Lucky and Jill I am glad you liked them. We love the area as much as the house. I am so glad we moved here 6 yrs ago. Auburn has gotten so bad and we couldn't take the tearing down of all the old homes and the rampant building of "luxury condos" and "%^*&^*" that is soringing up everywhere. This is a lovely change. c PS I think the "Big Swamp" is the Florida Gators". ???

oooo gonna have a peek...I love Victorian porches.

What a charmer! I absolutely LOVE the existing railing and balusters on the porch, they are so unusual that I really, really think you should do what you can to save them. IMO it would be kind of sad to see them replaced with more generic spindles and railings. Same goes for those lovely corbels/brackets, I think those are definitely worth saving; if you do take them down (send them to me!) I would copy the brackets up by the roof. Vintage Woodworks has some that look quite close. I think the bottom railing would be pretty easy to replicate inexpensively, and the bases of the porch posts would not be hard to patch in either if you're reasonably handy. Seriously look into the epoxy consolidants though, because it's very possible that you wouldn't even need to cut the bottoms off the posts and patch in new wood. (Get the "Old House Journal Guide to Restoration... I'm finding it loaded with useful information.) Are you running into code issues with the railing height? In many areas if you repair the existing material rather than replacing it entirely, you're grandfathered on the height - check with your building department to be certain, of course. The folks over on the Old House forum have spoken well of Citristrip, Soygel, and Peel Away as being effective, less toxic paint strippers to remove those thick layers of paint. It's a wee bit on the pricey side up-front but infrared paint removers like the Silent Paint Remover get positive comments as well, and are less likely to set fire to the wood than heat guns. (It's also supposed to be great for removing adhesives from hardwood floors, so if your POs put down vinyl flooring or glue-down carpet padding...) I expect we'll be giving them a shot next year... PO didn't bother to scrape the chippy paint or sand before he globbed paint all over the interior trim, arrrrrgh! Blue porch ceiling is up to you - if you want it, have it, it's only paint. It's sort of a regional thing, I think, more common further south, but why not? My house is about the same vintage as yours but mine has a stained beadboard ceiling, which is original. Your porch floor does look like it's in better shape than ours! :-) I understand completely about the siding too... PO here removed the clapboards, shingles, two-over-one windows and original trimwork on our New Englander and covered it with vinyl siding, aluminum trim (which is already scratched and dented and it's less than two years old), and cheap vinyl windows. It's enough to make one cry. About the only things left original on the exterior are the chamfered square porch posts, the aforementioned porch ceiling, and the front door (with about 67 layers of gummy paint, including over the gorgeous Eastlake knob and twist doorbell). Exterior restoration will be a massive project that will probably take us a decade to save up for. So I really sympathize!

So beautiful! My DH and I enjoyed the tour. It is a wonderful tradition. Why aren't there more neighborhoods like that? (rhetorical question) Cameron