We are incredibly excited about the farm because we feel like it will be a great place to settle down and carve out a pretty cool life. The plan is for said life to include a workshop, goats, fruit trees, a guest apartment, a tractor of course, and many other awesome things. Those things are just a means to an end though – the ultimate goal is to be able to provide fantastic experiences for friends, family, and the rare people who manage to fall into both of the previous categories.

Originally I was going to cover the whole project here, but as the house section quickly grew, it became obvious that this will best be done in installments. That has the added bonus of giving you, dear reader, several things to look forward to over the coming days.

The House

The existing house was built in 1900, according to tax records. I’m not sure if that is the exact date, or if somebody rounded that number off at some point. By my reckoning the original house measured 16’x32′ and consisted of two rooms. Most of the wood used looks like red oak and poplar. The fireplace, the rear of which is now a part of the master bedroom, is limestone. The floors, surely not original, are pine. The walls and ceiling are beaded board. We will preserve those a best as possible, even if we have to remove and reinstall some materials. There were at least four additions over the years – a bedroom off the front (future guest bedroom), a bedroom to the side (future master bedroom), as well as a bathroom, kitchen, and living space off the back (all removed due to horrible quality of construction).

It would seem that the people who built the house and others who subsequently lived there were never wealthy. The quality of materials and workmanship were not impressive, neither on the original section or the additions. There is something to be said for the fact that it has stood for over a hundred years though. Unfortunately there are some pretty serious issues that need to be addressed. They are primarily related to the foundation and will be expensive to repair. One of the main beams supporting the house has been destroyed by rot and termites. The house has settled dramatically, especially at the front, where they laid a block wall without first pouring footings for said wall to sit on. So now that the back of the house is torn off, the first order of business is to get the foundation repaired and the house leveled. Nothing else can happen until that is complete. And of course this is the worst time of year for concrete work. Between the cold and rain/snow the foundation company has gotten very backed up. I have no idea when they’ll be able to get to us.

So after removing the back of the house we are left with about 1000 square feet. We will put an addition back on the rear of the house – it will be a little bigger than what was there, and not poorly built. It will be roughly 15 feet by 48 feet. Once completed the house will have three bedrooms and two and a half baths, along with a little “creative space” for Liz. It won’t be a big house – about 1700 square feet, but it should meet our needs.

As previously mentioned, we are keeping and reusing as many materials as possible. In addition to what’s in the house I tore down three sheds on the property, so we have lots of barn wood and tin available. Liz describes her vision for the house as “modern farmhouse”. I’m not sure exactly what that means, but an education is surely coming. I am doing my best to find affordable sources of cool materials. Craigslist has been great and we will probably get quite a few things at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore as well.

The house will be simply laid out, and I like to think that it is an efficient floor plan. Of course I would though, since I designed it. I do feel like crafting smaller spaces is more difficult than larger ones since you need to cram more into less. Hopefully our house won’t feel cramped though. In nice weather we plan on spending lots of time outside, and we will have the garage/apartment for overflow.

This will be a pretty comprehensive renovation. We are running a new water line from the street and all plumbing will be new. We will reuse the HVAC unit because it is fairly new, but all of the ductwork will be replaced. All of the electrical will be redone too. I have already pulled off all of the vinyl siding that covered two sides of the house, and the remaining shiplap will eventually come off as well. I will then put on new OSB sheathing and LP Smartside siding. We are getting a new septic system too.

I am pretty excited about a couple of elements in the house. First is the large, well equipped kitchen. It will have plenty of room for cooking and baking, along with adequate storage for all of our utensils and materials. Can’t wait to start processing some pumpkins in there! Second is the wood-burning fireplace insert. I sure miss burning wood, and the insert will be attractive and efficient. Below is one of the models that we are considering.

Well, that does it for this installment. I hope to get up details about the rest of the project over the coming days.