Some call this 'Eclectic"...

....what were they thinking?

I thought the choice to fill in the window to the right of the door and add a doggie door under it was a fine choice in taste. I also like the idea of building against your neighbors structures to aid in windload calculations.  Well done

Some houses up here stil have those old 'milk' doors...

My favorite? Try the windows on the second floor..right hand side..they even come with their own awning!

After carefully examining the exterior of this structure, I'm not entirely sure we can be certain that the house actually has floors.

I'm with Twig on this one,  can't see a second floor either

Karyn


I'm with Twig on this one,  can't see a second floor either

You're gonna need a better imagination than that if you expect to apply for the Am bass note position in The CHB.

bapu

Karyn


I'm with Twig on this one,  can't see a second floor either

You're gonna need a better imagination than that if you expect to apply for the Am bass note position in The CHB.

I thought I was admitting I couldn't see any notes other than Am on my bass (either the 4 string or 5 string). You're gonna need a better imagination than that if you expect to read bollox into my posts

Katie_Katie

trimph1





....what were they thinking?

The first thing that came to mind for me was familiarity.  I remember posting, in another thread in the CH, I came from a large family (8 children) and my father was a steelworker.   So, not a lot of money in the household.  Tons of love, not much money.

Although this house is worse than where I grew up, there are similarities. 
 
My dad was always trying to make things better for his kids, just like any other responsible dad.  He was handy enough with a hammer and would find wood at the dump (in those days, you could bring things back from the dump - like wood, furniture, even a bike).   He started to build an addition to the side of our house.  He got the foundation in and then concrete blocks up about 4 feet.  He had a stroke (and later passed).   Till the day I move out it stood there as he left it, unfinished. We had neither the money or the talent to finish it.   It was an eyesore.  Well, the entire house was a eyesore.   I drove by that house about 3 years ago and sometime in the past someone finished the addition - built upon my dad's foundation.  They also fixed it up with new doors, shutters, well, just about everything.  It did not look like my old house, but it was my old house.  
 
I guess the point I am making is that as nasty as my house was, it was filled with love.  And, more importantly, it was my home.   And, in some way, I sorely miss living there. 
 
I have done well with my life....with lots of luck and a little talent.  But I will never ever forget where I came from.  You may have read in another thread where I stated:  That as soon as a person thinks they are better than someone else then at that moment they are less then anyone else.  Now you know why I feel that way.  I was quite clear to me while growing up that it seemed as everyone thought they were better than me(us) because of where we lived (and clothes, bikes, cars, etc) ....some of them vocally.  My perspective is locked.
 
Trimph, this post is not here to admonish.   Just sharing some feelings.  So if I have offended, I'm sorry.  Truely not my intent.
 
It was just my gut reaction when I saw the photo.....this might be someone's home.

Katie,
what a testimony!  and what a great quote:  "as soon as a person thinks they are better than someone else then at that moment they are less then anyone else."
I know that I am guilty of that as well.  I have to reign myself in sometimes to remember my roots, which, from your testimony is not unlike mine.
 
the house I grew up in was very similar to that one except we only had one floor, 3 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom.  but when my parents started their journey in life the house didn't have the extra 2 bedrooms and my sister and I were in a room together until she was about 1.
 
my father was not handy, tho, he did not build the extra rooms, he had them built.  but the house deteriorated as the days passed and as I grew older.  He had quit his job to open a photography studio in our little "one horse town" and it failed miserably, so we went into bankruptcy.  we lost everything.  we had to move and we moved into a rental house that had holes in the ceilings from the leaky roof and the tub would not drain water, so when I took a shower it would fill up to my shins with dirty looking water. 
 
they were terrible housekeepers as well and the 2 inside dogs would...well...no sense in being too graphic I suppose.  Let's just say that if you've ever seen one of the "hoarders" shows then you might have seen something like what I grew up in.  I cannot watch that show because it is painful to me.
 
we were dirt poor.  only after I turned 16 did things start to get better for me when I got a job and a car. 
 
but our house was way worse than what this one looks like. especially the rental one, but even the first one by the time the bank foreclosed on it.
 
obviously I did not let those conditions tie me down.  my house stays pretty clean now in my family - I'm not a "germophobe" but I do expect a level of cleanliness that promotes good health AND I do AT LEAST 1/2 of the cleaning and nearly all of the cooking.  and I finished college on my own dime (and government loans that I'm still paying back!).  in fact I'm then only one in my family's history to have graduated college.  I have 1 cousin who graduated college, but that's all in the extended family as well.
 
anyway - sorry to derail your thread, barry.  this brings back very sad, humble memories for me, especially after reading Kate's fantastic story.  thank you Katie.  your quote has humbled me and made me look inside at my arrogance and I don't like the ugly face I see.

Well, if I've gone this far I might as well show you.
 
 
This is the house that built me.  It looks nice now compared to when I lived there. We did not have that big railed porch in the front, just some steps, or the addition on the right.
 
The center part, just the door and a window on each side, is the original house.  I guess it was only 30 feet by 20 feet.  It is where I grew up with my 2 brothers and 5 sisters.   But, because we were outside so much, I don't remember it being that crowded - except for the bathroom (only one). 
 
Attached to the right is the addition my dad started but never finished.  Someone finished it and I am sure it helps with the space. 
 
I actually did, just like the song, visit the inside of my old home years ago.  Again, that is why that song touches me so....right down to the line about where they bury her dog.  My dog, Tinker, is buried on a hill in the woods behind the house.
  
 

+1...

Our homestead from the road... this is the only one that I have on this computer..all the other ones I have yet to scan into this thing. It was taken last year by myself from a friends car as he was driving me back from hospital after I suffered a heart attack...

Thanks for sharing, Katherine.  Always amazes me, when I go back and see the houses I grew up in (to the extent I ever grew up), how small and poor they look without the people who shaped me inside of them.