Put on your party hats, people! Today is our Colonial Farmhouse Two Year Anniversary!
It feels like we’ve lived here for only a minute and also forever, but in reality it has been exactly two years.
Two years is actually a long time for us to live in any one place.
It is usually a little before the two year mark that I get the itch to move. I get antsy for change. Ready for a new adventure.
I’m not saying I don’t have that itch now, but that antsy feeling is tempered by our life stage and changing priorities.
Plus, I have plenty to keep me busy around here!
We bought this Colonial Farmhouse after it had been on the market for 13 months. It was a well-loved home and property, but it had suffered neglect as the previous owners aged. We barely have a handle on caring for this home. It would be extremely hard to do it all ourselves in our 70s and 80s.
In celebration of our Colonial Farmhouse Two Year Anniversary, let’s take a walk down memory lane all the way back to 2019. Anything before 2020 seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?
Now for my standard before photo disclaimer:
Any interior before picture shown in this blog post was taken an hour after we received the keys to the Colonial Farmhouse. Loosely speaking, we bought a fully furnished house.
We ended up not only moving ourselves in, but the previous owner out. As you have probably inferred, this was not a typical real estate transaction, but it all worked out in the end.
Now let’s get to those before and current pictures!
Exterior Before:
We’ve done nothing, yet, to the exterior of the Colonial Farmhouse itself.
We have worked on the landscaping because all of it was terribly overgrown. Have you ever seen the movie Jumanji where the vegetation starts to overtake the house? We were very close to that becoming our reality.
Exterior Now:
This photo was actually taken last year. Aside from some plant growth, it pretty much looks the same now.
Hopefully, I’ll plant something fabulous this year to disguise that fake rock covering our well head. It just hasn’t been at the top of my priority list.
Back Exterior Before:
From a distance, the back of the house wasn’t terrible.
Up close, those rotten hawthorne trees had nasty thorns. Every time I accidentally dropped a clothespin onto the ground while hanging clothes on the line, I had to decide if I was going to retrieve it and risk being impaled by a thorn or just sacrifice the clothespin to the Ruler of the Thorns.
By the way, I have a lovely new set of clothespins.
Back Exterior Now:
As you can see, the rotten trees and the chainlink fence are gone.
We also did a bunch of work replacing rotten deck boards last summer and painting the deck railings.
Last year we had the Carriage House roof (building on the left in the above photo) replaced with a black metal roof.
This summer we are having the kitchen and garage roofs replaced with more appropriate roofing materials for flat and almost flat roofs. It is not a fun way to spend money, but a leaky roof isn’t fun either. Take care of your roof and your foundation, folks. Those two things are really, really crucial if you want a house to last over 200 years.
Living Room Before:
The living room was one of the few rooms in the Colonial Farmhouse that did not have wallpaper. It did have a lovely mustard-colored stencil around the fireplace though.
This was the first room I painted because I wanted to paint the ceiling before we put down the rug and couch. It’s so much easier that way.
Living Room Now:
A little bit of paint went a long way in freshening up the living room.
I decided to keep the ruby glass chandelier because it was just the touch of vintage quirk this room needed.
If the chandelier looks different, it’s because I removed the top shades because the room glowed red with them on. The red lamp district was not the vibe I was going for in this family-friendly space.
Kitchen Before:
The kitchen in our Colonial Farmhouse was a special, special place.
It’s not the worst kitchen we’ve ever lived with for a time, but it comes close!
I kept that Crockpot, by the way. It works like a champ.
Kitchen Now:
Cabinets, counter, floor, and backsplash are all the same. We just stained the cabinets a different color and built a cover for the range hood.
This mini makeover by no means gave me my dream kitchen, but there are just so many other priorities for this home that need to happen first.
In the meantime, the kitchen is no longer gross. It functions. Well, except for the broken dishwasher. I tell my kids that hand-washing dishes builds character.
Music Room Before:
The music room connects to the living room and appeared to serve as a formal dining space for the previous owners.
We have zero need for a formal dining space, but we do have a need for a place to put my ball and chain, I mean, my piano.
Music Room Now:
Do you know how many of our housing decisions have revolved around whether or not there’s a spot for the piano?
All of them.
I sit down and play a few minutes almost every day though, so it’s totally worth it.
If you want to know about the piano harp art in our music room, read this post.
Dining Room Before:
The dining room is the oldest part of our house (circa 1780s). It basically was the entire house until the music room and living room addition was added in the early 1800s.
This room also functions as our entry way, our mudroom, and a pass-through to all the other areas of the house.
Dining Room Now:
Pictures can be deceiving in terms of scale.
The dining room fireplace is over five feet wide and would have been a cooking fireplace back in the day. I think about that a lot when I’m picking up takeout or complaining about my broken dishwasher or saying ridiculous things like “I don’t have the kitchen of my dreams.”
That fireplace might have been the kitchen of an 18th century woman’s dreams.
Everything is relative.
Sunporch Before:
I always wanted a sunporch.
I should have been more specific with that wish.
Sunporch Now:
This sunporch still needs work, but it is no longer a gross, dirty room.
Have you noticed making our Colonial Farmhouse not gross is an over-arching theme?
I employed the ‘go big or go home’ mantra in this space. The sunporch walls, ceiling, and windows received a coat of rich, navy paint. When I do add color in my home, it is usually blue.
Last month we added picture rail in here and I’ll show you soon what I decided to hang on the walls in this space. Trust me, there is one solid wall in this room. It’s not all windows and doors!
Owner’s Bedroom Before:
The owner’s bedroom is the one room in the Colonial Farmhouse that was mainly cleared out on the day we moved in. They left us a bottle of water though…must have known we’d get thirsty.
I really didn’t mind the moody blue paint. In fact, I left it for almost a year until I was ready for something lighter and brighter.
Owner’s Bedroom Now:
My one wish for this bedroom, other than an ensuite bathroom, is that our bed could face the fireplace.
However, the fireplace makes for a great focal point when you walk into the owner’s bedroom.
Upstairs Bathroom Before:
Our upstairs bathroom was another special place. It’s like a design collision between the 1940s and the 1990s.
Upstairs Bathroom Now:
Ah, that’s better.
We built that vanity from scratch! I have more to say about this space and how much I love how it turned out, but I’m trying to play it cool.
*knee twitches up and down*
GAH! Playing it cool is so hard, folks.
Handy Husband really stretched his woodworking skills with this vanity project and I’m so proud of him.
On that note, I could keep sharing projects and spaces we’ve tackled in the last two years, but this post is already over 1,500 words.
I saved the best part of this story for last. Your support has meant THE WORLD to us.
Thank you for following along on this adventure. Thank you for cheering us on through your screen and devices. We would make all of these improvements even if I wasn’t documenting them here, but having each and every one of you to share it with makes the journey a little bit happier and a whole lot sweeter.
Here’s to many more DIY adventures!
P.S. If you have a room question, please message me in the comments. Here are the Colonial Farmhouse Paint Colors:
White Walls – Behr Arcade White
Trim – Behr Bit of Sugar
Kitchen Wainscoting – Behr Khaki Shade
*affiliate links in this post*
If you’d like to read about some of the spaces I didn’t document in this post, you can click on this Colonial Farmhouse link. Here are three of my favorites:
Back Porch Shelves for Drink Storage (It’s like having my own store!)