Can you teach a new house old tricks?

When my husband and I decided to move from our adorable little two bedroom house in order to have room enough to expand our family, I noticed that most newer homes are seriously lacking in the charm factor. Even when we looked into having a house built, it seemed soooo expensive to do anything that would add any kind of charm. We looked at one beautiful and affordable old stone house...the only problem was it was 3 floors and I didn't think I could handle that with small children. Sometimes I still daydream about how I would have decorated that house. I mean come on...it had a stone wall in the family room and two...not one, but two beautiful cottage style kitchens. I'm sorry, I'm still a little bitter, but moving on. I just feel like newer houses need so much work in order to make them feel cozy and not "sterile." Do you know what I mean? What happened to wainscotting and molding and hardwood floors and pretty archways and beautiful fireplaces? What happened to not EVERY house on the block looking exactly the same inside and out? The house we ended up purchasing is no exception. I fell in love with the property it sits on. When I am on my deck I feel like I am back on one of my childhood vacations in Echo Lake, New York. So, as a trade off I accept the challenge of trying to turn this three year old home into a charming, cozy cottage/farmhouse-feeling home. Wish me luck as this will probably take a verrrry long time and a lot of money. Luckily I have a husband who, not only has very similar taste as I do (extremely important to a healthy marriage) but who also enjoys the challenge of figuring out how do the manual labor himself and on a very tight budget. Everywhere I look in our house and yard I see potential projects, but we are starting off with our kitchen this winter so stay tuned for that fiasco.

For now though, I will just dream of one day living in a beautiful old home....something that looks like it should be in a Thomas Kincade painting. I'll take any one of these please...