Our New Home

Here's our new house the first time we could actually get inside. It sits right behind a huge Russian Orthodox church, so we have the pleasure of hearing the brass bells ringing every day. Our block actually has four churches on it! Very old, some like European cathedrals. We can also see the old high school towering over the houses. I love that we have sidewalks so we can walk or bike!
As for the house. It's a big old home and someone thought it necessary to paint over all the wide oak trim with chocolate brown outdoor paint!! The did spare the pocket doors that close off the den from the livingroom. I imagine at one time it would have been the livingroom from the parlor. I can imagine a scratchy horsehair sofa (davenport) in that parlor. Used for entertaining the minister or other important guests!
Our house is one of the biggest on the block and even though I've tried to research it and find out who built it, I haven't had any success. The kitchen has the original wainscot under some awful '50's paneling! Untouched, original wood!
Our goal is to see if we can make this house more self sustaining and see how much edible landscaping we can do. As I write, the seedlings are growing big up in the front bedroom. Paden's been busy taking off the grass layer from the garden plot so it can be tilled. That between painting the porches and doors red and putting in some decorative bulbs.