— Filed under Farmhouse Life, Yard & Garden —

Summer at the Farmhouse

We’ve had a busy summer so far! After closing on our house, we’ve been working on renovations almost every day for the past five weeks! We’re making great progress, and we love going out there every day. It’s just such a peaceful place. Although our days are long, I haven’t felt this happy, relaxed, and at home in a really long time.

I’ve always considered myself a city girl (coming from Chicago and all), but there is one time of my life I don’t think about often enough. When I was a child, I used to spend weekends on my grandparents’ farm. Visiting our farmhouse every day and seeing the long forgotten sights has jogged my memory a bit. Without cable and video games, I instead spent hours in clover fields, went for long walks on deserted gravel roads, pet the cows and horses (and got zapped by the occasional electric fence), caught frogs at the pond, and explored the hidden treasures in the barns.

Although it’s not as large, I’m happy to have my own little slice of this kind of life.

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— Filed under Uncategorized —

Hello Farmhouse!

Our house search began over 10 months ago. We wanted to skip the starter home step, so we were looking for something we could see ourselves in long term which meant that we were going to be a bit picky about our requirements:

  • We were most picky about architecture and character. Farmhouses, Victorians and colonials are our favorite, but we also looked at Craftsmans and even a prairie style home. We told our realtor we probably wouldn’t be interested in seeing homes built after the 1940s. You should have seen her face when she heard that. Bless that woman for sticking with us to the very end! Ideally, we wanted a house at least 90 years old.
  • Size: It’s so easy to go too big when it comes to old houses. A house with three bedrooms and around 2,000 square feet would fit us perfectly.
  • Lot size: A quarter acre or more is ideal.
  • A two car garage was a must for him.
  • And a basement or cellar was a requirement for me. I need a place to cower when tornadoes come to town!

I have always been very fond of old farmhouses, so I held out hope that we could find one (the ones with a center gable are my ultimate weakness!). Despite our rural area, they are hard to find. The farmhouses that did go on the market were small ones less than 1,000 square feet—not enough space for our needs.

Our farmhouse fixer upper

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