We never knew you guys were so curious about our house’s original owners until we started receiving quite a few emails and comments asking if we’ve ever heard from them. Of course we were also curious as well. Did they know their old house is up on the internet for all to see? How much of the house had been changed over their decades of home-ownership that we don’t even know about? Do they think we’re crazy for painting their old brick and paneling? So many question, so little time! Well guess what? A few short weeks ago we heard from them! The original owners who lived here for almost forty five years contacted us after coming across our blog through a friend. Oh the tales they told. The most amazing thing is that almost two years ago we posted about a few quirky vintage items that we found under our old cabinets when we redid our kitchen:
Well, the bottom piece of paper is none other than a childhood drawing made by the woman who contacted us from back when she was five years old! Amazing. Of course now she’s grown and married so we’re super excited that she took the time to drop us a line to fill us in on our beloved home’s unbelievable history. Here’s her first letter:
Hey youngsters! That’s the house I grew up in! My mother lived there from the mid 50’s when it was built until 2000 and sold it to come and live with my family. I love the things you have done with it, it is so much brighter and younger! That old dining room next to the kitchen was my bedroom at one time. I hope you are very happy in your new home. -Lisa
We had a feeling the room that we inherited as a dining room was once a third bedroom so it was amazing to hear Lisa confirm our suspicions (it somehow made us even happier that we turned it back into a third bedroom when we remodeled the kitchen early last year). It was just so surreal to be talking to someone who grew up in our house in the 50s and 60s! We also heard there had been a tennis court out back at one time so that was just one of the things we asked in hopes of getting to the bottom of Casa Petersik’s roots. Here’s Lisa’s second letter in response to our barrage of questions:
My parents moved from 29th Street in Richmond City when they had me. I was their second child. I had a brother who was three years older than me. They bought your house when I was born in 1957 for $13,000 dollars. All of the ranchers in that neighborhood had a carport on the end of the house. My father enclosed the carport and did all of the brickwork himself to create the room that you now call the den.
And yes, my mother actually picked that ugly green toilet you inherited in the half bathroom!
My father believes he was one of the original DIY-ers. The basement/sunroom was his most massive DIY project. My father would take me and my brother down to Canal Street every morning one summer and there we would pick up a day laborer. My father and his helper would dig with shovels everyday and we would drop them off at Southside Plaza in the afternoon. I remember being frightened by the men who would crowd around to be the first to be picked to come home with us each day. They dug that entire basement with shovels. He did all of the block work himself as well as the sunroom above it. It originally had screens all around it (it was much later that they bought some closeout patio doors and enclosed it all).
I think my mother misses that sunroom the most. Here are photos of my parents, Floyd and Mary with my brother, Bruce and me, Lisa. These are all taken around 1960.
The Christmas photo above is taken in what is now your dining area. The window behind the tree looked out onto the screened porch which was later bricked in to form the den (so there is no longer a window there and you have hung your white shelves on that wall).
Here is a photo of me and my brother in front of the living room fireplace…
that you have lightened up with paint…
And we actually did have a clay tennis court in the back between the house and the woods! It didn’t last long though as my brother and I didn’t have a true passion for tennis. My mother turned that whole area into her “park” afterwards. The garage has always touched me in a sad way. My father had that built around 1980, he had always wanted a garage. About the time it was finished, he became ill with a disease that would eventually take his life. I always wished he could have retired and enjoyed that garage. I actually loved the den with the fireplace the most. Although I really like the way you have transformed it with paint, I have to say that it was so cozy and comfortable in the winter when the fireplace was burning and it was snowing outside. And on the subject of snow, if you ever get any your street is the absolute best sledding hill around.– Lisa
Isn’t that amazing? Hearing from Lisa about our home’s history was the highlight of our month. No, year. Somehow our house feels even more special now that we know even more about its past. Can you believe it had a backyard tennis court? And that Lisa’s own dad built our den, sunroom and basement with his bare hands and the help of a day laborer? Unbelievable! So a huuuuge virtual bear hug goes out to Lisa and her family for beginning to mold our home into the dream house that we purchased back in 2006. And we can’t even express how much we appreciate that Lisa reached out to us and took the time to share all the unbelievable details about our home’s past life. It appears that Casa Petersik has enjoyed quite a few DIY adventures- even before we moved in with our paint brushes and hammers in hand.
lauren says
wow. just wow.
pj says
I enjoyed reading this update! What a treat to hear from the previous owners. I’ve often wondered how they’d take your comments regarding the previous decor…..after all styles have changed over those years and what they had was current for the time. I know it’s heartwarming to know the house is now loved by a young family. I felt that way when my parents retired and sold my childhood home. It was purchased by a young couple just starting out and eager to update it for the next generation, too.
Karol says
what a really lovely story. i cried reading about the life that your home previously led. isn’t it amazing the history within a home and the way we all feel connected to our own space.
as always, love reading your blog.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks so much for sharing in our excitement guys. And of course I’m so glad to know I wasn’t the only one who cried!
xo,
s (& j)
patti says
so cool! what an awesome thing to be able to see photos of the original house.
we have a house built in 1939 and the niece of the original owners has stopped by a few times and given us some great stories about the house. we have a closet in our hallway that has all the heights of the kids written in pencil. one kid is documented from age 1 to 21 years! i love it!
donna says
Love hearing the history of your house. So cool!
We have a similar situation: An old ranch owned by a family. We’ve learned quite a bit about the previous owner and the history of the house. Very cool stuff.
bungalowbliss says
What fun! One reason I sooo love older hoomes is knowing that others have made the same walls part of their lives. I often wonder what family activities, celebrations, and national/world events were experienced by the former owners of my home. What a wonderful treat that you heard a first-hand account and now have pics and mementos of Lisa’s and her family’s experiences there.
Chrissy says
Funny I read this post today, I just watched the HGTV show “If Walls Could Talk.” Basically they do what this post is, they interview couples with older homes who have discovered historical facts about their places. Sometimes they even find weird things like gravestones in their backyards!
thursday says
Thrilling! I’m always interested in what old houses used to look like inside and out. We live in a flat in a house built in 1927 – I’m not sure if it was originally flats, or if it was remodeled. Our last house was a 1917 craftsman bungalow – and I would’ve LOVED to have seen what it used to look like 90 years ago (pretty sure the street wasn’t paved back then…).
Juggling Thoughts says
What a great thing! A house can truly be a home for many!
Annapolitan says
Wonderful story! You folks need to make a scrapbook with all these memories and mementos about your Young House. It could even be something to pass on to other owners later on.
Jacci says
That is soooooo wonderful!!! :) What a blessing to get to hear so much of your home’s personal history! Just a month ago, I met the owners that built this house back in 1983. The wife walked through the house with me and talked about what they had done, and what they had planned. She explained a few things that had us perplexed and just basically reminisced about when her children were young and the house was new. Neat experience, and it somehow gave the house more “soul” to hear all of that.
Lisa – I’m so glad you so generously shared with John & Sherry! Thank you so much!!!
XO,
Jacci
Jen says
How special to get all of that history on your house!!!
Ashley says
Wow! This is so amazing! More reasons to love your home!!! ;)
Karen says
Love your story of your house – how great to hear from old owners. The items you found while redoing your kitchen are fun – the only thing we found while redoing our old house were the dentures of the old owner in a glass jar filled with water high up on a shelf in the linen closet. Wonder if he was looking for them????
I have forwarded a link to your blog to our son and DIL who are a young couple redoing a 40’s rancher…they have gotten lots of great ideas from your blog the past few months. thanks!
Redlilocks says
Awwww what a lovely post… I got a bit choked up as well! Just goes to show how a house isn’t just bricks and mortar x
Jennifer says
I always love to hear stories about the house I live in. I know this sounds crazy, but I sometimes feel that rooms remember the past. I can sometimes feel when a place was happy or sad. I am glad to hear that your house has so many happy memories that took place there. Sounds like the family was very proud of their home.
michelle says
awww, i love this.
my favorite is the picture of lisa & her brother in front of the fireplace.
i would love to hear first-hand accounts from my home’s original owners.
Jennifer S. says
Touching.
Amy says
That is such a cool story!
We built our house 2 years ago, so we are the first to live here. I hope to live here for a looooong time… and if we ever move, we can secretly place photos of the house during construction around so the new owners can see it!
stylefyles says
This is SO cool.
btw…couldn’t cry because I’m at work, but had to exercise some serious restraint while reading this. Amazing!
Mrs.FiveCamels says
That is SO AWESOME! I love thinking about the previous owners of our house, their happy memories of our house, and whether they would appreciate all the work we’re putting into it. Thanks for sharing this!
Lynn Van Slyke says
So cool!! I love the old pictures of the first homeowners. Its fun to see how they used the house before you. I found out that first homeowners here in my new house were the “Conrads”. The orginal doorknocker bears their name. I am doing some research to find out who they are.
Thanks for the post. You guys, as always, ROCK!! :)
John Anderson says
I envy you guys, I certainly would like to know the history behind our current home.
Anyway, it’s so cool to know that the previous owners also invested some DIY love in it, just like what you are doing today.
libby says
How cool! I have to say, I am surprised by how much this touched me. I’m chokin’ up!
Cecelia says
It’s a precious thing to love a house.
Though houses are made of wood, of mortar, of sheet rock, they represents the best of what’s immaterial: warmth, family, love.
To know that a home you have loved has come into the hands of others who love it too is gift!
I’m so glad Lisa discovered your blog.
renee says
this just floated my boat
Grace says
This post made me cry! I’ve enjoyed reading your blog!! Random question – we’re in the market for a new camera…what kind do you guys use? You’re pictures are really clear.
Amy says
I love this post!
Averill says
Thanks for sharing your house’s story! What a wonderful treat to get the backstory on your lovely home from one of its former inhabitants.
Kathy K. says
it’s so magical…
no wonder you found your home on a weekend when you were just looking, it was calling for you
♥
Dusa says
Lisa – thank you so much for sharing your home’s history! My parents moved out of my childhood home a 15 years ago and I’ve had a burning desire to see what the current owners have done to the inside. I’m glad you have a chance to see how Sherry and John have updated and changed.
Sherry and John – what an privilege to have your home’s previous resident give you the ‘ordinary life’ details that make a house a home. I hope you continue to honor the memories even as you create new ones.
Dusa says
Oh, and was I the only one who giggled at the fact Lisa’s brother had his eyes closed (but a big ol’ smile) in both pictures?
Charlotte says
Wow, what a cool post.
Annie, bossy color says
That is AMAZING! How fantastic to have the history of your house – what a gift! It’s a bonus that the former owner is so supportive of your changes. Thanks for this fascinating post!
Viv says
I love that the previous owners were so positive about the changes you have made. You are so lucky to have this information and to know the love that went into your house.
Laura says
That brought a tear to my eye, especially the photo of the kids at the fireplace.
Taryn says
Omg- this is seriously one of the coolest things I have ever seen. What an honor. Maybe I am a total history nerd- but I am so jealous that you learned so much about the history of the house.
Tami says
We live in an old house. We were acquainted who had grown up in the house and she called asked if she and here siblings could come and look around. It was so much fun.
Their Dad took the old brick and stone home from a creamery that was being torn down and built the house. An original recycler!
Mary told us that her parent’s bed was right where we had ours and when she was born her mom looked out at the pear tree in bloom. Now when the tree blooms I think of Mary being born in our room.
Love the history!
Samantha says
That’s awesome that they found you! I know the original owners of my house, my grandparents :) They bought it for $8,000 in 1951. When my grandmother died my grandfather moved on and decided to sell the house. I quickly jumped on it, but along the way I’ve found that his DIY adventures weren’t the best (plumbing with duct tape, seriously?) And I secretly get upset everytime we have to update something, since the place had original windows, siding, the roof was replaced in the 70’s and the furnace in the 60’s! But there’s so much history in there, like the checkerboard painted on the floor in the attic-turned-bedroom. My uncle also slept in what is now our dining room attached to the kitchen.
Of course, growing up in the neighborhood (my dad lived across the street when I was a kid) I loved hearing all the stories of the neighbors, and looking at all the pictures of the young wives in a brand new neighborhood, and almost every one of them with a couple kids and a husband in the service. There’s also tons of pictures of their design choices over the years, which I love! My grandparents used old newspapers as insulation around the attic door, and apparently when my uncle helped lay REAL insulation on the attic floor, he lost one of his toy soldiers. I found it when we were installing our bedroom fan in the insulation! It was so much fun finding treasures.
Marjorie says
Learning about your home’s history is very cool. While we don’t know any previous home-owners, we do have a neighbor who knew a few of the families and we loved chatting with him about recollections (when we showed him a cranberry painted floorboard we’d ripped out he said, “That’s the color the entire exterior and barn used to be.” I was appalled…) Anyway, crazy request– do you have some pictures of your basement? Even if it’s unfinished, I’d be interested to see it because we’re currently digging out our own basement with shovels under the existing house and this is the first I’ve heard of anyone else that crazy.
YoungHouseLove says
Here’s a link to our scary unfinished basement:https://www.younghouselove.com/2009/07/in-the-hopper-for-young-house-love/
Hope it helps!
xo,
s
sandra says
wow. i dont know why but i got all teary eyed.
Molly says
What a TREASURE to hear – first hand – stories from the previous owners. AND to top it off, pictures!!! Wow! :) In honor of the dad, enjoy that garage!!! :)
Consultant Calamities says
very cool. Love stories like that! I’m glad that she contacted you and that she so nice about it.
We are on our 3rd house…we found out a LOT about our 1st house (built in the 1830s) from the adult children whose family lived in it for nearly SIXTY YEARS!!! I think their parents paid something like $3,600 for it in the late 1930s?? They were great people. the adult “children” were in their 60s! The mom lived there into her 90s, she was moved to a nursing home and did shortly after.
Oh, and we found out from the town that it was a “house of ill repute” for a while in the 1800s; and the town’s first MURDER was committed in part of the house! :-O The original, large house was broken into 3 smaller houses and moved. So we have no idea if the murder happened in “our” section. (I guess one of the “clients” was killed in the house; I have an old newspaper article about it and everything).
2nd house had a lot of history, too. neighbor down the street grew up in the house; it was in her father’s family for over 50 or 60 years also. whew! (house was originally built in about 1870s and was also moved to its current location).
However…!! the mom who used to live in the house came to visit us one day…looked around at all of our nice (in my opinion!) hard work; and then proceded to go around to everyone in our small town and tell them “they WRECKED that house!” mmmmkay…thanks a bunch!
We just laughed, because everyone else (including the daughter!) loved the changes we made. we painted, put in new windows, refinished the nice old wood floors, while trying to preserve the old architecture…we even decorated it with paint colors and some antiques that were true to the home’s orignal age! Whatever, it was our house to change!
Our current house was built in 1994 and we are aleady the 4th owners (!!!!). oh well. We’ve still renovated it a TON (who knew such a “new” house would need so much?) and I’m starting a blog soon about all our renovations here.
Husband and I are a lot like you guys; he’s very handy and I’m the decorator/paint-color-chooser! :-) But for the 3rd (and hopefully FINAL!) time! :-) (sorry this got long!) Love the blog!
Jen says
That is sweet! We purchased our house from the third owners, who had lived in in for 50 of its 56 years. Lot of memories made in a home – enjoy the history and making your own!
Ju Fidélis says
Oh My, that’s a great history! Now you can do the same, have children that will tell in the future good histories regarding this beautiful house!
It’s good to have a past to share.
Sorry for my english… this time I couldn’t just watch without tell something. Amazing!
Ange says
This is one of my absolute favourite posts! When I read the original post about what you found in the kitchen and the drawing that Lisa did, I was thinking how cool it would be if you could make contact with her. Wondering if she remembered making that drawing. It was so nice to hear her stories about what we know as ‘your house’. The pics that she shared were awesome and really gave the house it’s own persona. Seeing the fireplace in Lisa’s pic and then remembering your pics with it in, made it seem like an old friend; that shows you pictures of themselves with a different group of friends that you’ve never met but have heard all about!
Christina says
Wow, I’m new to your blog, but just LOVE this post. I honestly got all teary eyed while reading it. My husband and I also bought an old 50s ranch and are having a ball making it our own. While cleaning things out after moving in, we found some really old jars and vases in the attic. I took the jars to a friend who loves antiques and she made me promise to keep them and never sell them, as they are worth quite a bit of dough. It’s one of those, “If these walls could talk, what would they say?” kind of moments – like the drawing you found. Thanks for sharing this.
GreenInOC says
There were 2 things about my house that I HATED and could not figure out why the heck somebody would make these choices.
1. Black & White berber carpet. It felt terrible and of course it looked grey with black dirt flecks. ACK!
2. Black marble with white veins in WET areas (entryway, kitchen, bathroom and just for fun, although not wet, fireplace surround & out about 2.5 feet on the floor). Ever try unintentional ice skating naked after a shower? Oh, it’s so fun.
The cow patterned covering on the top of the kitchen bar thankfully peeled right off without any evidence of it ever being there!!
I bitched and moaned about those “upgrades” ad nauseam. One day my doorbell rang and it was the previous owners.
They were so excited to share with me that they had painstakingly chosen the carpet and marble! “Don’t you just LOVE it?!”, they asked with huge grins and light sparkling in their eyes. I pasted on my best wide-eyed smile and lied through my teeth!
I LOVE that the original owners of your house were not only DIY’ers but frugal as well (closeout patio doors)!
Ang says
Wow… That is amazing. My husband and I bought our first house, a 1950s split level, almost a year ago. The selling agent was the original owners’ granddaughter, so she was able to tell us a bit about the house’s history, but I would LOVE to hear more. Thank you for sharing this!
Coco says
What an amazing post. I must have missed it the first time around. I just love the sense of history of houses. My husband doesn’t understand it just yet, but I’m sure once we actually buy our first place, he’ll get it!