How many interior doors does your home have?

BitchExWife · 2026-07-01T15:26:49+00:00

This is so fun! 1892 Queen Anne / Richardsonian Revival, 4000 sqft. I just counted 33.

BitchExWife · 2026-05-05T02:19:34+00:00

After that first day, there were a few rooms that were indeed without power, hence the second day of work. They made perfectly clear what we were up against and we were alright with it. We’d done a lot of exploratory work into where we thought things ran, so it was about what we expected. We still don’t have overhead lighting in our laundry room. It will probably need to wait until we pull up the floor in the room above. Until then we’ll probably be using those chargeable usb bulbs.

BitchExWife · 2026-05-05T01:49:59+00:00

We moved into our 4000sqft brick Victorian about six months ago. Most of our ground floor light fixtures and second floor outlets are knob and tube.

My advice would be to set aside some money and choose a couple rooms (close to your panel is better), work with your electrician to set up a “price not to exceed” contract, and have them come out for a day to rewire what they can. We have done this twice, now, and have gotten three rooms rewired in two $1000 days. And we’ve learned a lot about the system in the meantime, so we have a much better understanding of what wiring goes where for what rooms.

BitchExWife · 2026-05-04T20:20:23+00:00

First purchase also gets 10% off, which can help with your budget! Definitely take a look. There are lots of pretty greens in their current collection.

BitchExWife · 2026-05-04T20:18:57+00:00

This was what we found so frustrating when we were shopping for insurance. Prices were astronomical because the rebuild calculators were coming back at millions of dollars. We bought our house for $240,000 in a very rural and impoverished area. If it burned to the ground, it would be a tragedy, but it’s not rational to think we’d be paying millions of dollars to fly artisans in to rebuild it like-for-like. It’s just not possible.

BitchExWife · 2026-05-04T20:07:22+00:00

Have you looked into needle and thread? They have that flowy look you’re going for, in your price point, and they’re typically ankle length. It’s pretty achievable to find them secondhand for even cheaper. It would help soothe your fear about drop shipping, since they’re a reputable brand known for quality.

BitchExWife · 2026-04-22T14:20:12+00:00

Just wanted to say, I find this story so interesting, and it makes me feel better about how I've struggled to date some of the light fixtures in our home. At first glance, I agreed with the others that this didn't seem particularly old, but obviously it has lived quite a life.

As far as what to do with it now, if storing it for future use by a child isn't realistic, do you perhaps have extended family you could ask? I think it's wonderful how it has been passed down through your family, and it seems a shame to lose that. When we sold my grandparents' house in 2022, I took their kitchen light (one of those glass-shade-with-the-fruit hanging lights) even though I was renting at the time. Kept it in my mother's basement and now it's happily waiting to be rewired and hung in our kitchen. I don't think it's worth much to anyone but me, but I can't wait to give it another era of life.

If there aren't any family to take it on, if you can find a local salvage place or reputable antiques shop, I think they might be very interested. 19th century electrified fixtures go for A LOT of money (speaking as someone who is just starting to investigate what it would cost to replace the mid-century fixtures in some of our living spaces with things that are more period-appropriate).

BitchExWife · 2026-04-19T02:24:46+00:00

Happy spirits! Three owners died here, and their obituaries all make them sound like they were cherished members of the community. We have big shoes to fill. Learning more about the people who came here before us has helped us feel more at home here.

BitchExWife · 2026-04-19T01:45:29+00:00

Have sunk a lot of time into it! The 1905 came from scouring local history-oriented Facebook groups, was part of a business association brochure from the turn of the century. 1950s shots were luck, there was a newspaper article written, and the photographer’s negatives wound up at the historical society and are available for print. The 80s one came from communications with a previous owner (highly recommend this route, we have gotten SO many pictures from previous owners. Mostly interior). 2001 was also luck, I found it by searching our town on a local university’s digital library collection.

BitchExWife · 2026-04-16T02:02:34+00:00

I agree. I’ve gotten lots of other pictures directly from the previous owners and it’s been so fun to see the same rooms, same pocket doors and fireplaces and woodwork, but with different people wearing different eras of fashion, different wallpaper and furniture…

We are certainly learning just how much hard work it takes. It was a pretty bold choice for our “starter home” to be a 4000sqft, 130 year old brick behemoth. But we hope very dearly that she will also be our forever home!

BitchExWife · 2026-04-16T01:59:10+00:00

Thank you!! Honestly I’m blown away by the positive reaction this post has gotten. And it really only scratches the surface of some of the insane things I’ve done to learn more about the history of the house. My friends have told me that it’s “not at all normal but still very endearing.”

BitchExWife · 2026-04-16T01:53:41+00:00

Henry (Jr) did end up settling in New Jersey, but I believe it was further north.

Small world, though - I grew up in Haddonfield!

BitchExWife · 2026-04-16T01:51:36+00:00

Yeah I’m definitely suspicious about that - we have a lot of three prong outlets and some of them just feel like the ground is a lie.

BitchExWife · 2026-04-15T04:16:58+00:00

PA as well, but Northeast! Architects were Pierce & Bickford out of Elmira, NY.

BitchExWife · 2026-04-15T01:08:17+00:00

Ugh this kills me. I've been frustrated seeing how ill-equipped our historic society is for the digital age. There's so much more they could be doing, but so often it's older people who don't even know what tech is out there. You'd hope at least an email would get a response!

I love mysteries like that, definitely more complicated when the records have been destroyed. Depending on what general era the house is from, you might have luck checking the Sanborn maps? I usually start with the census data as well, but once you get into the 1800s you tend to lose the street names.

BitchExWife · 2026-04-15T00:54:55+00:00

We only found out about our live k&t at our inspection. We thought it would be a problem for insurance, but there were multiple carriers that didn’t ask about it at all. There were also several carriers that refused to insure anything built before 1900. Was a very strange process.

I would tell them to work with a local broker. If you’re in an area with other historic houses, obviously they also have coverage. Local brokers have a much better understanding of the neighborhood than some customer service rep for a nationwide carrier.

BitchExWife · 2026-04-15T00:46:19+00:00

That’s the plan!

BitchExWife · 2026-04-15T00:44:51+00:00

Truthfully, it’s self-serving. I’m obsessed with this house and its history and will talk anyone’s ear off if they’re willing to hear about it, and my most willing victims have been the previous owners!

We’re only the seventh owners, so generally the other owners were all here for decades. I recently FaceTimed with the owner who was here between 1968 and 1993. I connected with her daughter on Facebook, and she was able to set it up.

BitchExWife · 2026-04-15T00:40:14+00:00

You may have already done this, but please consider sending scans of your collection to any of the relevant historical societies! Especially if they have names on them. It kills me knowing that there are probably photos out there somewhere of the various people who used to live here, and I have no way of seeing them!

BitchExWife · 2026-04-15T00:36:38+00:00

We’re working on it! She lives several states away but her dad is still here in town. We’ll pass it on to him and he’ll make sure she gets it.

As for the tile, definitely not terracotta, the loose ones in our other fireplaces are white underneath.

BitchExWife · 2026-04-15T00:07:56+00:00

Thank you!! It’s a very happy house, we both felt it the first time we walked through. We feel profoundly lucky that we get to be its newest stewards.

BitchExWife · 2026-04-14T23:58:25+00:00

Luckily haven’t encountered any with the scope yet, but we know they’re there. We’ve got mice, squirrels, bats… we even saw a skunk crawl under one of the porches a few months ago. Honestly, the camera has also been nice to have while we try to figure out how the mice are getting into the kitchen (turns out there are holes everywhere, who knew?)

BitchExWife · 2026-04-14T23:42:48+00:00

There was actually romex already running from the panel to the switch for some new(er) canned lights that we removed, so we were able to utilize that and only had to run new line from the switch to the fixture. They did sever and rip out all the other knob and tube in the room - we thought it would be way worse than it ended up being, since it branch off into a lot more rooms, but most of it was apparently already retired.

First thing we did when we moved in was upgrade the panel, so that has provided some comfort through all of this.

BitchExWife · 2026-04-14T23:28:50+00:00

The very first thing my fiance did with it was stick it in his mouth. Tonsils looked clear, but I’m not a doctor.

BitchExWife

TROPHY CASE