Gorgeous! Just gorgeous. And Stacy you look so cute!

Stacy I noticed in the pics with you in them, you have a very friendly orb next to you. Even in the pic with you all at the table.

Stacy, your place is gorgeous. It has so much character!

I love the pattern of the planks on the floor. They just don't do stuff like that anymore. Great house!

Shaun, You're Right! (I see it too.) Stacy, do you have any evidence of ghosts?

Stacy, you got it all with your beautiful Victorian, from the floors, great fireplace, pocket doors, your glass oval door and wrap-around porch. We owned a 100 year old Italinate Victorian house back in 1987, and loved that place even though it was...high maintenance. There was a ghost cat in residence, which I didn't really know about (for sure) until we went back years later. While we lived there, my very young golden retriever puppy had an absolute hatred of cats which I never understood. We didn't have a fenced yard, so I went everywhere with her, and she hadn't had any exposure to cats that I was aware of. Anyway, we learned a lot about the spirit inhabitants of our old house years later.

I love to see the types of people who mesh so well with the spirit of their historic homes. Thanks for sharing it, Stacy. Your pictures were a real treat.

and I hadn't included this one with my eyes closed...

Claire that is a funny story about the ghost cat! We don't have any real evidence...I've just always had the feeling that those who REALLY own this house (if there really ARE other inhabitants) are pretty happy that we've been trying hard to maintain it and keep it true rather than make huge changes to it...:-) We've embraced it's "oldness" and character. Even Will loves it and I find that so strange - as a kid I don't think I would have appreciated an old house...

See there? They're all around you. They probably love you!

Yes they are, and I'll bet Shaun's right; they probably do love you Stacy!

I always felt our spirits were very benevolent to us, for exactly the same reasons. I found out much later that we had a female occupant, which finally made sense of some things that occurred. I would often hear dishes rattling in the kitchen after I thought my husband had left. The next owner heard them too, and her visitors had an actual ''ghost'' lady visit them. It was two sick little boys, and the mysterious lady looked in on them to see how they were doing. They wondered later where she went! Our pup would go to the corner of the dining room and stare at (seemingly) nothing, and GROWL. Her hair actually stood on end. It was interesting when we sold our house, we left the area and moved 2000 miles away. We kept a lawn service and the electricity on, and there were no less than FIVE offers on our house that never came to completion. Not until the last one, which finally happened after we threw our hands in the air from frustration and canceled all the utilities. It was then I'm convinced they knew we weren't coming back. It was the owner after us who asked if we'd had anything happen, or any experiences in our house. Suddenly Much Became Clear...

Wow...I love stories of spirits! Look at all those orbs in that last picture!

Stacey, your house is stunning! We looked for so long for a house with character, but could not find one, and finally decided to build our current home. Tough to find in the boonies north of the Twin Cities!

Claire, your stories raised the hair on the back of my neck, too! LOL

Linda

Stacy, I love your home! And I adore the spirit stories. I have always felt things and had thoughts in that direction :) Quite a few years ago I was visiting in a beautiful old home in Nyack, NY with a lovely view of the Hudson River. I learned later (only wished I had known at the time) that it was a 'documented haunted house by the Reader's Digest magazine' - apparently there was a lady who came down the stairs occasionally and appeared to the children in the family (and that is right where I had been sitting and facing the staircase waiting for our host). I just wish that I had known at the time to ask the family for some details, but I only read about it in the magazine later. We purchased a camper from these people and I used to think maybe our camper was spirited as well, LOL, nope!

Oh Stacy, thanks for posting the pics. Your house is so pretty. I just love all the original features. It's amazing that the wood hasn't been painted since so often an owner will think it's too dark instaed of appreciating the beauty of the wood. I love your porch. Do you have parties out there?

When I lived in the city we had an apartment in a big old Vicki house. It had lovely floors and molding. Our bedroom had been the dining room and our bed was in a bay window.

I always thought I would have a house like that but ended up in a cookie cutter house in a very desirable neighborhood. Bought it more for the good schools and neighborhood kids than for the house itself.

Looks like good times happen in your house. Your friends are nuts, in case you haven't noticed. ; )

thanks for all the kind comments about our home...I always feel weird saying thanks because someone a long time ago took an awful lot of time and thought and care and love to build it and it wasn't me! The landing window has little wooden handmade heart shaped holders for the curtain rod...I love those.

Yes, Pam, we have parties out there! And we have parties in the basement, and parties on the side where the quoits court is, and parties on the new back deck, and pool parties...with all those nutty friends and sometimes my even nuttier family - LOL.

And I have a few favorite things to do on the front porch...sit by candlelight on a hot summer night...or during a warm summer night's rainfall, or probably the best is to go out and sit during a hellacious thunderstorm...

My Great Aunt Mae got to see our house before she passed away and she had her daughter tape this song from a Disney album to send to us...she loved the old house and especially the front porch...:-) It was even more special because when my dad was alive his favorite singer was Burl Ives. :-)

Stacy

Here is a link that might be useful: On the front porch...

Stacy, I have a screened porch and I love to sit out there and do all the things you mention. I have even fallen asleep out there and woken up in the middle of the night.

When I was a kid we would sit on the big front porch of my Great Aunt Florence in the small town where she lived and just watch the world go by. That was major entertainment in that town -- watching each other.

That is a a sweet song. What was Hayley Mills moping about? I will have to rent that movie sometime. I loved her when I was a kid.

I grew up in an old house. Not victorian style (ours was Georgian) but from that era. High ceilings, big windows, fantastic molding and a great staircase. But my favorite was the front porch. We used to live out there in the summer and I spent many, many hours out there as a kid. No air conditioning so often would go out there at night and wait until the inside of the house cooled off enough to go to bed. We had fans and it really wasn't that bad in MI most of the time. But that's why my folks had so much trouble selling it when they went to downsize. What, no air conditioning!! We kept saying that we hadn't missed it that much but for most folks it was inconceivable. I have window units in my current 1929 house and I use them for maybe five weeks tops. Can't beat an old house for parties though--the formal dining rooms, the big parlors and kitchens . . . my folks had some grand ones, and I would sneak downstairs and hide behind the folding door that blocked the stairwell so I could spy on the grownups. The landing with the spindles around it was my fort.

Looks like y'all had a great party Stacy. I've always LOVED your house!! Thanks for sharing some more pics with us. The woodwork and floors are just beautiful. The first house I bought was built in 1925 and had beautful floor boards and crown mouldings. Thankfully no one ever painted any of the woodwork including doors and window trim. I bought it from the original owners too....always thought that was cool.

David

oh yeah! I love hearing all these neat stories!

Sometimes I wish I could have some huge closets, and that my downstairs "1/2" bath wasn't made out of a closet...but then I remember our house in Houston that was all new - with all those great things and all I wanted was a house with character - LOL.