We picked this house up during a transitional point of our lives. We were between direction and this house needed lots of work. We figured it would keep us busy until we figured out the next step.
When we first went and looked at it, there were many wow moments. It was all a little scary really. This house was old. I don't think the oldest we've lived in - there was a house that was older and was almost as crazy. Maybe a future post.
This house was built in the early part of 1900 and had actually been moved to this location many years later (the details of time are hazy - sorry). The original plans of the house existed and fell into our possession though and the design options included "Insulation - if you should choose". Living in southern MB, I can't imagine someone choosing not, but whatever. The insulation we actually had was sawdust.
As I had mentioned, the neighbours (who actually were the original owners of this house) had a dog. A massive border collie (I'm not sure if there are different breeds, but this boy was huge). He was also trouble. Toby liked to hang out in our yard, he was friendly so I'd be leaving for work and he'd be jumping all over me. He found that our garage door didn't click shut properly and we'd wake up to junk pulled out all over the yard. Trouble!
This house needed mega renos. We were pulling out carpet, flooring (full of asbestos I'm sure - oops) paneling etc etc and dumping it out on the deck. Toby would take to following his owners up their drive (their house was at the back of the lot) and hanging out on our deck (where he could watch the road). That pile of rubbish was pretty comfy.
At one point I looked out the window and saw Toby eating from a bag of dog food. My first reaction was annoyance at my hubby "You're feeding the stupid dog now?". Nope! Apparently Toby brought a snack. Border Collie's are pretty smart.
We complained to the owner who said "Shoot him with a 22 - that'll sting and he won't wanna come by". Umm, not going to shoot the dog thank you. Even if he is a pain in the butt. I did get a boat fog horn though, just the little canister type, and I did chase him out of the yard with that a couple times.
The neighbours themselves were a piece of work. Apparently when they had the house moved to this spot, it actually sat on it's side for a week as the truck moving it broke an axle. The truck owner told our neighbour he'd better pay to have it fixed if he wanted his house put proper! Our neighbour complied.
The neighbour liked to pop by for coffee occasionally. After we had just done all this amazing work and the house looked wonderful, he comes by, shrugs his shoulders & says "Well, we did it up how we like, you do it up how you like".
Well, to each their own. We bought that rickety old farmhouse with mice for hardly more than a song (that price would be unreal to consider in today's market - especially with 10 acres attached). We turned around and sold it for about double that.
And moved into the Malibu Barbie house.
Malibu Barbie House? The neighbours behind us tell us all about our house too, the screwed up wiring, the gardeners, and the messy people who previously owned the house. I sometimes wonder how we would be classified??
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