Our 2021 House Project Plans
Our 2021 House Project Plans are a bit laughable. Don’t get me wrong, they are solid plans coupled with good intentions to improve this old house we live in. But let’s all remember who is in charge here. The house. The house is in charge. We will do our best to tackle our 2021 House Project Plans, but we’ve also learned to roll with the punches this house and life, in general, dishes out. In no particular order, here are our 2021 House Project Plans.#1: Hope That Nothing Catastrophic Happens Hope doesn’t cost us a thing. We’ll also add praying, begging, and crossing fingers to the list.#2: Replace Sunporch Floor We like to play a fun game in our…
Under the Stairs Closet Shelves
We now have under the stairs closet shelves and I’m pretty darn happy about it. I’m also happy about “Clean Sheet Day,” a fresh jar of peanut butter, and no-show socks that don’t slip off my heel. I guess I’m an adult now. We have an under the stairs closet in our music room. When we moved into the Colonial Farmhouse, I found three fur coats hanging in this closet. So fancy…if moth hole chic is your sort of thing. That area looked like this when we moved in: Sorry. I forgot to warn you that picture was going to be a little harsh on the eyes. As a reminder, that wasn’t our stuff. It was all…
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 Colonial Farmhouse’s Curb Appeal
When we bought our Colonial Farmhouse I knew there was one thing that would instantly improve its curb appeal: actually being able to SEE the house. Funny how curb appeal works. If you can’t see past the curb there is no appeal. If you’ve been reading this blog for the past year (thank you), then you’ll know we’ve been working on that one facet of our Colonial Farmhouse’s curb appeal since the day we bought the place. Are we that slow or was the job just that large? Yes and yes. Yes, we are slow because we tackle things around here in spurts and starts. Yes, the job was 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…
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…
Built In Hallway Shelves
Let’s talk hallway shelves today because they can be a game changer! We have a weird space between our kitchen and main bathroom that is bigger than a hallway, but not quite a room. For the purpose of this post I’m going to call it a hallway because calling it “that weird space” just seems, well, weird. And, honestly, it doesn’t really narrow it down because there are plenty of weird spaces in our home. Here’s how that hallway looked on the day we took possession of the Colonial Farmhouse in June 2019. In case you are wondering, that is not our stuff in the bathroom. The seller left it…
All About Our 240-Year-Old Pumpkin Pine Wood Floors
I have been unabashed in my utter love for and devotion to the original pumpkin pine wood floors in our Colonial Farmhouse. It was love at first sight. In fact, I might have discounted the problems our Colonial Farmhouse had because those floors were the rose-tinted glasses through which I viewed this money pit. Can you blame me? Look at these floors! Hubba hubba. The oldest part of our Colonial Farmhouse dates back to the 1780s. Additional rooms were added on in the early to mid 1800s. I’ve been so used to living with modern (1930s and after) hardwood floors that I didn’t realize how much I had to learn about…
