Then And Now...

This is how our house looked in 1976, when the previous owner bought it. I think it's pretty much also how it looked in 1919 when it was built. The photo was from the real estate listing page. It was nice of them to give us that, along with the manuals for the 20+ year old appliances.

You can compare it to the current photo:


The roof used to be diamond-shaped red shingles we gather from pieces found under the bushes. The previous owners replaced the windows and added the white siding, alas, including filling in the decorative roof brackets. That won't stay forever. They also bricked up the bathroom and two kitchen windows, ditto. But that will be major work, redoing the cabinets, bathtub and more.
We'll start with more manageable things like stripping the white lead paint off the stone trim.

The spirea shrubs in front are the same and the lilac bushes were there until the next door neighbor cut them down last summer. I feel a little bad but it does give a much better view. :)
And the original urn planter in the old photo is in the back yard awaiting its own paint stripping.
Gonna be a busy spring once it kicks in. It's already been over 70 but we are due to get a couple inches of snow tonight. We love the midwest.