Perennial Shade Plant Suggestions Needed

OMGosh. Boiler didnt work, until $2,200.00 later. The electrician who is a professional but lives close by and does private work off the clock and very affordable, is attacking the ORIGINAL wiring Tuesday, just on the first floor. We plugged in a space heater in the bathroom and fried the receptable AND the space heater!
The "government forclosure" people did the following: Repainted (sloppy, bc you can still see the former red and green paint in places and they painted over the registers), carpeted the original floors, put in good appliances in the kitchen and made the sink in an island and counter, BUT there must be a short in the wiring, bc NONE of the overhead lights work and they DID when we looked at the house. There is a new circuit breaker, at LEAST.:barnie
Great suggestions. Keep 'em coming, and when the weather breaks I'll take update pictures.
 
‎Emptor cavete! Something our bay found out as well -- repos are not always the best deal unless you are prepared to do a lot of work on them.

Our son's Victorian needed/needs (in some cases) new heating ducts run to the second floor (old gravity heater removed and a space heater installed while it was used as a rental). Half the plumbing done -- the owners stopped midway in plumbing. Most of the wiring redone -- owners had new box installed then ran the wiring wrong so DH and DS had to redo everything. The only good thing was a new roof.

I suspect the owners wanted to fix up the house themselves but found it to be more of a money pit than they'd expected so half the house was torn up when DS bought it. Original wood, though!
 
We have purchased old homes and gutted the insides -- replacing plumbing, wiring, heating, windows, and often moving walls about. Then we tear the outside out to the studs and redo it with proper insulation, roof, and new siding.

The city still dates the house according to its original building date. NOT a new house even if it is more convenient and comfortable.
 
They DID put in new vinyl windows and they don't leak. DD's would know because of the temperatures this month. After the heating guys left they had already discovered and then replaced the pipes below the kitchen sink and washer drainage (which is also in the kitchen) which was leaking downstairs in the basement. They pushed on the pipe, and that was the final straw for the steel pipe's elbow. It had been leaking some for a good month. Now it's been replaced with PVC and the basement smells better. (There are 4 registers in the basement, unlike my house, which has none. "It's a refreshing 52 degrees, man,..." as in the forest PBA.)
Better than the temperature outside today.
Here's one you haven't heard before. Where the attic lacked insulation somebody put in packing peanuts. My DD's bought about 8 rolls of insulation on Black Friday, when they were super priced, and they've been putting that in today, after bagging up the peanuts.
They, like us, have 2 x 12 rough hewn oak supports, which you can see in both basements, and no stupid plumber has cut through theirs. I found an excellent plumber, and the girls also bought a new vanity for the bathroom and new Delta fixtures, and had him install both last week. He suggests either Delta or Moen because he's told me that he can always get the parts to repair them, which is not always the case for Kohler and other brands, just FYI. The faucets were slowly leaking, but not anymore.
I believe that they got this house for about 1/2 it's value. They paid $40K less than the people who bought the house last paid...or got a mortgage to pay. Certainly, if the economy improves next year, they could assess for more than what they paid, which was really low. Their mortgage payment is less than $700.00/month, and they are both new homeowners. I think they only had to put down less than $5K as a downpayment. Youngest DD is also making Law School payments, so the monthly due was important.
They both say that they are "renting to own," instead of sharing an apartment and "renting to rent."
 
Nice house, I love the woodwork. Who knows what our 112 year old home had . Sadly the previous owners tore off everything. Put up fake brick walls and fireplace. Put in windows with NO windowsills. Plain drywall walls (Leaving all old wiring and plumbing behind them.) And enclosed the front porch. We have been here 35 years and slowly trying to make it look like it might have. And upgrading plumbing and wiring. Endless job. Their house looks like it still has good bones and can be fixed up nicely. The yard will look great with a pretty Victorian shade garden.
 
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