Intro: 1860s Brick in Indiana

[Indianer (WavyGlass)]

Hi there

My name is Sam and I fell head over heels in love with {and bought} an 1860s brick farmhouse (Italianate-inspired) in Indiana. I have lurked around here a little bit, enough to know that I was (am?) headed in the direction of some big mistakes with my beautiful home. *cough, vinyl, cough*

This won't be a drive by - I've never owned an old home but have always loved them; I'm thrilled to have found this group and plan to stick around. Unfortunately we have to make decisions quickly regarding an addition (I know, probably frowned upon). I think I need some tough love to avoid mistakes that would destroy this old home. I have a lot to learn in a short period of time, so blunt is better. I like snark

Let me know if anyone might be interested in providing some opinions, and if so which part of the forum I should start my help thread in (Old House Discussions?). Thanks!

[Don M]

Your house looks very nice; it you have lots of pictures of the house as it stands post hem here. If you have specific questions on various things you can start a new discussion on the Discussions page. The web site notifies us of new posts in our email. As you have been lurking you probably already know how it works.

[Sara]

Hello and welcome! I really want to see more photos of your house - please post more interior photos please. And looking forward to hearing about your upcoming projects.

[CS in Low Hud]

Looks like a great place! Additions are not necessarily frowned upon here, but a great deal of thought has to go into designing one that works with an old place. Lots of us have em!

But an addition should match (or at least complement) the original house architecturally. So a place to start would be to look for photos of houses like yours that are massed in the way yours might be after the addition. That probably means houses that were built that way to start with. For example, note the rear wing of this one, also in Indiana and built at about the same time as your place: http://www.indianalandmarks.org/NewsPho ... NewsID=880. You'll note that the rear wing does not overwhelm the front part of the house, uses the same building materials, has the same window/door/porch/eve details, etc. It presents as a harmonious whole.

Two other bits of advice. An architect with historic preservation skills is a fantastic asset... and live with your existing house for a while before making any drastic changes. What you think you need from an addition will evolve as you live in your place.

Welcome! Oh.. and don't go vinyl!

Chris

[Indianer (WavyGlass)]

Thanks, Don. I'll start with a photo tour first then post specific questions on the other thread. I hope pic-heavy posts are okay.

Front


Side


Old smokehouse, currently used for storing wood for the 2 wood stoves.


Back


Side 2


Sits on the top of a hill overlooking the 1870 bank barn


Interior pics next...

[Don M]

Oh very nice; it appears the house is all brick & everything matches as suggested by CS in Low Hud. What is it that you would like to add on?

By the way we live in a 1830s stone farm house which also has a large Pennsylvania bank barn too!
Don

[Indianer (WavyGlass)]

First room off of side door


Kitchen, as purchased, recently redone with concrete countertops. Not necessarily my style, but it's warm like the rest of the house and feels like a nice fit.


Stairs at the actual front door


Upstairs landing with wood stove #2


I'll combine a few. The deck, dinner bell, double slipper tub, and in the basement the first tub that was installed in the home - I think I'll have it refinished for bathroom #2.


The money pit barn, will be 3-5 years before we restore

[robkamm]

wow. everything looks nice. we just reused our claw foot tub in our upstairs bath remodel. we love it.

[Indianer (WavyGlass)]

Thank you for being so welcoming!

I'll be back later tonight to talk about the addition - gotta go pick up my girls. So excited to have some input, I can't tell you how panicked I've been feeling, and not sure who to reach out to (I was considering the historic board here, but thought hmmmmmm not sure if I want that thumb on me)

[mattswabb]

Beautiful house. Welcome to the forum.