farmhouse restoration

This Old Farmhouse

/ inkspeare

One thing that we have learned by living here is that we are never completely done as far as projects and unexpected things. This year, we have put some projects aside and have decided to “listen to the house” and see what it wants, and evaluate if after years of living in it, our vision is still aligned with it or if we should adjust or deviate from some projects. One of the things we realized is that because we have agreed to age in this house until a certain point, a bedroom on the first floor would be necessary, eventually, thus posing the dilemma of assigning different uses to rooms. It is also time to refresh the paint, and rethink previous choices.

Turning 60 did something to me, an overnight change that I was not expecting. My husband thinks that one of the “pods” exploded overnight and replaced me. I am not sure why, but suddenly life takes another meaning. It presents new possibilities but also grounds you as far as “real time.” What was so important might not be as important anymore, and priorities shift. Time is seen and valued in a different perspective, but also, not taken for granted. Other things don’t seem to matter or bother me anymore. What was, becomes questionable and what is, seems to take another meaning; somehow, what will be does not occupy center place anymore. Complacency or peaceful arrival? It doesn’t even matter. Likes and dislikes changed overnight or at least feels like they did. A new person emerges out of a years’ slumber. Everything is questionable and all is well. Battles are chosen or not at all. That is the best way I can describe it. This of course, affects how I see and interact with my new discovered environment.

We have halted some projects, reviewed others, and scrapped a few. This year, we have not proceeded with any new projects, only clean up, some minor painting, and future considerations. We did not plant anything. This old farmhouse is on standby for now. We have tons of grapes in the grapevine ready to be harvested soon, and picked tons of blueberries, but only a few strawberries this year.

Summer Yummy

We transplanted one of the little cedars that I was growing in a pot. The other two went to my sister’s home. So far, it is doing fine in its new spot in the ground.

The king of the trees

Spring was lovely around here. It has rained a lot during Spring and Summer. Today, we have cooler temperatures, but overall, it was not a hot summer, with the exception of a couple of weeks. The garden did very well.

The weather was on and off; we even had a small rainbow in the backyard while it was pouring rain, and the sun was out, all at the same time.

Lucky charm. One of the most beautiful sights of a very close and low rainbow. I regret not stepping outside and try to “touch it,” but it was raining hard while the sun was fully out.

For now, we are concentrating our efforts on doing some painting indoors and working out the idea of converting the living room into a bedroom and rethinking the downstairs arrangement. No new outdoor projects are taking place for the remainder of this year. Overall, it has been a very pleasant Spring and Summer, and I have enjoyed this year’s mild weather. I am looking forward to the next two seasons.

Farmhouse Project – The Side Entrance

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We are trying to finish a few projects that were scheduled for this year, and one of them was to fix the bottom part of the side entrance. Water accumulates when it rains, thus forming a puddle, and later on, it turns to mud. My husband worked on this project over the past weekend, and I love the result. One more item taken off the long list, and we are happy with that. There are still a few projects that were scheduled for this year but will have to wait until next year. We might be able to tackle one or two more, but not more than that. For the purpose of this post, and so that the reader can appreciate the before and after, I will share some pictures from the early days when we bought the old farmhouse showing that particular area as well.

The Process

First, my husband measured the area and built a frame, tested it, and later on, removed all the grass in that area and leveled the ground. Then, he attached and fixed the frame, poured cement, leveled the cement, scoured the sides, and let it set. It took a couple of days for it to dry. Last, he removed the wood frame, and cleaned the area. It was a simple process, but it took time. We decided to leave the steps the way they are now because they are in good condition, and so far, there is no need to redo them. We worked on these steps when we bought the place.

The Before

This was the condition of this area when we bought the old farmhouse. It’s been a long way. The two gargoyles go with me wherever I go.

One more project done on this old farmhouse. I hope that you enjoyed the pictures and reading about the process, and that it inspired you in some way.

Love and Light

Farmhouse Project: The Front Steps

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The long list continues to be tackled one item at a time as time and money allows, and with the help of the Lord. This project has been waiting for a while, mostly because we were not sure of what to do with the steps, and what would be the best economical way to fix them. If you know anything about construction or masonry, you will know that this type of work is very expensive, and we did not want to spend a lot on these steps that were functional but needed some help. My husband came up with a good solution, as well as under budget.

When we first bought the old farmhouse, the steps were broken as well as the entire porch, so we decided to patch things up as best as possible and paint them. For the purpose of this post, I will share the steps/porch from the beginning so the reader can appreciate the development so far. Most important is that we are happy with the results, and I think that my husband did a great job at it. I did not work directly on this particular last project, only appreciated the process and took pictures.

Here is a photo of the early days, as it was when we bought the derelict farmhouse.

The porch and steps of the old farmhouse, as it was when we bought it. The cement was broken, well, everything was. (Photo by M.A.D.)

In order to move things along the way, we fixed the porch and steps as best we could and painted them. Here is a picture of what we did in the meantime.

We knew that we needed a more permanent solution, eventually. Here is where we are today, and the process my husband followed to level the steps and build new steps.

First, he measured and built the steps using cement, and tiles that we had bought from a builder but did not use in the house remodel. (Photo by M.A.D.)

This is what the steps look like once the cement has cured. The steps are thick and heavy.

He measured, leveled, and filled the old steps in order to place the new ones.

The final result. Eventually, we will have to fix the porch floor by adding slate, but that is another project in its own time.

In the meantime, I was admiring a gigantic but beautiful slug that I saw by the side entrance. The next project will be fixing that area a bit better.

I hope that you enjoyed this project and became inspired with a little DIY.

Love and light.

This Old Garden

/ inkspeare

This time of the year is perfect for working outdoors because it is not too cold and not warm yet. It is when we try to do as much as we can before the warm weather and bugs arrive. The weather has been good enough, even during winter. This gave us enough time to tackle some chores that needed to be done. We enjoy this type of work, so when it is done during cool weather, we like it even more. Most of it was repainting all the areas that needed to be redone, such as light posts, porch posts, veggie garden, old planting pots that needed some love, garden tables, and the wood around the house. We are sticking with the color Barn Red by Minwax, a semi stain, and we love it. One coat is just enough. We replaced the wood on the work bench and repainted it, spruced up the side door, and weeded out some broken things. We also introduced a new area in the garden, which will need some further development. Tired flags were changed, grass was cut, and leaves were collected once more after the very windy days we had. Overall, most of the heavy work is done by now, but we still have some things to tackle before the summer. We are also planning other projects before the end of this year, some of which I will share here.

New garden area that needs more work. This year we introduced three new areas in the garden.

We have come a long way.

In the beginning … there was chaos everywhere.
You can view the renovation of the old farmhouse and garden under Restoring an Old Farmhouse posts.
I see you.

Farmhouse Project Update – That Old Tree

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As usual, there are plenty of things to do around here. Yesterday, my husband finished clearing up the mess from a previous storm, tons of branches that have been around for a while. Then, he decided to tackle the old tree that fell during the same time. We had estimates done, but he decided to do it himself, especially during this economy. He tackled the job in a couple of weekends. We will save the money for the trees that are too large and require professional handling. In the meantime, we will stop all projects until next year, because you never know. As for the veggie garden, it is done for the season. I picked the last of the tomatoes yesterday. The garden is starting to prepare for a deep sleep during winter. All the work from now on will be clean ups, mostly, not new projects.

The old tree and brush from a previous storm.

The old tree when it fell.
Debris and branches left from a storm.

The wood from the large tree is good wood that we gave to someone. It will be picked up sometime this week to be used as heat for the winter. Especially now that a cord of wood has gone up in price, I think in the range of $300, and many people are installing wood stoves because electricity will go up more, most likely, hence it will probably go up more with demand. We are happy that the tree will be used in a good way. Eventually, we will install a small wood stove in the kitchen.

Plenty of wood for heat.

Many critters that used to perch on that fallen tree will certainly miss it, and I will miss looking at them.

  • This bird used to perch on the old tree once in a while.

Nature recycles itself; maybe we should learn from it.

Restoring an Old Farmhouse – Porch Garden

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Fixing up this old farmhouse has taken energy, time, and a bit of money; however, it has been rewarding. One of the areas in which we worked early on was the porch garden. We had taken recycled bricks from the chimney we took out in the kitchen and reused it in the area. Later on, when we created a small garden around the house using existing plants, potted plants, and white marble chips, we realized that we needed to make the area blend with the rest. The garden around the house is completed now. We moved around and relocated some potted plants. We positioned the concrete bench that was on the porch to the left side of the garden, just to match the right side of the garden. It worked out well. One more project off the long list.

A bit of background for readers new to this blog. The old farmhouse was in very bad shape when we bought it. It had been abandoned for many years and weather/time/renters/squatters had been rough on it. The value was on the land. By just looking at the derelict home we knew that anything we were to do from that point on would be an improvement. That has been a goal, to improve and add value over time.

BEFORE

A very scary view of the porch when we bought the farmhouse. There was no garden area, and everything had to be fixed up, everything. With much love and patience, my husband and I have been doing all the work. I have been writing about the quest on this blog. To read on the progress so far, you can visit my blog posts under Restoring a farmhouse or Restoring a garden.

AFTER

The brick area before.

We reused some of the bricks on the latest garden area we created that is located next to the faerie garden. We will be reusing the chimney bricks on another project.

I hope you enjoy the post.

Love and light.

Restoring an Old Farmhouse – Haint Blue Porch

/ inkspeare

Continuing with the long list of things to do around here, it was time to repaint the porch (original to the 1910 farmhouse) and the floor, so that’s what we did. We were lucky to find a gallon of paint for $9.99 at the Home Depot on the “mishaps or Oops shelf” and it was exactly the color we needed, a haint blue or a sky blue. It is a custom in the South to paint the porch ceiling a light shade of blue. It is called haint blue and there are many variations of this blue. Long ago people used to paint their homes a haint blue to ward off evil spirits and that’s how the blue color got its name. According to legend, evil spirits could not cross water and the light color blue mimicked a water surface, thus discouraging evil spirits from visiting the home. Later on, people painted the porch a haint blue shade because it discouraged bugs from landing on the porch; it gives the illusion of open space or sky. Although these seemed two very good reasons for choosing this color, especially, reason number two during the summer, I just love the color. It seems light and airy, refreshing, and gives the impression of light during the evening. I just love it. Many homes in town display some variation of this blue on the porch ceiling.

Many years ago, we had painted the ceiling a dark blue. We wanted to keep the original ceiling, so we just scraped and painted it. We like the look of the small boards. We caulked some areas before repainting. Here’s the before.

Before

AFTER

The brick area will be our next project. We will be matching it to the rest of the garden by replacing it with white marble chips and changing the layout a bit. The bricks were recycled when we took out the small chimney in the kitchen. We will recycle and use the bricks on another area of the garden. The to-do list is getting a bit smaller.

Hope you enjoy this post.

Love and light.

The Simple Life – Welcoming Spring One Day at a Time

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We had very nice weather over the weekend, so we decided to clean up the garden and set up a few things for planting season. We are surrounded by trees and no matter how much leaf raking we do during autumn and winter, we always end up with tons of leaves to clean up, especially now, when a few windy days come up during March and April. We’ve had a few days of very strong winds, one of which truly shook me a bit, and there are many down branches as well. We had plenty of chores, which we enjoyed thanks to the good weather. For some reason, here in Virginia, I find myself wishing for the start of spring, and I find winters long and cold. Having lived most of my life in Jersey, I find that odd, but my husband feels the same way. My favorite season used to be Autumn, but now, I am starting to love and crave for Spring. There is plenty to be thankful for during the seasons.

Little birds are starting to show up in numbers. My husband made the pumpkin for the veggie garden out of scrap wood. We hung up a birdhouse that my sister gave me. They had a 5K on their farm (Barn on the Hill), and they gifted birdhouses to participants; she saved one for me. It looks lovely next to the Faerie Garden.

We cleaned up flower beds, removed old stumps, planted some flower seeds, repotted plants that needed more space, and became a bit creative. We started a new planting area near the entrance of the property, an area that we need to develop much more in the future. An old tree trunk is now a planter, and an old magazine rack will become full of hot pink flowers at one point. Our goal is to add at least one thing every year.

White farmhouses get very dirty during the year. My husband and I cleaned up the house twice a year during spring and before Christmas. It takes a bit of work in some areas. Power washing will be something to consider in the future. We are still saving for a new roof (cash only is part of the simple life), and that one needs to be repainted, hopefully over the summer. We took everything out of the porch, and I cleaned the chairs, tables …. while he worked on the siding. Once we finished, we decided to change things a bit (decor wise) from last year.

With most of the garden ready, our next item on the list will be preparing the veggie garden for planting, and some repainting here and there. We are setting things up for an upcoming yard sale as well, and there are some farmhouse projects lined up for the year. With everything that is going on in the world these days, chores are helping me a lot in dealing with the great sadness that it causes. Keeping busy helps my mental sanity. During this time, my novels have been put to the side, and being in the present, doing chores, helps me deal with all this. I hope you enjoyed this post.

The Simple Life – The Process

/ inkspeare
Photo by M.A.D.

Process – A series of steps, actions, or operations used to bring about a desired result. (American Heritage Dictionary)

For today’s post, I want to write about the process in pursuing the simple life. If you read the above definition of process, for me it was all that, and more, and I can honestly say that the process continues. It continues in the material, the mind, the physical, and the soul. If I go back to some of my posts about the simple life ten years ago, I see part of that process taking place in between words. For me the process was/is long, and I compare it to separating bolts and nuts into groups by size and form. Each person goes through their own bolts and nuts situation when pursuing simplicity in life. Although I am pretty sure that it might have started earlier than that, I can pinpoint the journey about over 10-12 years ago. Like any person with a brain would say, looking back, I could have done things much better, but that is always the case, isn’t it? Whatever brings you into the process, I have found that it is better to embrace the upcoming change with an open mind, in faith and hope, and focus one day at a time, whether that day brings a challenge or rest. Although not easy at first, a grateful attitude, and prayer, helps a lot. Depending on how you came into the process, willing or not, attitude is key, and it might make all the difference. Process will take as long as it has to. I can honestly say that now.

During the process, there will be highs and lows, a natural flow, and supernatural as well. Awareness is important, but many times our radar is a bit cloudy, and that is when prayer and a good honest attitude with ourselves help. I think that we are about to go through many challenges as citizens of this country, and of the world as well. It will be a process, in which we’ll need those two. But going back to my personal experience, I can say that this process started with the need of letting material stuff go, and that was the first tangible step that I took. I started decluttering my physical space, and eventually, decluttering other areas of my life as well – spiritual, financial … You have to start somewhere, right?

During this purge, the material stuff was the easiest to let go off, although not necessarily too easy. We accumulate things through a lifetime, and those things have memories, emotions, and feelings attached to them, so that is not so easy at times. The more we live the more we accumulate. I am still letting go of stuff, believe me. Every step takes you closer, and the more you let go, the freer and more satisfied you feel, to the point that you actually feel that there is nothing you really need, except for the important things in your life like God, people and values, beliefs… the not so tangible stuff. I can honestly say today that I could walk out of this house if I had to, and take nothing with me, and I will be fine, material stuff that is. I can appreciate beautiful things, like them, and enjoy them, but I am not tied to them as I might have been before. In the pursuit of the simple life, you learn to appreciate the good, the bad, and the ugly, although in the beginning you might not even like it or realize it, and even fight against it. The aha! moment comes later on, at least it did for me.

In ridding myself of much material stuff, I had to do it systematically, one step at a time; it was what worked for me back then. The process was a process in itself, if that makes sense. The method I used was to go room by room, and divide items into donating or give, selling, and trash. There wasn’t much in the trash category, but I started by selling stuff in three steps. We would use the money to put towards our upcoming move out of state. That added to the motivation. First, I sold things online. What didn’t sell online ended up on various yard sales, and what did not sell in a yard sale, we sold at a flea market in two occasions. At the end, we gave away the stuff to sellers that did that continuously for a living, and they were appreciative. I also gave stuff to family and donated an entire room full of stuff to a veteran’s organization in three different load trips at the beginning of the process. It took time and effort, and it certainly did not feel good in the beginning. Once we moved out here and were settled in the home after fixing up the place (you can check out that process under the topics farmhouse restoration, the simple life, or restoring an old farmhouse) I realized that there was still much more to let go, and I was able to give and donate much more. This process continues until today. After living here for about 6 years, I find that there is much more that I can do in this area. After all, it is a different space and a different lifestyle, and the time was necessary to understand what works and what doesn’t work in the new setting. It also let me explore new possibilities and understand why some of the stuff is not a good fit anymore. I will write about that in much detail. The next blogpost will be about simplifying your space, and it ties to this one. I hope you enjoyed this post.

The process continues until today.