Random thoughts

Today was mostly about clean up and paint.  No photos to show, sorry!  Thankfully I have some excellent friends who are helping me.  What a godsend!  I didn't intend for quite such a large scope of work so it's been a great help to have help.

As I've worked through the house, I've found evidence of previous remodels.  It got me to pondering about preservation, old houses, and what exactly the cut off date is for the age of a remodel or update before it's too "new".  I mean, if you were to have an early 1800's era home, it's doubtful most folks would preserve the "facilities" of the day, or the heating system...probably not the plumbing or "lighting" as it were either.  When do the modifications to "modernize" that home make them too modern?  Should preserved homes feature the cook stove of that era to be "correct"?  When is a concession to advancing technology and changes in how we live a travesty of epic old home loving proportions and when is it simply modifying the place we live in to accomidate who we are now?

Reconfiguring the built ins kind of started my thoughts on this, but it was mostly the windows that did it.  I spent the better part of two days in December painting outside, some of it because I didn't want them to wrap the trim on the windows and lose the detail.  In the back of my head I was hearing an old timer telling me that some updates were so we didn't have to work so hard-like central forced air vs fireplaces.  Maybe too, because I was pondering the decision to replace the old worn and leaky original windows.  Of course as I was staring at the plexiglass replacement in one window along with the disjointed frames and missing glazing, the decision wasn't too questionable lol.  (Originally my first thought was to repair them, until I came back to look over the place after my offer was accepted and I really looked at what I bought)  I could almost see the neighbor shaking her head at me-her house has aluminum siding and wrapped windows.  She grew up there, living there a likely 70-80 years.  But she sided the house and replaced the original windows because to her, it was a place to live and grow, not a museum or time capsule.  I am taking great effort to save what I can, but is it enough?  Or does it really matter if every piece of the house is exactly original, or is it more important that it is a warm, safe, comfortable home where people will live their lives and make memories?

I probably spent entirely too much time by myself painting this weekend because it let my brain wander too much.  One thing is for sure, I am glad for the advances in woodstove technology over open fireplaces for heat!  Speaking of which, now that the fire is all settled in, in the woodstove here at The Cottage, I am going to go to bed.