This Old House

I absolutely love old houses. And by old, I mean houses that are at least 50 yrs old or older. These older homes were built to last. They were built by people who were craftsmen. Built by carpenters who took pride in constructing beautiful and ornate woodworking. They were built by men whose livelihood's depended on building a solid construction so that someone else may hire them to build a house for them. They were built by men who planned to live in them with their family for the rest of their lives and usually intended to pass the house on to their children. They were built to be unique and not like every other house surrounding them. They were built with love and care. They were built to last.

Nowadays, homes are usually built just for profit. They are built by men who are hired by investors. They are built as quickly as possible and with the cheapest materials available. There isn't time or money invested to construct them with ornate woodwork by quality craftsmen. They are built using generic blueprints that every other house in the neighborhood is built with. They are built for profit. They are not built with love and care. And they are not built to last.

I long to live in an old house. One day, when we're ready to buy a house, it will be an old one. I grew up in a small town in Illinois that was filled, neighborhood after neighborhood, with beautiful victorians and classic colonials. I always appreciated the architecture, but it wasn't until I moved to Arizona that my love for those old homes really blossomed. Here I am surrounded, neighborhood after neighborhood, with shoddily built cookie cutter houses. They all look the same. They're all built by the same handful of corporate builders. There is nothing special about any of them. It's drab and I hate it.

I like to daydream about the house I will eventually buy. Sometimes, I'll sift through homes for sale on zillow and imagine I'm searching for my dream home. It may be a bit of a waste of time since I'm not ready to actually buy a home yet, but for me, it's a little escape from the mundane. It brings me a little bit of joy and hope that one day I will live in a home that was built by a craftsmen who took time to make every little detail beautiful and impressive. Until I'm ready to actually buy, I thought I'd share with you some of the homes that I find. Maybe I'll help you find your dream home. Or maybe you'll just enjoy being a lookilou and daydreamer like me and find inspiration and joy in viewing the architecture that our grandpa's took pride in. Whatever the case may be, this is a series that I'd like to call, This Old House.

Click the links below to see more of the homes.

Queen Anne Victorian- Galesburg, Illinois

Sterling, Illinois