Old Homestead Quirks

I know -or at least I think I know this -that at some time or other I have mentioned that the house I live in was built back in 1903 for my Grandparents. Right? (I have said that before haven't I?)

Well anyone who has ever lived in an old -especially a much older -house knows that quite often the house has many quirky things about it.

This old place is certainly no exception.

Take for example the beautiful brick fireplace that is on the west wall of my living room. I don't know what year, for certain, that fireplace was put in there -if it was part of the original design or was added in years later in the 20s or 30s when my Grandparents did some changes to the old place, but there is one thing I do know about this fireplace and that is that it is not meant to be used.

Well, maybe when they first built it, the intent was to have a lovely fireplace that would help keep the house a bit warmer but at some point in time, one of my uncles made a discovery about this thing and as a result, he warned my Mom and my Grandparents not to use it -EVER!

Why? Well because it seems the fire pit that holds the hot ashes and cinders and stuff like that is situated on one of the main timbers of the house and when he discovered this, he even showed them that there were scars on those timbers indicating charring from some prior usage of the fireplace.

I do recall one time in the mid-50s though when my Mom was having the grates to the old coal furnace we had then replaced and it was mid-to-late October and don't you just know, since we couldn't fire the furnace then, we got hit with a really bad cold snap and had no other means for heat, comfort and warmth then other than to build a fire in the fireplace. So, my Mom did just that.

However, at that point in time, my Grandpa's mind was not near its normal state as he was frequently having issues of dementia and when the fire was built in the fireplace, he high-tailed it out of the house and down the road to the home of his older brother where he announced to my Great Uncle Erick and his two daughters who lived with him that we were trying to burn the house down up here. My Uncle told his girls that maybe they'd best come up here and see what the heck it was that Hazel (my Mom) must be up to that had Grandpa this riled up.

So, the fireplace has never been used as an implement for warmth -not ever, since that one time. And technically then, I really wouldn't ever need to worry about getting any Fireplace accessories for it.

But I still think some of these things would be nice, would make the living room look nicer, sort of cool and attractive then.

Maybe one of these days -when, if ever, we also manage to get some new furniture too that would really give the room a whole new look. (And maybe I'll win the lottery then too, ya know!)

Oh well, it's something nice to dream about having a house that is a whole lot more coordinated than this place is!