colonial farmhouse
All About Rim Locks (Vintage Door Hardware)
It’s no secret the best part of our Colonial Farmhouse is the original wood flooring, but the second best thing is that many of our doors have vintage rim locks. What are rim locks? I’m so glad you asked. A rim lock can also be called a box lock. It is a square-shaped locking mechanism that is installed on the surface of one side of a door. How do rim locks work? Excellent question. You’re really getting into this, I can tell. The rim lock has two locking features. First, it can be unlocked from either side of the door using a key. The keys usually look like what we…
Back Porch Shelves for Drink Storage
Some folks build shelves for important things like books. We build shelves for equally important things like drink storage. Reading is important, but have you ever been dehydrated? I rest my case. After living in our home for a year we had a pretty good idea of its problem areas. No, I’m not talking about the leaky roof, the rotting deck, or the oven that randomly switches the temperature display from Fahrenheit to Celsius. Do NOT get me sidetracked on the oven that is messing with me. We’ll be here all day. Today’s problem area was the back porch where we stored all of our canned and bottled drinks. Wait.…
Searching for Hidden Treasure in Our Home
I am convinced there must be hidden treasure in our home or somewhere on our property. Don’t laugh! It might not be probable, but it is possible. Our home is close to a quarter of a millennium old. You can’t tell me there haven’t been coins, letters, gold bars, jewelry, or cash hidden under a floorboard at some point in time. After all, I grew up reading Nancy Drew and watching Scooby-Doo. If that doesn’t make me an authority on mysteries and secret hiding places, I don’t know what does. There are several creaky floorboards in our house that are my top contenders for concealing hidden treasure. It’s not just…
The Reason Why I Like Old Houses
I had an epiphany while painting the wall of our main stairs about the reason why I like old houses. I’m qualified to speak on this issue because it’s is my blog and these are my feelings, duh I have lived in new construction, 100+ year old homes, homes built between the 1960s and 1990s, an apartment, a condo, and even a duplex in Europe. I know how lovely it is to live in new construction with that fresh-everything smell and a fabulous home warranty where the builder comes out to fix every single nail pop. I know how satisfying it is to take a home that is a money…
Wood Chandelier in the Music Room
We have a new-to-us wood chandelier in the music room and I couldn’t be happier about this turn of events. Our music room was once used as a formal dining room. In fact, it got the 1990s/early 2000s royal treatment with a gigantic silver chandelier that was way too modern for the space. It was also a head knocker. No, it did not knock some sense into me. I know one of you just thought that. I usually have plenty, thank you very much. Here’s the music room on the day we moved into our Colonial Farmhouse in 2019. Here’s the music room after I took down the wallpaper and…
Farmhouse Style Boy’s Room
I have a farmhouse style boy’s room to show you today! Woo to the hoo! I sure hope you enjoy seeing rooms in my house evolve over time because I don’t think I’m a “grand reveal, this room is finished” kind of gal. I mean, I still haven’t purchased any curtains for our Colonial Farmhouse. You can’t possibly finish a room without window treatments, right? Do you know what else would really finish a room off? Electrical outlets on each wall. Maybe a light switch? But, hey. Let’s not get bogged down in the practicalities. I’d much rather discuss decorating progress in my son’s room. As someone pointed out to…
Painted Black Doors in our Colonial Farmhouse
Today I’m going to take you on a journey to the places in my home that now have painted black doors. Buckle up, buttercup because there’s a twist at the end of this story that you probably won’t guess! Our Colonial Farmhouse has 19 doors. 26 doors if you count the closets. 29 doors if you count the unnecessary doors we removed. Every single door is different. Even if the doors look similar, they aren’t the same exact size or finish. Some of the doors are painted. Some are stained. I won’t paint a stained door in this particular house. I can’t. It would physically cause me pain. If I…
Front Yard Landscaping Progress
Get ready to bust out your high fives because I have front yard landscaping progress to report. In fact, I’d say we are 80% done with the front yard landscaping. Give or take a few percentage points. In fact, let’s not get bogged down in numbers. Let’s celebrate the fact that front yard landscaping progress has been made. Hallelujah. (If you need a refresher on the landscaping plan, you can read about it here or I’ll just catch you up in this post.) I don’t have a true before picture, but here is more or less how our front yard started out: Now this same view looks like this: Much…
Colonial Farmhouse One Year Anniversary
Today is a big day! We are celebrating our one year anniversary of living in the Colonial Farmhouse! WOOHOO! Can you believe it has been a year since we purchased this amazing, historic money pit home? I can’t! It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around how quickly the year has gone. Apparently, time flies when you’re removing endless amounts of wallpaper living in a colonial era home that demands an inordinate amount of time and attention. I still think we were a wee bit crazy for purchasing this Colonial Farmhouse, but some of life’s most fulfilling endeavors are often a wee bit crazy. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. The most…
Plan to Makeover Our Decks
We have short and long-term plans for our Colonial Farmhouse. That timeframe is especially relevant when it comes the plan to makeover our decks. Yes, there are two of them. In the short-term, which is this summer, I want to make them safe (that’s kind of important) and improve their visual appeal (also important). In the long-term, I want to burn them to the ground. Woah. That was harsh. I don’t literally want to burn them to the ground. I want to replace them. We are hoping that, in the short-term, by fixing some dry rot and protecting the wood on the decks we can eek 3 – 5 more…
