January 7, 2015 marked the first birthday of our farm! It is a 2100+ square foot home with 4 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms with basement on 10 acres. Please allow me to take you on a trip down memory lane, showcasing all that we’ve done in our first year on the farm.
This is what it looked like when we bought it
January 7, 2014 we officially closed and took possession of the farm. It was a crazy day with below zero temps (-4* actual high) and well below zero wind chills. There was close to 2 feet of snow on the ground and 2 days prior to closing, we had a blizzard that dumped 12 inches at our city home and 14 here at the farm! The farm is a 45 minute drive north of our city home in good roads! With a recent blizzard and below zero temps, needless to say, road salt was ineffective and our drive was very treacherous! Upon arriving, we had to have our 300 (estimate) foot driveway cleared of the mountain of snow and our new propane tank delivered. This pretty much sums up day 1 on our new farm!
Tearing out and re-building of main walls and master bedroom subfloor
The days following January 7th were spent moving which meant that every trip (no exaggerating) was in bad weather conditions and bad roads. My personal last trip was the worst! I had our 2 kids and 4 dogs loaded in my minivan. It was 10pm when I pulled away from our city home for the last time. I made the normally 45 minute drive in ice and snow covered roads and white out conditions. The white out was so bad that people were pulling off to the shoulder because no one could tell if they were actually on the road!! I trucked on. It took an hour and a half but we made it safe and sound! We also spent these days ripping out nasty old flooring and carpet, washing and cleaning everything from floor to ceiling, tearing down walls, painting and making longggg to-do lists.
old basement windows
new toilet and tile floor in toilet room of master bathroom
new basement windows
Finally on January 26, 2014 we handed over the keys to our city home which I have lived in my entire life (my grandparents were the original owners) and said goodbye. Now the fun really begins! Our new home needed soooo much work, so we got right to it….
Before I begin listing what we’ve accomplished in our first year here, I would like to let everyone know that most of the work that’s been done, we’ve done ourselves!!! It’s taking wayyy longer to get it all done this way, but as I said, we’re doing it ourselves as funds are available (no credit cards here)! My husband is truly AMAZING!! I would say the biggest job to date was tearing out all the old carpet and replacing with maple hardwood flooring. This is a job that my wonderful and talented husband has been doing himself! 1 year later, there is only 1 more room to go!
new maple hardwood flooring
Painting is another big job and another job that is still incomplete, but coming along nonetheless.
We have also turned and completely rebuilt our basement stairs, front deck stairs, tore out a wall that divided our dining room and living room to create a big spacious room, completely gutted and remodeled the main bathroom, installed new toilet and tile in the master bathroom “toilet room” (a toilet room in my definition, is just that, a small room with door for only the toilet), re-plumbed half the house, installed new tile flooring in the laundry room, installed new laundry tub, installed all new basement windows, rebuilt main walls, hung some new drywall, updated some electrical, new roof, new vinyl siding, new gutters, new entry doors and storm doors, new woodstove, new woodstove surround, built new rabbit hutch, dug up a garden plot, and planted 2 cherry trees (first of many trees we will plant in our orchard).
Old main bathroom before gutting and total remodel. So ugly and gross!
new front deck stairs
new basement stairs
As you can see we’ve come a long way since last January! We absolutely LOVE our farm and our community! We look forward to seeing what this next year brings to the farm. HAPPY HOMESTEADING HAPPY FARMING!!
new wood burning stove and tile surround
New siding and freshly painted shutters
old wall… GONE! New wall going in.