Tuesday, June 9, 2009

tour de farmhouse part 1

What's been keeping me away from scrapbooking lately?


There's this massive project I have right now, namely remodeling the farmhouse we recently purchased. When we bought the place, I shared these photos with you, showing just a sampling of all the junk that was left by the previous owners. After weeks of digging through the rubble, pricing it and putting it into 2 yard sales, we're about $800 richer and now we can actually see the house we have to work with.


First, a tour of the outside.








The screen door doesn't shut all the way, it just flaps in the wind and it mucho-annoying. The columns are rotting, so they will need to be replaced as will the red-deck porch. We do plan to replace all the siding as there's some damage in places plus lots of mold.

As you can see, we at least need to replace the right side of the roof :)

Major leaking in one of the upstairs bedrooms helped us make the decision to get the tarp up sooner rather than later.

We also plan to replace the country-blue shutters. You can't see them very well here, but they really need some work.


ahhhh...There's the mold I was talking about and the blue shutters. Actually, for the mold to show up in this photo, that means it's really bad, because I've noticed all the bumps, dings, and nastiness generally hasn't shown up in my photos of the house.



The photo above is the left side of the house and the photo below is the right.




And now, our hangout:


From the left of the back porch (which is really the right-side of the house if you're looking at it from the front), you can see directly into the pasture the cows are grazing in now and there's a waterer within view so we get to see them fairly often sitting on the back porch.


It's wide and long and covered and so relaxing, well, minus the rotting floors, moldy siding, and the fact that we have absolutely no time to relax.....

Still, it's my favorite place on the entire property and one that I envision us using quite often. We have big plans for this area.

I'll have inside photos tomorrow, so check back then.

9 comments:

Lisa said...

Your house is going to be beautiful. It looks like it started out as a great house and someone just didn't take as good of care of it as they should. I love the peaceful setting and that back porch is to die for! Congrats on the new house - and very best wishes for the wonderful new home you will make it be!!

Hannah said...

Oh, it is just so inspirational looking at your place! Just think of all the things you could do with it! Which, I'm sure you are! It's going to be just beautiful!

Kimber-Leigh said...

oh april...it's so beautiful. i can just imagine what a huge but rewarding project it will be to get it all fixed up! can't wait to see the before and after pictures!

Davinie Fiero said...

You have my dream porch, m'dear. You will LOVE it.
You know we have a few cows every year. Well, we split them into quarters and sell them to friends in the fall when we butcher them, and in the summertime, there are many a night when a friend or two of Steve's comes over to "watch my quarter" from the back deck. If it wasn't facing West we'd love it even more in the evenings, lol.
Love the farmhouse.

Sasha said...

Oh, it's just lovely.....We are in the process of buying an old farmhouse as well, and I just love looking at all of your ideas. Very inspiring. I can't wait to get out to the country!!

AllyW said...

I would kill for that porch!!!

stephanie howell said...

um, that house (especially that porch) gives me heart palpitations. so so happy for y'all and can't wait to come visit!

Barb said...

That porch. is. perfect.

Cari Skuse said...

Lovely bones to work with, April. You have a good time doing it, but there will be times....
I have been doing the same thing for the past 3 years. Check out my blog.
As for the siding and shutters-- the shutters can be repainted pretty easy (I did that on my last house) and the siding only needs a good cleaning from a pressure washer.
They also sell front-loading washer cleaner. It does do the trick for cleaning it out, but to keep the mildewy smell away, keep the door open a little.