Crisp air mornings are here, and so is the intoxicating scent of leaves on the ground, moist with morning dew, a favorite scent of mine. Quiet mornings begin slowly as birds leave, and less and less remain. The sun starts to paint the lazy skies of autumn, pink hues, fire in the evenings, and sometimes the veil of fog covers the painting. Crazy crows remain, a cacophony that I enjoy early morning. The sweetness of the countryside giving way to each season’s magic.
The work on this old farmhouse continues, slowly now, as more challenges appear. The flags have been planted; a new water well will be dug soon, hopefully, soon enough. Many families have had to go through this process or are in waiting. The drought season has been, still is, extreme, and the prayers for rain ascend to the heavens, one household at a time. No one knows when a challenging drought is going to hit an area, for people a very undesirable expense, for well drillers, the perfect ingredient for bread and butter. But seasons flow naturally, the seasons of life do as well, and in each season, there’s always a bit of joy to be found.
On the old farmhouse front, a few rooms have gone through some minor changes. After almost 11 years of living here, one learns what works and what does not, as well as what can be made better or more efficient, but also, beautiful. If one thing I have learned throughout this process is to not rush it, but to live in the spaces, and see what they want to become; to let the house reveal itself, slowly. The upstairs, although in the process of being repainted, has gone through minor updates during the past decade.
The office has gone through a few changes as well. Some things have been eliminated or moved, and we have added others, but overall, a better setting than when we started to figure out things.
One of the most and needed changes was to have a bedroom downstairs, which is essential if we want to age in place, or stay longer here. We realized how important that was once I hurt my knee, and the steep stairs became an issue. The previous living room set up was eliminated to create a downstairs bedroom, and the dining room was eliminated to accommodate a living room, resulting in an eat-in kitchen, which is undergoing some minor adjustments. The new bedroom is almost finished minus a few details. I will share a few pictures when it is finished. If you are not familiar with this blog and the process this old farmhouse has endured, along with us, you can see photos of its dilapidated state on previous posts under Fixing an old farmhouse. This process has been part of my journey as an independent writer.
The old dining room is now the living room, requiring a complete different set up due to the way walls and windows differ from the previous set up. A long curtain has been added to cover the stairwell during winter, so heat remains downstairs during cold evenings. Old farmhouses are cold and built differently as far as walls and insulation goes. I leave you with an introduction to the new space for the bedroom downstairs. To be continued … Hope that you enjoyed this post.
