To understand the future you must study the past - Grasshopper

We left NY and never looked back, at least with fond memories of the recent past.  Horse country is where we've moved; purchasing 8 acres of fenced fields-complete with a 1900 farm house.  Upon meeting our neighbor when we first arrived, we graciously said the house needed a lot of TLC.  His reply was it needed a match.  Gotta love southern humor.

Our dream is to bring the house back to a degree of splendor, adding a barn for the horse(s) and a garage for the cars.  Question is where do we start?

The house will need much more than we thought.  We knew the house needed internal work, sheetrock, spackling, paint, etc.  What we didn't know is what is going to hurt us. 

A case in point would be the bathroom in the front of the house, the "spare" bathroom for company.  A beautiful clawfoot tub, pedestal sink, tiled floor.  Why would we have any reason to believe the tub had never been plumbed?  The antique faucet was installed on the tub, we had a home inspector go the house....The plumbing wasn't connected to the tub, but shut offs were in place for hot and cold lines, a drain pipe installed.  While minor issues, our neighbors comment kept coming back to me, a match.

Tomorrow, the case of the improbable bay window.