The Duggar Homes

[homeschoolmomma1]

So I reread 20 and counting and something hit me I never knew. I know the first Johnson road home was scheduled to be demolished, but I never knew that after the Duggars were done renting out the other home they demolished that one too. Do the Duggars "destroy" (might not be the right word) the homes they live in? I have heard from someone (I don't know where I will try to find the link) that the Duggars don't keep their things very nice and now the new house doesn't even look that good.

 

Now the TTH is custom built for the Duggars, but let's say the Duggars decide to move (which I bet will NEVER happen). Would anyone find the house useful for their family? I mean 2 big rooms for siblings, 2 kitchens, and heck even a bathroom with 2 toilets! So let's say you want to buy the Duggar home what would you use it for? What would other families use it for?

 

Also, I call bull on half of the timeline and stuff in that book. My favorite part was when they needed top soil and it was 200 dollars a truck load. Then a few weeks later some truck driver just happened to be selling the topsoil from a construction site for $20/ truck load. They bought 90 truckloads. I am not math expert by any means but 90? That seems like a lot of soil!

 

All in all, I wonder how the Duggar house has really held up. Sure we see certain rooms on the show, but not all- such as the prayer closet. We know they lie, we also know they moved the beams around several times when building the TTH. I personally think they moved out of the city because no one in town wanted them anymore, but may be that is just what I want to think haha

[Buzzard]

I always figured that if smuggums didnt fill his quiver sufficiently, and none of the J'slaves were close in numbers to require such a large house (and pay its upkeep), they would build a smaller home (with appropriate rooms for married guests/children to visit) and gift the TTH to their "church." The home would be perfect for a southern "journey" type retreat. One room for boys, another for girls. One actual bedroom that could have twin beds for "leaders," a kick ass kitchen to feed that many people... and a kick ass tax deduction!

[PhiMuLady]

I could see it being used as a small residential boarding school or home for mentally challenged people - those who are getting up in age and parents can't provide care anymore. A few larger houses in older areas around me have become group homes for a small number of people.

[ILoveJellybeans]

With all of those badly behaved kids, I am suprised its still standing.

Michelle isnt a very involved parent, and mostly just ignores the kids, so I bet the kids have messed up the house in some ways.

I cant think of any use for the house other than the Duggars or another large fundie family living there, as normal couples with loads of kids would prefer to have a decent amount of smaller bedrooms so the kids have some privacy and can be grouped into ages instead of teenagers to toddlers in together.

[JenniferJuniper]

While it wouldn't work as an orphanage (visual of Jordyn getting her head stuck in the railings), I could see it being a group home for troubled teens.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Its already pretty much an orphanage now. The only difference is the kids arent orphans, and the staff are unqualified teenagers/uneducated, sheltered adults

[JenniferJuniper]

Its already pretty much an orphanage now. The only difference is the kids arent orphans, and the staff are unqualified teenagers/uneducated, sheltered adults

Exactly. Although the state would not approve the house as a home for young children. Those stairs alone would disqualify it.

Why anyone would build a house like that when they had scores of small children is beyond my comprehension.

[lilwriter85]

I could see it being used as a small residential boarding school or home for mentally challenged people - those who are getting up in age and parents can't provide care anymore. A few larger houses in older areas around me have become group homes for a small number of people.

I agree the house could be used as a group home or maybe a shelter for women and children who have fled abusive situations.

[snickerz]

They'll still have a houseful of kids at retirement age, especially if they have a bunch of unmarried SAHD's. I think originally they envisioned their kids all building houses on the compound, and probably assumed that the "big house" would be the central gathering place/church, or would be home for one of their kids and their giant family. So far, only one of the SEVEN adult children has been launched into his own life, so that plan of a Duggar Compound may be only a pipe dream.

In regards to another Duggar house - Josh's: We all know it's owned by Grandma. I've heard people say how dumb it is for them to buy a house in such a busy location - it's on the corner of a busy intersection. Not dumb at all. JB/Grandma are shrewd investors. They probably snapped it up cheap years ago, they're parking Joshie there for now, and will sell it for millions for development someday. (Of course I wouldn't want my toddlers playing so near to that kind of traffic, but apparently that's not a consideration to them- they can always have more!)

[Mary C Doates]

I agree the house could be used as a group home or maybe a shelter for women and children who have fled abusive situations.

Unless the standards for group homes in Arkansas are really, really, really low, I doubt it would ever get approved as a shelter or permanent group residence. My guess is that Boob could either sell it or rent it out to some kind of religious conference center. He could even incorporate his own Church of the Living Room Sofa.

[Scribber]

Unless the standards for group homes in Arkansas are really, really, really low, I doubt it would ever get approved as a shelter or permanent group residence. My guess is that Boob could either sell it or rent it out to some kind of religious conference center. He could even incorporate his own Church of the Living Room Sofa.

I went on several church retreats growing up - and one camping trip with my school - where we stayed in homes like that which had been converted. (I believe in the camping trip, they'd actually turned a 4 bedroom home into a 2 bedroom with 2 large bedrooms. And at that? They still weren't as big as the TTH - but it'd be "Good enough" for something like that.

[veron1que]

Definitely a useless house. All that space and they didn't even make separate bedrooms. If I was to personally build my own dream home, I'd want it to last me till my death. I know the Duggars use gang bedrooms to make sure everyone can never be alone ever, but I think that was stupid. Once most of the brood is married off you don't have the space for everyone to come home for the holidays. What do you do when you have 10 married couples w/ children plus single Duggars, and you can't even offer each subfamily a room? Gang bedrooms won't work anymore. They are such idiots.

I'm thinking church retreat at best.

[EyeQueue]

I agree the house could be used as a group home or maybe a shelter for women and children who have fled abusive situations.

I would love to buy it and turn it into a halfway house for young women who are escaping their crazy fundie cultish families.

Also, why the need for purchasing 90 truckloads of topsoil? It's not like they grow anything on that land anyway. If they are so "self-sufficient," why the fuck don't they have a big ass garden? That's one thing I never understood and don't understand why their leghumpers don't question this when they spout off about just how self-sufficient this family is.

[FJismyheadship]

I believe Michelle stated once that they do not have green thumbs. One of the leghumpers pointed this out a while back when someone made that argument.

[erunerune]

I would think one of the advantages of having a TTH would be that they could just hand off some of those electric drills to whatever howlers happen to be running around and reassemble that shit into something useful.

[Ellimenopy]

I believe Michelle stated once that they do not have green thumbs. One of the leghumpers pointed this out a while back when someone made that argument.

That's a cop-out. With that many teenagers in the house, somebody could figure it and corral the others. I learned to garden from a book and trial and error. They're just lazy as hell.

[FJismyheadship]

That's a cop-out. With that many teenagers in the house, somebody could figure it and corral the others. I learned to garden from a book and trial and error. They're just lazy as hell.

Well yeah WE know that, and the Duggars know that, but their fans seem to think that family is God or something, and they will never question anything they say. Can you imagine the hoops they will jump through when we finally get that tell all?

[miffy]

I watched the special with the houses on youtube recently. The first house had been bought by the church next door to expand the grounds, the second house was owned by somebody else who was planning to demolish it so he was willing to let the duggars 'start the demolition process'

[paganhomeschooler]

I agree. I am the bringer of death to all houseplants, but even I can grow a successful garden! The kids are looking forward to this spring because we moved and we've got 3/4 of an acre, so we get to plant a nice, big garden this year. They're already planning for peas and stuff. It's really not hard. We even do organic gardening, and what compost does for the garden is just amazing!

[EyeQueue]

That's a cop-out. With that many teenagers in the house, somebody could figure it and corral the others. I learned to garden from a book and trial and error. They're just lazy as hell.

I agree--it is a cop-out.

I do not have a green thumb at all (I gave up on houseplants, because I regularly killed them), but several years ago I kept a pretty productive garden plot. Sure, some of my attempts didn't grow, or were eaten by rabbits and other critters, or I didn't water enough (or watered too much--Hell if I know).

I did, however, end up with roughly a shit-ton of edible produce, though: tomatoes, squash, melons, cucumbers, greens, etc. So with as much land as they have and the labor force at their disposal, they could also get quite a haul--even if a lot of it doesn't work out.

Plus, they'll learn as they go along, which is what I did. Oh, but wait: We're talking about the Duggars here. :lol:

[Ellimenopy]

Well yeah WE know that, and the Duggars know that, but their fans seem to think that family is God or something, and they will never question anything they say. Can you imagine the hoops they will jump through when we finally get that tell all?

Ugh. I know, I know. I just get these crazy waves of disgust for them and their ridiculousness, you know? It's just such a stupid lie when they already have both the labor and the equipment needed. It's not rocket science. I'm surprised even the leghumpers fall for it, though I guess it sounds better than, "I hate vegetables; I wish we could live on tater tots."

I can't wait for the tell-all!

[miffy]

Yeah, they could grow basic things like potatoes in plastic bins (foolproof) & tomatoes in pots. Maybe some hard to kill herbs like thyme & mint.

Or they could go all out with a few big raised vegetable gardens, JB could make John David build a automatic sprinkler system to make it almost impossible for the plants to die.

[homeschoolmomma1]

Question- If the Duggars floor is heated- is it very cold upstairs? Like old farm houses?

[heidi]

I kill plants with alarming regularity but even my first garden flourished. I didn't even start my tomatoes indoors. I just sprinkled the seeds in the ground and I ended up with far more tomatoes than I could use. If I can garden they certainly can.

[Kitchen Princess]

They'll still have a houseful of kids at retirement age, especially if they have a bunch of unmarried SAHD's. I think originally they envisioned their kids all building houses on the compound, and probably assumed that the "big house" would be the central gathering place/church, or would be home for one of their kids and their giant family. So far, only one of the SEVEN adult children has been launched into his own life, so that plan of a Duggar Compound may be only a pipe dream.

In regards to another Duggar house - Josh's: We all know it's owned by Grandma. I've heard people say how dumb it is for them to buy a house in such a busy location - it's on the corner of a busy intersection. Not dumb at all. JB/Grandma are shrewd investors. They probably snapped it up cheap years ago, they're parking Joshie there for now, and will sell it for millions for development someday. (Of course I wouldn't want my toddlers playing so near to that kind of traffic, but apparently that's not a consideration to them- they can always have more!)

JB and Grandma are definitely real estate speculators.

It is my guess that Grandma bought that house Josh is in and lived in it long before the "bypass" was built (the bypass is now I540 and is just now becoming a busy intersection). Or, she picked it up for a song when the property values dropped as the bypass was built. The highway has been beside it for a couple of decades, but the intersection has been dead until just the last year or so.