So Many Levels of Depressing

My hubby has been working on an old farmhouse…sigh not mine.

There are some many levels of depressing with that statement. There are 3 main reasons why this is so depressing to me.1) It was a beautiful old farmhouse with lots of functionality to it. I hate seeing old houses destroyed…converted into something they were never meant to be. This place originally had gorgeous wood floors on the main floor, upstairs still has its wood floors but they are not nearly as pretty. It was originally 4+ bedrooms and 1 3/4 baths. All the rooms are/were decent sized. Each tenant that has lived/used it has sucked more and more of its character out of it. The thought of what it once was and what it could have been breaks me. I know, I’m a total sucker for old houses. I thinks its the fact that I see past the debilitated exterior and see the promise in it. Like it’s just screaming for someone to fill it with joy and laughter.

2) This place would have been a perfect fit for us if it wasn’t for its location.  It had all the basics for us. We never would have had to seriously think about additions or such. The basement and foundation were in considerably better condition than our house now. It has a good sized lot. The garage is attached. The location? Right next to a busy highway.

3) Probably the most depressing thing about it is it’s not mine. Mine, ours, sits half finished. Projects have been “resting”, most over 4 years. Livable, but not finished and every day less functional.

Problem Solved, Problem Created

 

So in solving the problem of the wood floor, I created a new problem…

…a dark kitchen. {This picture is just natural light.}

Even with the lights on it is still a little dark for me…also throw in the fact that the floor is raw wood in this picture. After varnishing it, it will look something like this {the floors age makes gives a varied color affect}…

…the cabinets will definitely be too dark together for my liking. I had thought about painting my cabinets a light grey…Stately Graystone by Valspar. I just don’t know.

My real problem is I love farmhouse kitchens and am really attracted to white. Which is ridiculous because 2 labs + 2 kids + 1 landscaper hubby = a lot of dirt. Painting my cabinets grey give me another problem, I will definitely need to repaint the kitchen. I can’t find a color that I like to go with the grey AND I always like a color that will coordinate with my Christmas decor {I know, I know…weird}.

I would love to have my kitchen look like this…

HGTV- Country Kitchen with Wood Ceiling

Minus the chrome fixtures…and I would love a double basin drainboard sink!

What do y’all think, should I be brave & white or not??

The Best Tool

I have been putting a lot of thought into a “best tool” or the “top 5 tools” post for awhile. I would have said a drill, a circular saw, and sander years ago. That’s what we had starting off. Then we got upgraded to a touchy table saw and used miter saw. This past year my hubby finally realized the gem we had in the barn in the way of a Makita table saw. It is amazing how well a good tool will work 20 years later.

All the tools in the world won’t help you if you don’t have knowledge. Two ways you can get this knowledge is looking & listening and experience. Working on our farmhouse, we have learned a lot by “experience”. Sometimes it is the hard way and sometimes it’s the even harder way.

The one tool I wished we would have utilized is the internet, granted 10 years ago when my then fiance bought the farmhouse neither one of us thought to use google. {I’m wondering if google was even popular then?} The one thing I am happy about though is all the demo we got out of the way at the beginning. We gutted every room except the kitchen, which I wish we would have done then too. {I have plans to demo one of the walls…maybe this summer.}

When we pulled up the 70’s carpet…believe me it was gross…they had put tar paper over the milk painted wood floors. I knew we had gorgeous wood from the spots that had been left bare.  We were smart when we “covered” it up, we just laid glue-less linoleum over it in the kitchen and floating laminate in our living room.

Fast forward to 2 years ago…I want wood flooring in the kitchen but that involves cutting out the old wood floors and then laying new down. OUCH on co$t!! I had always wanted to salvage the floors. I know people thought I was stupid. Or crazy. Well after scraping up the tar paper and layers of milk paint with wood chisels {yes wood chisels} in my hallway, I decided there had to be an easier way. Enter the internet…that blessed thing we didn’t have in the house the first winter. I do not know who the person was that stumbled upon this diy gem, but THANK YOU!!! I finally found the back, time, and sanity saving way to get all the layers of “good stuff” off my kitchen floor. A wallpaper steamer!!! Can I get a Hallelujah?!?!?

Before….

…After!

Internet…best tool ever!

A Little Trimming!

Well after getting the fabulous floor finished {Natural Birch} we had to trim the room. We started with adding trim to the windows, and do to the hubby’s failure to measure correctly {he rarely does anymore} we have 95% of the window trim up. My baby girl has 5 windows in her little bedroom, 5…I love windows and her views are amazing.

It’s very simple but it works with the old farmhouse feel I am going for. They will be stained dark then varnished. I know it’s somewhat backwards; technically its stain, put on wall, then varnish but oh well.

We had another little problem on my part and so we did not have enough 1×6 inch boards for baseboard. {Forget 1×6’s for finish framing her closet door.}  Then we had a “do we do the built in’s now or later” problem. We decided now, then I would not be messing up window trim on the west wall later. Even though technically we could have waited to do them after the addition. I think it’s smart to do them now, it should add value to the house. We sketched them up this evening and tomorrow we go get the supplies. Apparently the next room to be finished it A’s. So excited for my baby girl, her room is going to be fabulous!!!

Blue Funk

Sometimes you get in a blue funk and it lasts and lasts. I have been that way for about 2 months, ever since I realized my emergency hospital visit was at a hospital that is out of network…yuck. Not only is the bill outrageous but this knocks out most chances of getting our addition done in the next few years or even the house finished in the next year! I am trying to stay positive but when all your ideas were scaled back from a car dying and then feel like your dreams are totally dashed when you get the hospital bill, it is kind of hard.

Well I am happy to say I am finally on the up about the situation and working on getting small projects done and hopefully somethings accomplished by the end of the year. I have ditched my new year’s resolution of getting house finished and will be happy if I get just a couple major projects and a few small projects done.

I was working on getting the kitchen floor refinished, that meant scraping tar paper and old cracked finish off, sanded, and varnished. I had the hall section of the kitchen scraped up and we were getting a new puppy (and accidents that come with), so I put 3 coats of floor varnish on it!! The rest of it is going to have to wait until next year. (Side note: we put Duffy to sleep in July, he was in pain and stopped taking treats.) The floor looks amazing and I cannot wait to get the rest done!

The big projects I want done this year are the chicken house and the wood stove. I am usually torn each week which project I want the hubby to work on the chicken area or the stove…food or warmth people!  All we had for the Chicken house was the 6×8 platform we had started last winter. It was hard working one handed and nothing above the shoulder but we have the main structure almost finished (needs door made and windows cut out) and started fencing the area in last week. On the wood stove I can be nothing but thrilled!! Last winter in the frigid -40 degree excluding wind chill weather we had I had to look at the disconnected wood stove sitting in my living room. Did I mention I had more than 3 layers on (3 pairs of socks, people) and a blanket and I was still cold in my living room? To make things easier, and possible for the stove to get in this year, we decided to move the stove off the stone wall, read frown-y face. So far we have started on the pipe and are diy-ing a hearth pad. I know that does not sound like a lot but it is.

My small projects include…

Wood picture ledges for the master bedroom

Finishing our diy-ed TV shelf…you will love!

Finishing trim and painting in N’s room

Some work on master bedroom…drywall, trim, & paint

…there are definitely more projects I would love to get done, but this way I will be ecstatic if I get more than that done!

 

“Potential”

   “Potential“…

{the view from the road}

…the one word my then boyfriend did not want to hear. That is the word I used to describe our farmhouse when we first came to look at it, that and character.

Knowing what I do now I do not think I would use the same words to describe our farmhouse. Then again I think everyone has one of those moments in life (I think I have more than one.) Life brings knowledge, whether it be in learning a new skill to fix a flaw to learning a lesson when fixing the flaw.

{view of house from south}

{view of house from the west}

Anyway back to the house with potential. It had everything I wanted…2 stories (not a full second), a barn, acreage a.k.a. room to run, and most importantly in the middle of nowhere! It also had the aforementioned potential and character, how did it have those things??? It was old, the kitchen was huge, and the price was right = potential. On character, it had that old house cuteness and a major character builder by having to go thru the SMALL bathroom to get upstairs. Let’s talk about those stairs, they are literally 27″ wide, has 2-90 degree turns and is barely taller than my 5’7″ in height. Definitely describes character does it not? Now my sister in law who is barely 5′ (probably taller but not sure) thinks those stairs are perfect. Love her!!

{the bathroom…and stairs}

Excuse the black and whiteness of these pictures, in the future it will be color, but the bathroom and stair wallpapers would blind anyone! Now my boyfriend (now husband) did not know any better at the time, and even though he questioned my judgement (which he reminds me whenever we tackle a new project) fell for his girl’s pleading.

Lesson learned? Think twice when basing a home purchase on character and potential. The reasoning may not be the best for you…