Before and After

Let's dive into the archives on this eve of Thanksgiving eve, shall we?  Here are some before and after photos.

The original Farmhouse that we fell in love with.

During construction.

Finished front view.

Excavation for addition.

During construction.

Almost completed addition.

This is a photo of the den in the original house.  We took out the charming wood stove and took up the carpet.  We kept the original radiators and wood moldings.  We broke through at the far window.

Demo of the old stone hearth.

After demo and before we "tore down those walls"!

Opening the walls.  A breakthrough!

Finished product.

This was part of the original galley kitchen.

This area became was it now known world wide as The Rustic Interior Foyer.

The finished product.  Notice how puny the original beams were in the previous picture.

This scary place was to become our master bath.  I hated seeing this.  How could this become this?

Dreams do come true:)

Hall bath after demo.  Another scary place.

This bathroom is very warm and cozy.

This will become the kitchen.

The new kitchen.

I must run, the plumbing inspector has arrived and I must allow him to leave dirty footprints throughout the house.  I hope you enjoyed seeing the transformation so far.

Thanks for stopping by.

Photos

These are some outside shots.  We will add some bushes and perennials next spring. I need to figure out this uploading thing.  These few pictures took an hour to upload!

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Of Blogs and Bladders

Well it had to happen, something has broken in The Farmhouse.  On Wednesday I was handed the news - uh, Miss your bladder has a hole in it and the whole thing is water logged.  Say what? My bladder is just fine, thank you.  No, no the bladder in your holding tank!  Oh, that's better - I was envisioning getting a years supply of Depends! It seems the tank that hold the water after it is pumped up from the well had some issues and you know what issues means - money! The next day the new tank arrived all shiny and blue and I am happy to report we no longer have bladder issues.

Now on to blogging- please don't think I have stopped blogging just because we moved into the Farmhouse.  I still have much to report on. And don't forget we will be having holiday specials, too!  I will be putting together a special before and after blog for your holiday entertainment :)  Also, now that we are "grandparents" I will also muse about my new "grandson" Fletcher.  The poor baby had a fever this week and is on antibiotics :(  I could barely sleep worrying about him.

I borrowed Josh's fancy camera and took some outside shots of the homestead.  We had Cousin Mike's company, Detailz come out and wash down the siding as it was quite dirty from construction. Cliff also scrubbed the screened in porch.

 

Ok - I have been trying to upload photos for an hour and the site is not cooperating!  I will sign off and try again later.  So sorry I was excited to try out the new camera.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

 

Five Months and One Day

Saturday evening at approximately 5 pm a declaration was made.  This particular declaration was made by our head carpenter, Dave.  Dave proclaimed, "This house is done!" Do my ears deceive me?  They are done?  Can this be?  No more sawing, drilling or laying of drop clothes.  No more air guns, nail guns and shop vacs? I should be jumping for joy - but wait- I may be a touch melancholy.  I may have post-construction depression. I waited for this day.  The day when there would be no vans and pickup trucks in my driveway and yet I am a tad bit blue.  I've read about this condition and it is quite normal, the books say I will be just fine in a short time. Perhaps a few trips to Lowes will help my spirits.  And Cliff has reminded me we have much more to accomplish.  The carriage house is next on the list.  Stay tuned as we make it a working garage where we can actually park our cars.

Here are some pictures of the rooms that we have completed.

We are still working on getting the upstairs done.  The new sofa arrived last week and did get up the stairs!  Cliff has been busy getting his office together, too.  We will landscape in the spring, but the guys did make steps for the front and side porches on Saturday.  They called them stoops, but I prefer steps.

Today we welcomed a new member to the family.  Meet Fletcher.

Josh got himself a Newfoundland puppy!  Can you say HUGE?  This little guy will grow up to be a very large dog.  This shall be very interesting as I could never get him to walk any of our dogs and he lives in the city, so lots of walking is in his future! My baby has a baby!

I hope to get some outside photos this week .  Thanks for stopping by.

Soups On!

We are finally cookin' with gas!  All appliances are hooked up and in working order.  I have been busy nesting this week.  After all I just gave birth to A Farmhouse.  As any good jewish girl should do I made a big pot of Matzoh Ball Soup the day my stove was hooked up.  My new BFF, Randy, the electrician said he had never heard of Matzoh Ball soup. Really? He never heard of Jewish penicillin?  Randy my man, where have you been living?  Oh - Carroll County you say?  Understood!

Yum!

And today I whipped up some Butternut Squash soup.

This is the easiest recipe ever.  Roast butternut squash, an apple and an onion.  Puree with chicken stock and add a splash of half and half. It will change your life.

In other Farmhouse related news I just bought one of these:

They call this an Edison light bulb.  I wanted it for my pendant light over the sink.  I like the retro look.

Neat huh?

The plumbing inspector came by this morning.  He left a black footprint on my white bath mat:(  And then he had the nerve not to pass us!! No biggie, just a few minor adjustments.  Wes will take care of it.

I am having a blast decorating and putting things away.  Cliff got home last night from a golf trip and I will be putting him to work hanging pictures and mirrors ASAP.

We are really enjoying living here.  I will have much more to share soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

A Man and His Spatula?

So my friend Kathy was over the other day and we wandered upstairs to see Cliff in his office.  He has been busy getting his home office set up.  We were looking around the room when I saw this:

Huh? Why Cliff, why a spatula??  Apparently this is his "special" tool.  Tool for what you ask.  Cliff uses this spatula to turn the lights on and off!  You see it seems his desk butts right up to the wall and he can't reach the switch!  Very resourceful, isn't he?

Here is a shot of said crevice where Cliff slides the spatula to turn on the lights.  I am now searching for a very special hook for Cliff to hang his spatula from.  Seeing Cliff using his spatula really cracks me up.

A theme of The Farmhouse has emerged and you guessed it - it has to do with a pig- a flying pig.  We are now the proud owners of this beautiful hand painted plate.

This was a house warming gift and it was painted by the same gal who did the knobs for the kitchen cabinets. I love it!! Maybe we should name the house The Flying Pig? What do you think?

It was nice having the house to ourselves this weekend.  We were able to unpack and get organized.  Tomorrow morning the guys will return with their tools and saws and messes! I am crossing my fingers that Randy, the electrician shows up and finishes up.  In other news I did take a shower in my new master bath and I am sad to report that something is wrong with the plumbing, because the water never got beyond lukewarm :(  I will be calling my buddy the plumber tomorrow morning. Thankfully the hall bath gets nice and hot. 

Bella has two new friends in the neighborhood and they are quite the lookers!  Two large, blonde, male Goldens.  They really hit it off, they ran and chased and had a great time until one of them decided to violate my sweet, innocent girl!! Really? Humping my little lady?  I am very disappointed and quite embarrassed to say I think she enjoyed the whole thing!

Thanks for stopping by.

Almost A Home

We have now spent 5 nights in The Farmhouse.  It is really shaping up, I would say 95% finished.  While the kitchen is installed the only appliance powered up the refrigerator.  For some odd reason the electrician chose to leave the power off to the other appliances.  On the positive front we have running water and ice.  The granite and the wood top are in place and Dave has to put the crown around the top of the cabinets and put in the glass tiles behind the cook top. I started putting away dishes, etc. The mudroom has been renamed - sit down for this- The Butler's Pantry! I know, I know we have no Butler and it's not even a pantry, but I like the sound of it.

My master bath is 84% complete, unfortunately the electrician (HELLO!) hung the light fixtures too low on the wall and the mirrors won't fit under the lights.  You know what that means - more mess, cutting, patching ,sanding and re-painting!  That being said I absolutely love the bathroom. I will take my first shower tonight.

The hall bath is completed except for the apothecary cabinet I ordered.  I thought it would look good hanging next to the mirror.

Here is a view of the den, but remember it's not finished.

Our bedroom is cozy, and also not quite finished.  My mirror does not fit over my dresser, as the ceiling is too low.  Remember the charm of an old house?

I thought it was funny watching this manly man hang a dainty mini-chandelier.

The rustic interior foyer has turned out to be my favorite place. Everyone should have a RIF :)

We are deciding whether to hang a mirror or a painting on the wall.  What do you think?

I would be remiss if I didn't share this funky/cute cabinet Dave did in the Butler's Pantry.

It reminds me of an Icebox from back in the day.

That's all for now, I must go try out that shower.  I took a break from cleaning and unpacking to take a delightful trail ride on Kitty.  What fun to trot through the woods with leaves crunching underneath.  Try it - you'll like it.

Thanks for stopping by.

First Night and Ghosts??

We spent our first night in The Farmhouse! The movers came back last evening and moved our bedroom furniture into the bedroom and put the dining room table and chairs in as well. It was an exhausting day to say the least!  We still have no kitchen and no master bath, but the hall bath is up and running.  I have to say I enjoyed cleaning it. Bright and early this morning Dave and Wes showed up for work.  They have now seen me in my bathrobe and you know what?  I don't care - to tired to care.  Here is what happened today:

Shutters were installed on the new windows.

Glass doorknobs added to french doors.

The rustic beams were put up.  They look exactly how I envisioned.

Dave also made a mantle out of the same wood.  Tomorrow they are taking a blowtorch to fire the ends!  Oy we don't have the smoke detectors installed yet.

I have been busy putting things away and chasing Bella every 

time she flies out the door.

Now onto my ghost story.  Remember Rosa Ponselle? My famous neighbor.  Well last night I plugged my land line into the wall jack in my bedroom.  Cliff had said his mom had called and I didn't hear the phone ring.  I was in the bedroom and that phone did not ring, so I called him from that phone and the number that came up on his cell was not our number! Wait a minute - who's number was it?   I called the number and as it was ringing in my bedroom a man answered the phone.  Creepy! Who was he? I then called Verizon and was told the number belonged to a home on Greenspring Valley Road - a home that just happened to belong to one Ms. Rosa Ponselle .. Did Rosa have a secret line installed in The Farmhouse? Just who lived here anyway?  Maybe a secret lover? Or maybe Verizon has some crossed wires. We shall find out tomorrow when they come out to staighten this whole mess out.

Big day tomorrow.  Granite goes in and then the plumbers can do their thing. It's getting there!

Thanks for stopping by.