flooring, the slightly-off windows, the natural light, the grassy paths... so much character!!!! A chance to touch the walls and wonder if the ghosts of previous owners will touch back! Good luck!
The house is absolutely beautiful!!! I love how rustic it is. I hope you get it and that you document the changes you'll make.
This house is so awesome! If I ever had a dream home, it would be like this...to a T. The cobblestone flooring and the exposed wood beams and the garden areas are amazing. I know this post is old...so, I hope you bought it. It would have been worth EVERY PENNY! Great post, thanks for sharing with such great pictures too :D