This Old House - Sterling, IL

Even though I live in the desert and am happy that I don't have to drive on ice in the winter, I still long to move somewhere that has all four seasons. Illinois is my first pick since that is where I grew up and where most of my family still lives.
There are some gorgeous homes in Illinois. There you don't often find cookie cutter neighborhoods where every house looks exactly the same like you do here. And there are some very old homes there as well. I've looked around the Phoenix area for old homes and have trouble finding anything made earlier than 1950 and even the 50's houses are few and far between.
Recently I came across a house in Illinois, that I would move to in a heart beat. Even if it has ghosts, I would move there today. It is almost 100 years old, having been built in 1920. It is a little bit more rural than I would like, but I feel like if I lived here, I would never want to leave anyway. If I did need to get my big city fix, Chicago is about 2 hours away, so...

I mean, look at this beauty! It's stunning!

This Old House- Queen Anne Victorian in Galesburg, IL

The first house in this series is one that I had the great fortune of actually viewing in person. It is a gorgeous Queen Anne Victorian from my hometown of Galesburg, Illinois. I drove past this house thousands of times growing up and always admired it's size and beauty. My Grandpa and my husband's Grandpa actually helped to restore it in the early 90s. My Grandpa is a skilled and lifelong carpenter, which might be why I have an affinity for quality woodworking.

When visiting my family in Galesburg this past summer, there was talk of moving back. In fact, a small family emergency and a job opportunity arose that made it almost inevitable that we would be moving back immediately. I quickly became obsessed with searching for available homes in the area and saw that this house was up for sale. This house that I had swooned over, time and time again, was up for grabs. It was too good to be true. And it truly was, because, well, we didn't move back. Things fell through, the timing was off and we didn't buy the house, otherwise I would be posting this as a house tour. However, the plan didn't fall through until after I was able to view the house. I set up a showing immediately.