We Had No Business Buying This House
A little about us: Clark is an Illinois-born, retired firefighter/paramedic. I'm a Southern California transplant whose career bounced between retail, marketing and consulting, with a healthy side of WooWoo and sparkles. We fell in love and somehow that eventually led us here.
Clark retired going on 3 years ago (woah) and we spent a lot of time looking for our retirement location. We had a few non-negotiables: it had to be an “older” home, little to no snow, must have at least 2 acres, internet service, and I needed to be near water. That’s it! We continued on, checking Zillow approximately 47 times a day like it held the answers to all of life's problems. Suddenly, I got a text for a home in Windsor, Illinois. CLARK - where is Windsor? Is that too snowy for you? The answer…. doesn’t look that bad but WAIT - its 20 minutes from where we got married and where his Dad lives! So, what did we do? Went to see the house of course! BTW - we’ve had a LOT of snow since moving here. LOL
Labor Day weekend of 2023. It was hot, humid and raining during our 4.5 hour drive. The Realtor thought we were insane, and so did we as we drove up. Where is the house? It looks haunted! OHMYGOSH, I don’t know about this. But me? My WooWoo ways were telling me…. this is your new home. This. Is. It. Looking at the lines of the home, the land, the way she seemed to be crying from lack of care.
So, we entered the home and woah - the SMELL. Raccoon feces we later learned. A lot of it. And underneath the raccoon smell... was that honey? Weird. The woodwork was awe-inspiring. Original built-ins and trim throughout the house! Ignore the cracked plaster and the ceilings caving in. Did I mention the attic had fire damage? We looked around and then Clark’s brother, Scott, came to look at the house with us. He loved it. Immediately.
I left them alone and “spoke” with the house. Telling her I thought she was beautiful. The fireplace mantel? Ohmy. The 13 foot ceilings? The 10 foot windows? I knew I wanted her. She wanted us too. So I went for a walk and asked God to please give me a sign if this was the right thing to do, or if we were making the biggest regret of our life.
I came back and found Clark and Scott standing near the old cistern cover.
Clark noticed something.
He poured a little water over the worn lettering.
And there it was.
MADE BY H.W. CLARK COMPANY.
Seriously?
Okay, God. Message received. I guess this is it.
Fast forward to the family saying we were insane. It’s a money pit. We are too old. Why would you do something this stupid? You can’t live there! You have no water! Raccoons are living in the attic. The place is falling apart. It’s haunted (it was - more on that another day)! You’ll never make money on this (wasn’t our goal). It made us mad. It motivated us. It made us want to do more and be more. THIS was our home.
We don't know exactly what Pound Home & Garden will become yet. We know we want to bring this old girl back.
We want people here. Art shows and book clubs. Wine tastings and yoga. Families taking pictures. Small weddings. Local makers sharing things they've made with their own hands. We want this place to have a life again.
Three years ago, we stood in a smelly, raccoon-filled, possibly haunted house and I told her I thought she was beautiful. Guess what? We still do.
And apparently, we're just getting started.
Kat and Clark