Broadstone Tour: Part One Again

Broadstone Tour: Part One

As many of you know I live in a historic house.  My house was built in 1894 by the mayor of our small town, John Dixon.    My husband and I had always wanted an old house to fix up, so when I saw this house for sale at an estate sale back in 1997, we made the leap, and have never looked back.

I have actually borrowed this post from a series I did a couple of years ago.  There have been very few changes since I did this series of posts, so I thought I would repost them.  There are three more in the series, and they will be coming to you in the future.

As you can see we are starting with the entry way, and the find old decorative staircase that greets you in the entry way.

I am sharing my parlor and dining room with you today. One of my favorite stories about the house is that someone from Disney came by one day, while the previous owner was in residence, and asked to see the house. As she was showing him around he offered her $30,000 for the fireplace mantel and tile surround.

   Whoa,  I wish he would come back, I would definitely sell it, as an antique fireplace of this quality can be had for as little as $5,000.  But alas, I have to admit, I am glad she didn't sell it, it is one of my favorite features of the house.

Though, actually, this stick and ball spandral is my favorite detail in the house.  It was seeing this spandral when I came to the house for an estate sale 15 years ago, that made me first consider making the house my own.

When we bought the house, the older couple who had owned it for 30 some years, were just living in three rooms, and had the rest of the house sealed off to save on power bills.  The dining room was their sitting room and they had a wood burning stove in the middle of the room.  It was one of the first things to go when we took the house in hand.

This sweet portrait of a young woman from the fifties, gets a lot of attention. I love the painting, mostly because its a beauty, but partly because I bought it out of the back room of an antique store for $20.  It had been found on its side in an attic.  The roof had leaked and the paint had run causing her red lips to smear across the right side of the painting.  A little linseed oil to remove the streaks and voila'!!

Thanks for coming along on the first of four wanderings around Broadstone Manor. (Yep, I have named my houses ever since I first saw and read Ann of Green Gables.)