Why do I like old houses? They have character. I like preserving old things. I like history. They have good energy, at least this one does! But the problem is, old houses need so much repair and upkeep. At the same time, the same wooden floors have been in this house for 90 years. And yet, with a little help, they will look beautiful again, with built-in character. Still the choice becomes, do I sell this house to someone who has the money to care for it properly? Or do I stay here, live and love in this house, go all in and have less of a bottom line in the end?

When I first moved to Des Moines, there was a country church that I drove to when they were having a tag sale. We drove through a country road in the summer to get to it. It was green and luscious and the sky was absolutely huge that day. Today, that church is surrounded by urban sprawl. And yet, I GO to that urban sprawl all the time. I take my children there. We laugh and play, I have friends who live there. The little country lane made way for something I rebelled against initially. I don't know quite how I feel about it now.

We are living in our old house. The bathroom is 90 years old and is crumbling. It's possible that it's not entirely safe even! But still we want to preserve something that I suppose we feel has been lost today. There are very few homes built today that will be using the same materials in 90 years. The quality is just not there. Not only that, but trends seem to be the fashion now, changing every few years or so.

I love the simple lines of my home. Straight, solid, wood, plaster, lathe, solid brick. The oak is from Iowa oak savannahs in the early 1900's. It was built in an Iowa oak savannah and we have an old oak in the front of our house. Today, the fashion is open and modern with a great room for all of your activities. And "broken up" and "choppy" is what we think of with old houses sometimes. Doors to the kitchen are verboten, porches almost nonexistent, you don't find the simple earthy qualities in new homes.

I don't want the question to be about money, but doesn't almost every question that centers around our principles come back to money eventually?

Do I put money into a place that I love, knowing full well, it will need more and more and more over the years? Or do I move on to something new and fresh where all the work is done at least for awhile?

My house doesn't have a finished basement, a mud room, gosh, even a second bathroom. It has small closets and a laundry in the basement. It's old and creaky and someone even died here! But a family also bought this house, newly married, in the 40's and raised their family here until they had to move to a senior apartment. That's what I call good history. Grace, the woman who used to live here, has stopped by a few times. She was appalled that someone would have taken out the 1/2 bath off the kitchen (I have no idea what it was like... maybe it was a good idea, maybe not!). She told me how she would sit outside and sketch her flowers frequently. She and her husband were "green" back in the day and actually installed a giant dinosaur of a solar panel (funny our first house had one too) that only heated the water heater! They had insulation everywhere, even on the floor of the attic and solar shades on every window. When we moved in, we took all of it out. I wanted the old bones and the old draftiness (we like it cool and with lots of fresh air :). Down in the basement, there is a shelf on the wall that has George's name on it. We'll probably keep it there forever.

This house has witnessed birth, life, death, divorce, love, and more love.

Back in the day, THIS was the suburb, a green leafy neighborhood with a gorgeous park and gazebo, a golf course, gorgeous schools with stained glass windows and thick oak trim, hard plaster walls, and grand design.

I like the way it is today. We're a relatively diverse community, at least for Iowa. Everyone's friendly, but not overly so or in your business. The schools are nice, normal schools. Our kids still play outside as well as playing lots of techie games. I have something like 6 coffee shops within walking distance. And there is a big church that holds a service every year where everyone dresses like pilgrims!

The fact remains: It's expensive to own an old house unless you are very handy and are able to do pretty specialized repair work and utilize good quality materials yourself. You can't just take an old house and hack out parts of it and put up drywall and new trim. You just can't. People do, but that's so sad! This Old House drives me nuts, they AlWAYS gut the house. It should be called "This Old Footprint". Because half the time they even reframe it. Still at least they preserve that and don't tear down.

I think an old house should have scarred floors, woodwork with the patina of age, some cracks in the plaster, floors that a marble can have a lot of fun with, and some deep dark secrets.

Just like we value our older members of society, the people who gave us life and food and gave birth to our parents, we should value the homes they lived in and the stories those houses hold.

But in holding on to the past, I can't compromise my own future. That's where we are now. How much do you give to your ideals? I want to preserve an inner core of the Des Moines metro area. I care about that. I am sad to see towns that lose that. I care if people cut down old trees and use lawn chemicals that are causing the ruination of Greenwood Park. I care if somebody trashes a business on Ingersoll or puts up a hideous addition that ruins the character of their home. I care if there is green space. I care if we have a diversity of humans who live here. Do we have homes for wealthy and poor alike? Are we welcoming of all kinds of people, no matter their politics, religion and family structure? Do we have walkable neighborhoods, thriving local business, places to go that aren't only malls? What are our libraries like? Are our streets built to support the apocalypse (four lane, 55 miles per hour, plenty of room for fire trucks, tanks, whatever) or are our streets safe places where kids can play freely?

My husband walks to work sometimes. He walks all the way downtown from our house. He rides his bike there, he can ride the bus there, and he could also drive, of course. These old neighborhoods are incredibly practical in the long run. We only really need one car and that's all we have.

But every once in awhile, we get this longing to be "normal". Move to the burbs where my great friend lives, get a job and stop my career as a SAHM, buy a second car, ditch the trees with their endless leaf and seed droppings, have a finished basement and multiple bathrooms (with a jacuzzi! Oh the bliss!), and really nice, fancy schools. Like a lot of people in our neighborhood, we live here for convenience, for finances, but also on principle. Idealism for idealism's sake is painful eventually.

But every time I think it gets too painful, I realize how much I appreciate my neighbors who stake out a claim for the "old" and the "historic", the "walkable" and the "family centered". I appreciate that by living in this old neighborhood we are letting ourselves become intertwined with history. Is it really painful to be forced to have fewer possessions so we can fit it into our 1800 sq feet? Is it really painful to have one car and simplify the repairs and bills that would come from having two cars? Is it really painful to have solid plaster and old wood floors that are completely resilient to my children's play?

We're missing the "padding", but I get to live with wood. I like wood, even my pocked and stained old oak floors. I get to live with history. And I get to live with windows and light. And I like my life in this house. And somehow our new modular IKEA furniture finds a home in this old house along with all the other free and used furnishings I have picked up over the years.

Anyway, just thinking aloud today about old houses, and how it's so much a part of me than I sometimes think. It may be hard for me to stop living in an old house. I just love them so much!