For a little more than 100 years, this house has stood on the Schultz Family Farm.
We are currently building it's replacement. Or, rather, having it built. Dairy farmers don't have time to build their own houses. ;)
I know that there are people who are cringing/crying at the thought of the old Schultz house being removed, but let me plead my case. I can appreciate old things/"antiques" as much as most and I know there are people who turn old houses into beautiful updated, more modern homes, but I don't think that Mitch and I are those people. As I think about all of the updates that could be (should be) done to this home if we wanted to keep it around, it's more overwhelming than building a new one!
My husband is a 4th generation dairy farmer and Lord willing, one of our children will fall into the role of 5th generation farmer on the Schultz Family Farm. This house has already faithfully served us and our Schultz ancestors for 100 years and I would say, it doesn't owe us a thing.
I have lived in this house for nearly 8 1/2 years, and I can honestly say that I have been content living here. ...Up until about a year ago when we starting talking about replacing it. There are many things about this house that are not conventional, but we've made them work. Since we've been planning out our new home, though, every less desirable quality about this house has become more and more glaringly obvious to me.
Before you judge me too harshly for removing a Schultz monument, let me explain my grievances with this house. ;)
1. The Bathroom.
The original bathroom looked something like this:
So, when a bathroom was added to the inside of the house, it was fit into whatever space could be found... below the stairwell. There is no window in the bathroom and it has a bit of a cave-like feel.
2. The Tub. (Or lack there of)
It is partly our own fault that there is no tub in our house... There was one, but we took it out almost 5 years ago. We were trying to give the bathroom a face-lift and removing the old tub that was in there was a major part of the renovation. The tub had a textured surface that was next to impossible to clean and it always looked/felt dingy. The tub was shorter than standard and since neither Mitch nor I were big on soaking in the tub, we opted to replace it with a modern shower. This worked out great for the short period of time after that in which we had no children. When Jett came along, we realized WHY people have tubs in their homes. We have embraced our "ghetto bath", but I certainly won't miss it!
3. The Back Entrance.
This is a "feature" of our house that I might be known to occasionally describe with the strong word, "hate." I guess the biggest problem with the back entrance is that it's too small. We live on a farm and we need space to store coveralls, rubber boots, work gloves, etc. It is all crammed in that small space along with an ever-growing heap of garbage because we have no attached garage or good place/system to store our trash until we can remove it properly.
The location of the back entrance is also an issue. It is directly off of my kitchen. Did I mention that the bathroom is also located directly off of the kitchen? We live on a farm. Several times a day, dirt, straw, and what we affectionately refer to as "not mud" (poop), is tracked right through my kitchen. I can't really get after my husband/children for it though, because where else are they to go? Most times they are on their way to get cleaned up.
4. The Basement. AKA. The Dungeon
The biggest downside to having a dungeon cellar, is that it's not livable space. Rather than being able to put toys and a play area in the basement, the kids' toys fill our living room/dining/kitchen space. It's kinda like a constant obstacle course, which may sound fun, but the novelty has worn off.
Have I mentioned that our dungeon is also full of spiders?
5. The Tenants.
You didn't know we have tenants, did you? Well, we have evicted several mice and birds over the last number of years and a multitude of flies are our faithful companions. I know we're not infested with mice, because we have traps that are strategically placed at all times, but our house is definitely not air tight! Somehow those little critters find their way inside and I'm sure it's not always through a door!
The birds have a secret entrance in the basement that we have yet to find. As long as the door between our kitchen and back entrance is closed, we can usually chase the birds outside before they invade our living space. Jett was my brave little bird extractor a few weeks ago. He went out the front door and around the house to the back entrance and then went inside and chased the bird out! My hero ;)
The flies. We live on a farm and I know that there will always be flies, but it's the quantity and where they come from that is so frustrating. My in-laws also live on the farm and they don't have a fraction of the flies we have. I really think it's because the flies only really get in through the doorway. In our house, I think they get in every nook and cranny they can find. Especially at this time of year, it feels like a losing battle as we incessantly swat flies.
6. The Upstairs.
I'm sure someone reading this is thinking, "Didn't they just renovate the upstairs?"The answer is, yes. We did renovate half of the upstairs area just before Kalena was born in an attempt to make the space more functional. You can read about that venture HERE, if you are interested.
I really like what we did with the upstairs. I like the way it looks/feels, BUT the biggest issue is the closeness of the quarters. We have a white noise maker as well as humidifiers and fans to add extra white noise in each room. We've got a good system going with Jett and he's a good sleeper, but Kalena, she is a very LOUD sleeper. When she stays in her crib though the night, she wakes me up in the next room a few times during the course of the night and I have a very difficult time falling back to sleep. SO, my sweet little Lena gets banished to the living room every night. She begins the night in her crib, then when Mitch and I go to bed, we transfer her downstairs into the playpen in the living room. We all sleep better as a result, but obviously this is not an ideal arrangement ;)
7. The Stairs.
As you can tell from the above pictures, our house is a two story. The stairs never used to be a problem, but now with 2 toddlers and one on the way, I swear they've gotten higher and steeper. Stairs were made much steeper 100 years ago. Chasing after the kids, doing laundry, putting kids down for naps etc. I think I must climb at least 20 stories a day!
8. The Temperature.
Our house doesn't do well with extreme outside temperatures, which in Saskatchewan, we deal with for much of the year ;) There is no A/C in the house, which I realize is the case in many people's homes, but this house gets VERY hot in the summer. We do everything we can: turn the furnace fan on, close the blinds appropriately, use fans, and we have a ceiling fan above our bed. BUT for this pregnant chica, these hot temps are a challenge.
In the winter, we deal with an opposite scenario. I imagine that the sawdust insulation in our walls is sitting at about knee height, which creates great air exchange ;) but doesn't hold the heat in well. Also, there are very few heating vents throughout the house. Upstairs there are only 2 and they are both in the hallway/landing area. Last year, we put in space heaters, which did help the situation, but is still not ideal. Our kitchen floor also gets very cold in the winter.
9. The Electrical.
I'm not sure how much electricity was used 100 years ago, but in our house their are very few outlets to plug into. Several of the outlets we do have only support 2 pronged plugs, which is inconvenient for the several items that have 3 pronged plugs! As a result, we have more than one location in the house that looks something like this:
Okay, so they're not quite THIS bad, but you get the point! ;)
10. The Windows.
The final grievance I'll mention (which makes the list a solid 10 ;) is the windows. They are ALL dated, and very few of the windows actually open. Most of the windows are old double paned glass that never looks clean because their is so much dust settled between the panes. (I know I almost never clean my windows... But maybe I would if they would LOOK clean! ;)
AND that's it. I'll stop there. I know that no house is perfect and even new houses can have some of these issues, but as we plan out our new place, FUNCTIONAL is the goal we are reaching for. There will be a blog post coming soon to actually introduce the house we are building ;)
I really am thankful to have a roof over my head, and this house has been a blessing to us for the past 8 and a half years. This is the home Mitch and I began our marriage journey in and where we have brought home both of our beautiful children. God has been good to us.
...I'm also VERY excited to move into a NEW house!
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