Saturday, February 14, 2009

Old houses


Every year or so we come across the idea of buying a house. Every year it is the same. We jump to the computer and start browsing the best looking old houses. You can already say how impractically we approach this issue. We never learn. And it becomes more apparent if you realize that I grew up in an old house (in the pictures) and thus know all the disadvantages of such a living. Yes, very old houses are usually beautiful but they are also cold, they heat up badly, they are wet on the ground floor, they are dark, falling apart all the time and last but not least they are usually haunted. But anyone who visits is amazed what a unique place you live in and that I will never get tired of.

The uniqueness starts with the fact that my parents bought this house very cheap 40 years (what? I was going to write 20) ago. Something like 1000 dollars, it was like a year salary back then, so such a purchase was pretty good. No one wanted old houses, there was this strange spirit of instant renewal and getting rid of the old orders, guess where people got it from. Luckily, my dad had an architect to help him with it, at the time these houses were rather ruined than repaired. Still, I would have some objections but lets leave it.

The pictures show the oldest parts of my parents house, the entrance hall and a kind of spare kitchen that used to be black when we moved in with an ancient stove. That is gone now, my dad made the furniture, it cost him just few crowns and I like it more than any amazing catalog kitchen that are seen everywhere. Anyway, we don't use this kitchen very much. So these two rooms are dated back to 17th century. The vaults are rather rustic looking and the entrance hall used to be higher, they built a low cellar underneath the floor sometime in the 19th century. I wish I had some old pictures of the house from before we moved in.

I could go on and on about our house. How I didn't like it at the beginning how I started liking it how we were playing in the attic with my cousin and were exploring the nearby houses through their attics. What amazing stuff there was in the attic and how all lost it. Crazy.

I still call it our house, but I actually only visit here since I have been living with my family in Prague.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is this where you live, or is it your parents? You know, it looks a lot like the old house we are living in, except that ours is not as grand and definitely not haunted. It has vaults, it's cold, it's dark, it's falling apart, and when we buy a house it will be ... an old one, I'm sure, with all the charm and problems that come with it! (That is if we can afford it, because nowadays old houses are very much in demand, the more rustic the pricier)
PS don't get excited by link, it's brand new and shaky

Bohemian girl said...

I edited it little, I realized that it was unclear what house I am talking about. The link, yee! I am going to read everything as soon as my son crashes in bed, anche perche Italia e come il mio paese.

raining sheep said...

So wonderful. My grandmother had an old house in Kobily; I loved her old home and even though I was little I I still remember it. My parents lived in Brno in our apartment - the communist government took it away when they escaped even though they had fully paid for it. Now some strangers are living in our home. Very weird. Apparently they are actually entitled to fight to get it back.. but I think it is very hard.

Merruli said...

What a lovely place. Especially the arching of the ceiling is eye-catching and it is quite a treasure to have furniture made by your father. Now I can very well see why you are longing for an old house.
Even though to my eye the apartment where you are living now has such details that I would count it into old ones. Here we have quite few houses older than 150 years that even the house from 1930's are considered old. The wars have destroyed a lot of the oldest houses and because most of the rural houses were made out of wood so many of the old ones have just burnt down.

Ritva said...

looks so beautiful!
old houses have their personality.
the more you take care of them, the more they give you warmth.
this house, where i have my home, is from 1890. like a patient, modest old woman, who don´t talk too much, but is always there.

another thing,
something went wrong, sorry!
your comment disappeared from my blog :(
i still have it in my e-mail, so i hope you approve that i re-write it on your behalf, ok?

Ritva said...

hi,
can you contact me by mail?
ritva(at)palander(dot)fi
i would like to send you some photos :)

Anonymous said...

I love the vaulting!