Flashback Friday - The Mail Order House

About a year before Scott and I got married, Scott started looking for a house to buy. We spent a couple of months wandering around Crawfordsville, Indiana looking for the right little fixer upper.

One afternoon Scott said he wanted to drive by a place that his realtor said had been put on the market that day. He told me that he heard it was in need of a lot of TLC and not to expect much when I saw it. 

We pulled in the driveway and before we got out of the car I told him, "Make an offer!" I knew this was to be our first home!



3550 Old State Road 55 N, Crawfordsville, IN - before renovations

Although it need a lot of work  - A LOT -  it had a great combination of land and location. It sat on a full acre and was about 7 miles outside of town. It was surrounded on three sides by corn and/or bean fields. It had fruit trees - several apples, a cherry and a peach tree - strawberries in the back yard and blackberry thickets. 

Side view in all its glory. 
Nasty old heating oil drum for decoration



Apple tree in the side yard.

This little gambrel roofed cutie appealed to me right away. We learned that it was a real live Sears and Roebuck mail order house and had been built in the 1930's.  It had three bedrooms and one small full bath up stairs, all the original windows, wood trim and baseboards and beautiful 5 panel doors. 

As an added bonus, my hair would blow in the wind while sitting on the couch when all the doors and windows were closed.  Apparently we had a few gaps in the siding and insulation.

A little old milk shed sat to the side of the house and added just the right amount of country charm to the whole place.

 The milk shed

In the three years we lived there, we (well, ok, Scott and some skilled professionals) completely upgraded the electrical, added air conditioning,  completely renovated the bathroom and kitchen, added a powder room downstairs, resided the entire house, replaced all 26 windows, redid ceilings, walls, flooring, paint...and so very much more.  We basically lived in dry wall dust for about 2 years.

Siding and windows done - almost finished!

We LOVED the side porch and once it was renovated we spent a whole lot of time sitting out there, enjoying the peace and quite of rural living.

Scott rebuilt the wood structure of this porch all by himself and has the scars on his hands to prove it!

As we were in a small community, people seemed to keep tabs on the work we were doing on the house.  When we made big changes people would slow down as they drove by so they could get a better look at the improvements.  We even had people stop and tell us how pleased they were to see the little place all fixed up.

Inside foyer with the view of the original staircase

The living area showing the window casings and the original 15 glass pane front door. 
I have no clue why my eyes are closed.
And don't mock the decor. 
This was the period in our lives when our
style was known as "early relative."

We really get a kick out of telling people that we bought our first house on an acre of land for $42K.

We also enjoy telling them that we sold it three years later for just shy of $100K!