The Farmhouse

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

A New Year or How Did We Get Here?

 
This time last year I had no inkling that I would be buying an old Farmhouse and renovating it, much less blogging about it.  As Forrest Gump's mom said, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get."  How did we end up here you ask?  Let me tell you.

Last March I got involved in The Retired Race Horse Training Project. This is a program that involves local horse trainers re-training Thoroughbred after they are finished at the track.  I followed 4 trainers as they re-trained these horses for 90 days.  They posted videos online and wrote blogs about each horse.  The final presentation was held at a local horse farm in Greenspring Valley.  I gathered up my riding girls and headed over to watch these magnificent animals strut their stuff.  The farm provided a beautiful reception after the program and this is where I heard about the Farmhouse!  The owner of the farm also happens to be a real estate agent and I casually asked her if she knew of any cute little Farmhouses that were for sale. Being in her beautiful barn got me thinking of Farmhouses.  As a matter of fact she did happen to know of one that was going on the market in a month.  She told me where it was located and I filed the information away in my little brain and went on to eat the delish fried chicken and ham dinner that was offered.  The next day I casually told Cliff about the Farmhouse and he said, "Let's go see it."  So... we did and the rest is history.  Actually, the owner happened to be working outside when we drove up and we told her we were interested in seeing this cute Farmhouse. She did not invite us in because she had been painting and moved all of the porch furniture inside and she was too embarrassed to show us around.  We thanked her and left - never dreaming we may one day buy the place! The next week we arranged a proper showing and we fell in love with the house and the neighborhood, too.  We brought in a contractor to discuss the possibilities and the rest is history! Never in a million years did I think we would be living in this 100 year old Farmhouse, but like those chocolates - you never know what your gonna get.

I want to wish all a Happy & Healthy New Year.
Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Happy Holidays From The Farmhouse

I want to say Happy Holidays to all who stop by my little blog to catch up on  Farmhouse goings on.


Bella also wishes you good tidings.

As well as her equine sister, Kitty.

Even though we don't technically celebrate Christmas, we do love to participate in the merriment!  I had fun making cookies for Cliff's customers and wrapping them in these adorable bags.


I found these bags at TJ Max from Martha Stewart Crafts.  I also found great little treat boxes that I filled for the girls at the barn. I love finding these interesting ways to wrap my cookies.  And speaking of crafts I made artwork out of my mom's antique hankies.  I selected my favorite ones and mounted them in shadow boxes.


I hung these in the master bathroom.  I have oodles and oodles of hankies that I just can't part with!
Today Floors, Etc. installed the carpet runner on the steps going upstairs.  Yea!!

They also made a small runner for the steps in our bedroom and an area rug that covers the trap door for the basement.  One day soon I will give you a tour of our secret gem - the cellar.

I feel so much better now that the stairs are covered.  I really worried that either Cliff or Bella would take a tumble! I walk down like an old lady :)

I want to wish everyone a Peaceful and Happy Holiday.  Enjoy every minute.
Thanks for stopping by.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

New Project

We have decided to start work on the Carriage House, also know as The Garage.  The space is huge, but does not have working garage doors.  It has really nice sliding barn doors that only allows one car to enter.  The doors are very heavy and hard for me to open and close.

We are going to make a larger opening and have two garage doors installed. I am spoiled and used to having my car all snug in the garage.  I am not enjoying scraping windows and getting in a freezing car in the morning!  Wes is not doing this project as he is too busy working on a rehab project.  How quickly they move on.  It seemed like only yesterday he was here hammering away.  Oh wait...he was just here hammering away when he fixed the steps. Hopefully this project will take less than 2 weeks.  Sure!

I am enjoying discovering parts of the house that are old and I love the radiator covers.  Each one is different.



We also kept this old door knob on the office door.  It's really old.

Notice the keyhole. Retro!

In other news, I met with the window treatment lady today.  She will make valences for the kitchen and the bedroom.  The flooring company came to measure (AGAIN) for the runner for the steps.
Since the temperature soared into the 40's today Cliff sat on the screened porch and drank his coffee.  By the way he just started drinking coffee, can you believe it?  I see a lot of porch sitting in our future!

Thanks for stopping by.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Finishing Touches

We are not quite finished here at The Farmhouse and yesterday was a busy day.  Wes arrived bright and early to install new steps in the bedroom.  Back in July Cliff had me try out the steps that Dave had made for our bedroom.  Here's what he made:

Excuse the ugly rubber treads - we are have carpet runners made.  This proved to be too steep for us.  After living with it for a month we decided we needed the steps changed.


Much better!  Cliff stained the steps last night and now has some touching up to do.
We also had the sliding door people come by to replace the slider.  Why? We had ordered a slider that was green on the outside and white on the inside.  When it arrived the grills that divided the window were not painted white, they were bare wood.  So the geniuses (men) decided that the whole door should be replaced.  Now I think that if a woman had a say in the whole thing she would just ask that the door company paint the grids white. So two big burly men arrived yesterday morning to replace said doors.


Well - surprise, surprise - they couldn't get the door on the left to budge! I watched this for about an hour and finally put my two cents in - why can't we just paint it???  Several phone calls were made to some very important people and guess what?  They will have the doors painted! Crazy stuff!  

I have been putting some finishing touches in The Butler's Pantry as it seemed well - bland.  I found these adorable painted watering cans and thought they would be cute.


We are still waiting for the Butler to arrive :)

Another hidden gem we have discovered is this great field across from our neighborhood.  It's a great place for Bella to run and explore.


Look at her go.

Cliff has discovered a bridge on our property.  We are calling it The Bridge to Nowhere.


There are a lot of stone walls and old foundations in the woods. We will explore when the weather is better.

I finally took some photos of the upstairs.


The cozy room.  


Cliff's office.

I was supposed to meet with a window treatment lady, but she broke her front tooth and didn't want to come over. I told her I didn't care what she looked like, but she said she would come after seeing the dentist.
Oh well!

Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Am I Larry David?


When one purchases an old Farmhouse one must also purchase many things for the Farmhouse.  Cliff and I have spent many days at Lowes and Home Depot and various other stores buying necessary things to make this place livable. While we are very functional now we still need odds and ends on a daily basis.  Which brings me to my latest adventure in The Real World or as I call it - Am I Starring in a Sitcom?
As you know, we have a beautiful shower with a glass surround on two sides.  I was researching about the best way to clean the doors and most sites said that a squeegee was the way to go.  I trotted right over to my local Home Goods (no monies were exchanged for the shout out to Home Goods) to purchase a squeegee.  Wow - I was thrilled the next day when I finished my shower and squeegeed my heart out!  It's quite a thrill to squeegee in the nude!! Cliff was given explicit instructions that he too must squeegee after showering.  He said he was glad to oblige.  What a good boy :)  Anyway, image my horror when only one week later he handed me a broken squeegee. I was very sad, I couldn't believe this fine piece of craftsmanship was broken!  Armed with my now broken squeegee, I trotted back to Home Goods to return it.  One problem - I didn't have the receipt or the packaging as I didn't think it would be rendered useless in only one week. I approached the counter and stated that I would like to return this piece of crap - no- really I looked pathetically at the sales clerk and said, " Please refund my $10 for this fine piece of useless junk!"  Well she wasn't having it - no receipt - no refund! Really?? OK, I trot on back and purchase another squeegee, only problem was they didn't have the same kind.  Being that my mind works like a steel trap, I decide I will purchase this one and use this receipt to return the broken one.  Smart huh?  Enter Larry David time. I trot on back to Home Goods  a few days later (notice all the trotting I do?) wait in line , approach the sales clerk and proudly present my receipt and the broken squeegee.  She takes it from me and goes into a corner and huddles with another employee for several minutes.  Uh oh - the gig is up! She saunters back over and looks me in the eye and says, " This is the squeegee you tried to return the other day.  I waited on you." Larry, Larry do you hear this??  Now I had two choices, I could run out of the store in shame, or I could stand up for myself as an American consumer who willingly buys inferior  crap from China.  I stood tall, looked her in the eye and said, "Yes. you are right, I did return the old squeegee, but only because I feel it is my right to a refund!  She then begrudgingly said she would give me my money back.  I thanked her profusely, maybe a little too profusely. Such is my life.  I am happily squeegeeing again.

Today we had our first snow at The Farmhouse.

I also am happy to report that I applied another coat of Linseed Oil to the hearths and they look great.

We are really enjoying the gas fireplace.  It heats up the whole first floor, except the bedroom which is freezing!   When the fireplace is on the heat doesn't come on.  Cliff says we need to balance "the system".

In other news, baby Fletcher got his bandage off and seems to be just fine.  Due to inclement weather we didn't see him this week, but Josh reports he weighs a whopping 18 pounds.

Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Random Thoughts


Well Thanksgiving came and went and we have now been living in The Farmhouse for a month, give or take a day or two.  We have now had people over twice and even had the prodigal son (and puppy) and prodigal nephew sleep over. We have had family and friends stop by to see what we have been doing for the last 6 months. We are loving living here and have been busy making The Farmhouse into a home.  We have taken on several small projects around the house and I would like to share one of these said projects.  
Our fireplaces both have Blue Stone hearths.  The installer told me I could make the stone look darker by applying boiled linseed oil.  He also warned me that linseed oil is highly combustible so I needed to be very careful when disposing of any rags associated with applying the oil.  I was hesitant to try it, but after Cliff assured me he would turn the pilot off, I decided to go for it.
Here is what the hearth looked like before linseed application:


After Linseed Oil:


I loved the way it looked!  So pleased with my handy-work.
Went out to dinner at a friends and came home to this:


Hello?  The stone is absorbing the oil! How many coats of this stuff must I apply?   I tried looking it up, but couldn't find the answer.  I called the Fireplace shop and I am waiting to hear back. Triumph to disappointment in a few short hours.  Oh well...

On to other things we go.  Since we have downsized when we moved to this home, I am finding it hard to fit all of my cherished "things" into the smaller space.  One of my "cherished things" is my Gramophone.


This is older than The Farmhouse!
This was invented in the 1800's by Thomas Edison and played music by use of a cylinder attached to a revolving mechanism. No electricity was used, the crank on the side made the power.  They called the large horn a Morning Glory and it was believed to produce better sound than it's smaller counterparts.  We had trouble finding a place for it, but it is now residing in the dining area!

I am still looking for a spot for my Russian Samovar. This was passed down from my mother's family.  It was used as a tea service back in the day( not sure when - have to investigate).  I will get a picture of it.

I can't sign off without mentioning the puppy.  Fletcher spend two days with us and boy is he busy!  


Bella seems to like him, but is a little frustrated trying to play with him since he is so small.  Sadly after his time here he had an accident and broke his tiny toe!! Oh poor little baby.  He is now sporting a bandage on his back leg and the vet said he should be fine in 2 weeks. Josh is getting a real education on the fine art of puppy raising!
 
We are continuing our renovations with the addition of garage doors and new windows.  I will keep you apprised.
Thanks for stopping by.