Inside A Mint-Green Amish Home…For Under $100K (19 Photos)
This Amish home comes from one of Pennsylvania’s largest and most distinct Amish communities, that of New Wilmington on the western end of the state. We’ve actually seen a pair of homes from this settlement up for sale before, suggesting that “online” is a common-enough way to move your property if you’re Amish in this area.
So the color I want to emphasize as we look at this home is mint green. I’m not really talking about the exterior – that is mostly white, like many Amish homes.
While the homes at New Wilmington often have sky-blue doors and other accents in the hue, like in this photo of different homes…
…sometimes they are more of a greenish shade, like in today’s home’s bedroom. Boom:
Why? I have no idea, it just seems that some Amish in this community favor that shade. You can also catch it on the doors of this place:
Now, maybe my eyes perceive hues differently than others, but some just seem more greenish to me. In any case, I have always liked this cheerful feature of certain Amish groups (Nebraska Amish and Swartzentruber Amish also included) of painting elements of their homes with peppy bursts of color. Plain, yet not exactly plain.
Back to the home. So this is one of the plainer Amish communities, so just note, you’re not getting any bathrooms in this home. Here’s the description via Zillow:
Enjoy the simple life in this quaint 1 ½ story Amish home peacefully situated toward the end of a long private lane. Underscored in hardwood, the main floor is accompanied by 4 rooms, an expansive kitchen and living room, plus a main floor bedroom and bonus room.
Upstairs, rest and relaxation await in 2 sizeable bedrooms and a den. Full walkout basement offers abundant storage space. There is a well on the property and septic holding tank, but no electric, furnace or indoor plumbing other than kitchen sink. Outbuildings include a 24×32 insulated woodshop and adjacent 24×19 buggy shed, 4-stall horse barn with newer metal roof and a wood shed.
The property is located on Byler Lane. Byler is one of the most common Amish surnames in this area. That’s no surprise as many of the first Amish families who settled here in the 1800s were Bylers.
Kitchen
Looking in the kitchen, right away we are hit with more green (if someone has a better term for this shade than “mint green”, let me know). Classic Amish stove here, and classic “glossy” ceilings. Everything simple and plain as you’d expect.
Flipping the angle we see the kitchen table at the other end, and the wide entryway into an adjacent room. In that room a crib is visible, and in the back, what look to be antlers resting on a dresser.
A closer look at the kitchen table.
And a wider angle that shows another area of the spacious kitchen.
And yet another angle, pointing us back towards where we started. Looks like a newer piece of furniture on the right. And a rug made from scraps of fabric, another common feature for plainer Amish. Note also the long bench along the wall. Efficient seating especially if you need to squeeze in multiple smaller bodies at the dinner table.
Living Room
Ducking into the adjacent room we saw earlier, we get a look at the sitting room or living area. Treadle sewing machine, mini rocker for a little one, and more green molding around the windows. You can also make out an oil lamp of a similar hue attached to the wall by the window near the door.
Bedrooms
Another look at that bedroom I showed you above. Baby crib at the foot of the bed. Yes, very green, almost looks like the photo was taken with a filter. Waking up in this room might have me rubbing my eyes even more than I usually do.
Not all of the rooms adhere to this color scheme, however. Here is another of the home’s three bedrooms. You can see what I think of as the more classic sky blue coloring in this attic bedroom. That’s quite a different shade, isn’t it?
Maybe it’s all just a matter of personal preference. I prefer the bluer shade.
And another bed tucked into another corner of this top floor, maybe even the same room. Watch your head.
Outside
Outside, a look a the property. Not a lot of land with this home, just a smidge over an acre.
There is also a workshop.
Here’s a look inside of that. It’s described as a “woodshop”.
And the horse barn, with a look inside at one of its residents.
Any guesses what this 1,292-square-foot home on a one-acre lot is on the market for? Well, I’ve already kind of given it away in the post title, I know…
You can buy this place for just $99,900. Represented by Renee Dean of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services.
Green
I like the green accents. Not big on the glossy ceilings! If this had a bathroom I’d buy it.
Amish going Green
I love the color. I painted every room in our house a similar color then four years later my husband said he always hated it. In this New England coastal town we call it Seafoam Green. This house is a great price; should sell fast. Merry Christmas Eric!
Seafood Green
Great minds think alike! I painted just the kitchen trim a similar color and my husband was shocked…
LOL autocorrect changed seafoam to seafood green…
Seafoam, not seafood. Silly autocorrect.
Lol!
My son had an electric guitar the same color but in the music world the 1950’s color is now know as Grandma Green. It was a color that would show up on black and white television without just looking all white while not looking too dark either.
Green
Maybe Seafoam Green, reminiscent of the 50’s? I agree. That bedroom has a lot of green! Nice home, but I would prefer a bathroom.
Mint Green House
Erik,
In the 2nd picture of the mint green house, a kitchen photo w/ what looks like a bedroom in the background, I noticed a pole of some sort with a sliding track above it running through the wall between the rooms. Do you have any idea what it’s for? At first glance I thought it was so that the entire wall could be moved, but looking at the base of the wall it appears to be immobile.
Thanks for any insight into this.
That Pole
The pole you see across the doorway is for a curtain to close off the adjoining room. I use them in winter in my 1800’s house to keep drafts out of our living space. A lot of Amish use doorway curtains for that purpose.
Amish Bathrooms
Why do some of the Amish have Bathrooms and others don;t. I notice in Lovina Eicher columns she mentions having a bathroom. I remember as a kid going to my grandparents farm in Ohio and having to use the outhouse in the middle of winter or during a rain storm and it was no fun. If they have a septic system they could hook up the toilet to the septic system. I understand no electricity but no indoor toilet.
No bathroom
I think Eric mentioned that this area is one of the more conservative groups, so that means no bathroom. I think mostly it’s the Swartzentruber Amish that do not allow indoor bathrooms.
1.5 story Amish home on an acre
I agree, even one bathroom would be Heaven. It would’ve been nice
to see some pics of the basement. I wonder if the sq. footage includes
the basement? Funny how older homes have so many doors, both
interior and leading to the exterior. Never saw a kitchen sink, but I did
notice a towel hung up. Maybe that’s where the sink is? I’d say the home
is being sold by a young Amish couple with a small daughter. Erik, the
small bed in the master bedroom is what’s known as a “toddler bed” and
not a crib. The crib we saw in the living room. Just an FYI. Thank you for
another wonderful post. : )
Amish green
I grew up in the northern Indiana Amish community calling that color Amish green 25 years ago. I think it used to be more prevalant in that area as well.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the commenters are correct that it’s tied to the 1950’s seafoam green. There are other things that have become thought of as uniquely “Amish” but are more realistically just holdovers of things that were popular in general culture decades ago. I heard people who grew up Amish say that it’s not that the Amish couldn’t have things, they just couldn’t have them right now. It also seemed like the car and fashion choices of the kids on Rumspringa were at least a decade behind, and we could always pick them out.
But this green color has stuck around a long time! I’d love to know more about this from a local paint store. How do the Amish ask for this color? Do they refer to it by a name, or with a color code, or in some other way?
I Like It!
But I like indoor plumbing more.