Signature Pieces

We started our original design concept for our home with one piece. We both fell in love with it right after we were married and built a room/home around it. We've continued with this trend and found two pieces that fit our style and ideal for the farmhouse. This first was a piece we just happened upon on our night away a few weekends ago. We just went into this thrift store and it called to us. Here it is set up in what will be our dining room!

The second piece was more of a visionary piece. Some friends were giving this secretary away and I had to have it. I've never done any real wood working before, so when my folks were here they offered to take a stab at it. We cannot express how much we love it! It is just beautiful and after almost a week of work we can't wait to put it out in the farmhouse.

Here is what it looked like before my folks started on it...

The finished product....

Thanks Mom and Dad. This is something that we will cherish for the years to come and always think of you when we use it!

Farmhouse Family Upgrade

My folks were able to stay with us at the farmhouse for 3 nights. They were such a huge help to us out there, considering the heat, lack of AC and well a comfortable bed. After taking a red eye they were still keen on working and helping and over the long weekend we got tons accomplished.

Laurelea got a new tire swing for the front yard! She loves it!

Cory and my Dad built a new dining room table. They used an existing old door and wood they found in the basement. After a full day of work we now have an 8 person table that just needs a fresh coat of paint for just the cost of the screws!!!

Mom and I decided to clean the tub and the wall paper started calling to  us.. so we spent the next few hours pealing off the last layers of wall paper in the bathroom..

 Dad checking in to make certain he didn't want any part of this fun...

 Mom and I also finished one room (we still have the floors to do) but otherwise after 5 months we can say that we have 1 bedroom completed. We painted the ceiling, baseboards and doors.

 They had to build the table in the dining room... so here is where it will stay! I'm so happy with how it turned out!

L is too!

 Cory and my Dad also redid the plumbing in the tub. We now have a working shower..this is progress.

Thanks again Mom and Dad for all your help!

Demo Guys Weekend

Two weekends ago some friends from the hood joined Cory at the farmhouse to demo the bathroom. They did a lot of work, drank some and of course built a huge fire. Here are some pictures of our progress...

This was the bathroom before

closet no more

opened up the wall so plumbing could be fixed

beautiful isn't it?

Parlor Facelift

 We only went out to the Farmhouse for one night this weekend. My goal was to get the parlor in shape. After painting the bedroom wood paneling last weekend, I'm on a paint and cover the wood paneling kick. We went with white, as I thought the wains coating was also white. I'm sure at some point it was, but it will now need to be retouched to the same white. We hope to have fun funky colorful art in here to brighten up the room. Even after just changing the room from brown to white it really does lighten it up and make it appear bigger.

We didn't paint the one wall as that will be removed shortly to open up the rooms 

And here is a picture of what the room looked like before...

Cory's Stool

We were out on a walk a few months ago and Cory saw an old tattered leather stool. He picked it up and I thought he was nuts. He removed the legs and then built a new bottom for it, and the idea grew on me. So after sitting in our basement for a few months, I finally bought some foam, batting and some fabric that I liked to cover it. Overall it looks pretty good. I'm still struggling with the sides, so it will probably take a little more tweaking before I'm okay with it. I bought some extra material so that I can make some pillows for the couches to match.

Stool with the foam on top

my friend the staple gun

finished

Cork Board

had to have some wine for this project

Since Cory moved to DC 5 plus years ago, we have been collecting wine corks from bottles that we've shared 366 to be exact. I found a cheap 20/24 frame at a thrift store for two dollars and we set out to make a cork board for the farmhouse.We painted the frame white and decided on a cork pattern. Then with a glue gun we attached each cork to the board. 

Cory classified the corks so that we would not have an over representation of a certain wine in one area...He also had to cut a few corks to make our pattern work with the size.

We like the finished product so much that we hung it in our kitchen....hopefully, it will make it's way out to the farmhouse.

2 Months In...

We realized this weekend that we have owned the farmhouse for two months. We feel like progress is being made, considering that we really only have 2 to 3 hours each day (when L is sleeping), I think we are doing okay. Maybe by 2015 we will have furniture and the place looking like we want it to... 

This weekend we hired a lawn guy. Might seem pretty basic, but when the grass was over 2 ft high something needed to happen... 

mowed lawn

view of the road from our yard

the geese were thrilled that the yard was mowed 

We have some beautiful peonies coming up in several places on the property

love how green it is right now

view of the side property

 We have a lot of large trees on the property. Here is a shot of them...

We shifted gears and feel like we made progress on one of the bedrooms. We painted the wood paneling, a light grey and the closet white. We used spray paint for the closet and other than needing to keep L away due to the fumes,  it worked well to spray paint the closet doors, although it did take 5 cans of spray paint. We used Valspar paint and primer and am happy with the product and results.

closet

 We pulled up this nasty old carpet to find an even older rug. The floors in this room are my favorite so far. They in great shape and the wide wood paneling. Can't wait to get these refinished, but for now this random old rug that was under the carpet will serve a purpose...

Here is a picture of what the room looked like before! We still need to do some touching up and paint the molding, but progress has been had to room #3.

Before

The bathroom wallpaper removal is also coming along.