Not to be redundant, but we live in a 63 year old house, built by a legend in our community. Louis Hull. He built solid, simple homes. Say his name and the elders know what I'm talking about!
My dad designed the ranch-style house with big rooms and lots of light. (Fun fact - he drew it on a piece of cardboard and the builder never had blueprints!) The house is built on the same site that the "old" house sat for my great-grandparents. The old house was moved so this same spot could be used; they lived in it until the new house was done, then burned it. (I got a penny for every nail I picked up - several years later!)
My grandparents kept everything simple, with a mid-century and/or Swedish simplicity. Call it Early IKEA! The trim is oak (I think), the plethora of cabinets were all built in place of birch plywood, with only finger grooves to open and copper hinges. Drawers are deep. The light fixtures were pull down lights with copper shades - looked a lot like space ships. One still hangs in our bedroom, where it will remain, and our son has one. The entire house has 12" square linoleum tile, off white with sparkly gold and silver flecks. The first oven, at waist height, was a beautiful Santa Fe turquoise color. No basement, and a very very slim crawl space.
My parents moved here in 1991. They put their stamp on things - paint, different floorings, and they built an addition with two more bedrooms, a bathroom, and basement. They had to add AC! Some of my grandparents' later-in-life updates are still here, like custom drapes and some of the carpeting.
Last September, we began talking with a remodeler about updating our home. We gave him a very long list, and we almost fainted when the bid arrived. The estimated budget doubled our guesstimated budget! So, we backed off to regroup and made the decision to just have the bathroom done. We're big talkers - we'll demo (what we can) and gather all the appliances. The builder ordered the shower and countertop. He thinks we're crazy to not put in two sinks because we have a 9.5' countertop.
SECOND LESSON: The main water shut off is in the very, very slim and spider infested crawl space. Because we aren't plumbers (or crazy) neither of us has crawled under to find it. We are imagining another chunk of cash will be spent to move that water shut off valve to a more realistic space. There went the budget. Time to tap the savings. I'm scared to death, but can't wait to take a bath in a soaking tub! Stay tuned - Start date is July 7!
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