Taking on the restoration or renovation of an older home, be it an 1830’s farmhouse or a 1950’s ranch style, is a baptism by fire of carpentry, plumbing, masonry and architecture all rolled into one.

There are literally hundreds of these blogs out, but I've found these to be some of the best written, most interesting and most active.

The bloggers listed below are sharing their pain with you as they learn, and are collectively a goldmine of information. Not only that, there’s a voyeuristic thrill in snooping into their homes and watching the chaos gradually morph into a finished home. If you are about to buy an older house, or considering the move to one, then these links will help push you over the edge. (Which one we don't know).

1. Slaves of the Vintage House: a 1917 Sears kit house

2. Liloia: renovating a 1912 farmhouse on an island in Vermont.

3. King Street Farm: 1740s farmhouse in Westchester County, NY

4. Supernaturale: Frugality and Home Living Tips

5. Design Sponge: dedicated to home and product design

6. Home Improvement Ninja

7. 1902 Victorian

8. Chicago 2 Flat

9. The Petch House

10. Cincinnatti Cape Cod

11. The Emery Restoration “why have it done properly when you can do it yourself”

12. ErwinHouse

13. 1951 Ranch Redo in Corvallis, Oregon

14. Park Haus Addition

15. Fixer-Upper

16. Hauser Haus in Grand Rapids, Michigan

17. House Made: a 1922 Bungalow in Oakland

18. Kensington Bungalow

19. Stucco House: 1924 Bungalow Restoration

20. The Devil Queen: Queen Anne Victorian restoration

21. This Old Crack House

22. House In Progress "we call it Improvement because it can't get any Worse"

23. Ancestral Pile: A former Home Depot paint girl turned technical writer and her hapless husband-to-be take on the large-scale renovation of a home that's been in the family since 1920.

24. Deer Tracks and Trails: The Birth of a Log Cabin

25. Casa Decrepit 1876 Victorian in Alameda, Cal.

26. Restore House

27. Clark Creek House in Longview, Washington

28. Brownstone Renovations in Brooklyn

29. 1870 House in Griffin, Ga.

30. 1920 Bungalow

31. Foxcroft: a 1928 Craftsman house

32. Old Stone House

33. www.hoganblogs.com 1890 house in Newborn, Georgia

34. Ocean Manor House Victorian house restoration

35. Neverdone Farmhouse restoration on the Yellowstone River

36. 1620 Timberframe 400-year-old timber frame building in Germany
37. Nightmare on Elm Street (the house, not the movie)
38. Expiration Dates improvement and upkeep on a self-built house
39. Crazy Stable A house and soul under sporadic renovation in Flatbush, Brooklyn
40. Longislandbeachhouse renovation of redwood contemporary that was designed in 1968 by Andrew Geller on Long Island
41. brick Italianate Victorian, built in 1870, situated on approximately 2 1/2 acres of rolling hillside in Berks County, Pennsylvania
42. Just another bungalow house blog about a girl and a guy and 3 crazy cats living in NW Chicago
43. Greenrehab We are renovating a 2-story house in a close-in neighborhood of Asheville, NC. We would like our new home to be 'green
44. Renovating a neglected 1960s ranch
45. 10kkitchenremodel watch them try to remodel a kitchen for under 10,000$
46. 1900farmhouse Portland, Oregon 1900 farmhouse remodel
47. Kansas Victorian 1905 Victorian in Kansas
48. 1000 square feet of fun
49. To restore a house in Richmond, Virginia
50. That’s a cute little farmhouse
51. A fisherman’s house on Lake Geneva in France.
52. North Caddo House 1930 bungalow
53. Bungalow 23 fixing up a 1923 craftsman bungalow in Minneapolis
54. Stonehouse 2129- 1930’s bungalow
55. Revivalized 1920’s greek revival house
56. My Old House
57. Kentville Money Pit in Nova Scotia
58. Reviving the Colonial – 1932 colonial in wetern NY
59. 1921 Bungalow
60. Aughton Street
61. Bruno’s Beach House
62. Constructive Disorder
63. Titus House- Ranch style house in Arizona
64. Restoration on 7th- 1909 four-square home in Jacksonville Florida
65. Salvaged Beauty: 1916 home in Durham region, Ontario, Canada
66. Bacchic Revelry: 50\'s ranch
67. Plains Text: rehabilitation of a 1927 Prairie Arts & Crafts house in Aberdeen, Saskatchewan
68. Restoration of an 1883 Shingle Style Home
69. Urban Queen Anne: Queen Anne Victorian house, located in urban Seattle.
70. 1st Timers: The story of a young married couple, their new puppy, and a really old house that needs a TON of work
71. Our Tiny Oak Park bungalow
72. Farmicology: 150-year-old farmhouse in Germansville, PA.
73. Bay Tower House: 1886 Saltbox style home
74. Jersey House: 1899 house in north jersey
75. Bearfort Lodge- Log Home Restoration
76. Old House My House
77. After the Storm: rebuilding a home in New Orleans after Katrina
78. Old Whitney 1914 semi-detached Edwardian home in Toronto
79. Little White Bungalow
80. The Old Man and the Street: Trials and Tribulations of a 1912 Arts and Crafts Foursquare
81. Hillsdale House 1942 war cottage style house
82. Road to Amherst: an Australian house 2 hrs outside of Melbourne
83. Atelier 918: Seattle bungalow
84. Bungalow Redux
85. 160: The house that took over our lives
86. Smith Bungalow
87. Top to Bottom: a complete house restoration
88. Jackson Mansion: 1881 Farmhouse
89. Renovation Rants: 916 Craftsman style home
90. Queen Anne Cottage: 1888 Queen Anne Cottage in Chicago's Bucktown Neigborhood
91. Kitsilanto Fixer
92. Camping with a Mortgage 1881 Italianate Home
93. Remodel Logue
94. Renovate Australia: 1930s Queenslander
95. 316 Prospect: Victorian home built in 1900
96. Bungalow 114: Craftsman Bungalow in Waterville Washington
97. The Smurf House: Remodeling a scary blue bungalow built in 1922
98. Bungalow Dreams
99. Pheidias Renovates: Renovating a 1912 house in Buffalo, NY

Bonus #100: If those weren’t enough, the mother of all houseblogs, houseblogs.net is a blog portal and community of home renovation buffs, currently listing 880 different house blogs.

photo from The Emery Restoration/CreativeCommons