Welcome to the club and like everyone has said, don't lose heart. I'm in the same boat and there are days where I wonder why I bought this old house with decades of problems. Then I go outside and look at it from my meadow and something just clicks, and I smile. I have a colonial 1911 house with a 1930's addition. The original house was built very, very well. The addition, not so well. It is where my little galley kitchen is, my laundry room, and a small mud room is located - all used everyday. I just had it gutted and I can't tell you what an amazing adverture it has been. I've resigned myself to doing laundry at my brother's house for the next month, cooking off a hotplate in the dining room, and using the main entrance instead of the mudroom entrance. Luckily for me, the workers who are gutting it are taking the time to show me the progression of work and re-work through the years that was done to that addition...old paneling ripped out to reveal beautiful old wallpaper, and older wall paper behind that; a time capsule of old newspapers from the 1930's that are in mint condition that someone stuffed in the walls; a pile of coal near the fireplace that indicated at some point, there was a chute to the basement and coal was burned for fuel, etc. They are just as giddy with excitement of finding the next "clue" to how the room was used over the last 80 years as I am. Not everyone can do this. It takes alot of patience, and I wouldn't advise having people over that don't get it while you are doing big projects such as what I'm doing, unless you can deal with being met by sour faces that say "You must be crazy, this is a mess!". And there are days (since I'm taking this slow and as money allows), that I look into my ripped up, gutted addition and cringe at how much work it will take to do it right, to bring it back to a functional, but period-correct room again. Lots of money. But, luckily I'm working with craftsmen that do this on the side and agree to work slow as money allows. Then I see all the wires that were buried in the wall (as well as a cast iron (working) radiator and think "thank God I have unvielded these potential catastrophes." So, we all go through the range of emotions from shock to fear to "how am I going to pay for this?!" to "wow, this is mine and it is great." It is an emotional rollercoaster. But, when it all comes together, you will treasure - beyond your wildest dreams - how you preserved a piece of history and it is yours to add to its legendary testament of time. Best wishes for you! We are always here to listen! :)

idie2live, Sorry so long in answering you. The ground cover is called pachysandra (Japanese Spurge). I really love it, it keeps its color thru winter (even the unusually cold and snowy winter we had this year. It does perfect under my maple tree. it does take a bit to start, there is the old saying of "sleep, creep, and leap" " Year 1 is sleep, year 2 is creep and on the 3rd year it leaps-fast growing") Here are some photos of my front yard..as you can see by the photo, I have recently gotten rid of a grass "pathway" (upper right side where you see the black pot with a bush I plan on planting there), soon the pachysandra will cover that area too. Then I planted bushes along the front of the property for winter color and not having to mow there either, plus I will grow them up a bit for privacy, I just need to add some mulch (right now) to that area, but, eventually the bushes get so wide that it will prevent weeds from sprouting and I won't need to mulch. Results are now I have only to move that slightly roundish area in my front yard. You will notice to the front-right under my pine tree is Ivy. That area is sunnier, so I used Ivy there, pachysandra does best in shady to partically shady. The only problem with Ivy is that it is very invasive, you have to stay on your toes to care for it, it will strangle out small plants and bushes, so I can't plant anything there with the ivy (unless you place a pot within the ivy with flowers as you see as I have done. The good thing about Ivy is that it covers quickly.

i strongly agree with virgil about the real work done on these shoes i have to say, i really hope they change hgtv shows. i know theres a thread somewhere on here all about hgtv but im sick and done with the fake happy couples who happen to mysteriously have ginormous amounts of money to flip and renovate homes into ugly houses for the fools who are on the show its the same s*it all over and over day after day, just different couples doing the same decorating and "designing" when we know all the TRUE work is done by engineers, architects, contractors, plumbers, electricians, handymen, house stagers and interior designers who work with them. you know....the little people

Lindsey, I have a LOT of friends who still live in that neighborhood. Of course, bathrooms and kitchens have been upgraded, and additions put on the backs of many houses. But most people buy in that neighborhood because they love the old architectural details of the houses, and they don't destroy them. When Buckingham Palace is given it's upgrade in the next few years, I greatly doubt that it will be a gut job, regardless of rotting beams, wood, old plumbing etc. It will be repaired and worked around. When we lived there in the early 1980's, there was constant disruption from filming going on in the neighborhood - all those generators and trailers - blocked entire streets. The movie "War Games" was filmed across the street - they wanted our house but we were renting and the owners said "no" and that was fine with us. When a movie needs a neighborhood that looks as if it could be Cleveland, St Louis or Greenwich, they head to this neighborhood, as many streets have no palm trees. The movie "Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation" was filmed right next door. We would constantly see houses from our neighborhood in movies and in commercials. Some people said they could pay their mortgage for an entire year on the fees they got for the use of their house. But most people got VERY tired of the noise, the confusion, the general disruption. An ordinance was passed that limits how many times a year there can be filming in a particular house, on a single block etc. And peace again did reign 'or the earth. It's that kind of neighborhood. People either love it and wouldn't consider living anywhere else at any price, or they hate it and wouldn't live there if they were given a house.