Our first farmhouse Christmas

My son found these while exploring the woods near our property.
Merry Christmas, y'all!

Lumber for the house arrived on Christmas Eve (as did the last delivery of kitchen cabinets that I ordered from IKEA—after a less than efficient ordeal).  We estimated what we would need for the joists and walls both upstairs and down and placed one large order with Home Depot.  It helps that my husband works in construction and knows Home Depot’s processes and orders a lot of materials from them, but they give at least a small discount on any really big orders.  Also, the delivery fee is nominal and you can order as much as you want for one delivery, so we ordered as much as we could think of to maximize our delivery.  The order actually arrived Christmas Eve morning and floor joists started going up that evening as soon as my husband and father-in-law could get to it. 

We had a wonderful first Christmas in our new home.  The kids were concerned about Santa being able to get in, however, since we do not have a fireplace (yet) in this house.  We plan to build a fireplace into our plans—not only for Santa but also because every charming farm house should have a proper fireplace or even a wood-burning stove or pellet stove for heat.  (I am doing some research on pellet stoves right now.  It might be the economical and environmentally friendly solution I am looking for as we try to keep our house a little warmer.  More on how much colder it is out here later.) 

Our girls both got new bikes since their favorite past time since we moved out here has been riding up and down our road just for fun or to check the mail.  They love that they no longer have to wait for me to come outside with them if they want to ride their bikes.  I love that for them too.  My son got a home gym set up that he keeps in the carport—a great outlet for burning teenage testosterone.  Like just about every other day that we have been out here, everyone ended up outside by the end of the day.  The kids were either riding bikes, playing with dogs or cats, or shooting bb guns and/or pellet guns.  My husband and father-in-law were outside putting up more floor joists.

No rest for the weary.  Presents got opened and everyone went right back to work.  This was the progress as of Christmas dinner.

As I do every year, I spent my afternoon preparing Christmas dinner.  My current kitchen is considerably smaller than my old kitchen and has only one oven and a stove that is not on my list of favorites, but we made it work.  Besides, the best part of Christmas dinner is sharing it with family.  I do look forward to preparing Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner in my new kitchen next year though!

My suburban kitchen had a 36" 5 burner cooktop and top of the line double convection ovens.  This does not.

The red is now gone in favor of white.
Soon the cabinets will be gone as well.

Notice how inconveniently located the dishwasher is.
You can't cook and clean up at the same time as the dishwasher opens right into the oven.

Soon there will be double ovens and full counter-depth cabinets on this wall.  We also plan to expose the ship lap behind the paneling and install open shelving on this wall.

Party #1

My husband and I always have loved to entertain.  When we remodeled the kitchen at our suburban house, we did it with entertaining in mind.  We had a massive kitchen that could host up to 24 people for a seated meal or 50+ for a mix and mingle event.  We love to enjoy time with friends and family.  Our new place is about 30 minutes further away now, and we worried that the distance might keep folks away. 

My son finally fell in love with football this year.  Sunday afternoons in the fall have always been family football watching time, but the kids tend to wander in and out of the room and just check on scores rather than really watching the way my husband and I do.  That really changed this year.  I suppose it was the fact that the boys where my son takes some of his homeschool outclasses play football during their break time that did it.  He’s become an absolute fanatic.  (The fact that he has hit the teenage years and has testosterone to burn helps too.) 

Two football-field-sized pastures flank our front drive.

Our property is laid out so that we have a long driveway (nearly 1000 feet) that splits our property in two.  Basically, you drive passed two football fields as you come in.  Up until mid-November, these were two large hay pastures, but my son could see ahead and realized that the pastures would be perfect for a football field.  He asked if he could have a football birthday party.  Excellent idea!  This would be our trial run on entertaining.

We set the date and time and invited family and friends—mostly, pre-teen and teenage boys.  I expected about half of the ones we invited to come, but just about everyone came.  I made sure to prep parents for the distance of the drive and provided detailed directions since not all GPS systems know where we are (only iPhone gets it right—Android sends you across the street or to a demolished house up the road).  I even warned parents of the construction site behind the house and of the fact that we have only one bathroom (and that I typically tell the guys to go behind the shed or find a tree).  Even the threat of a seriously muddy pasture didn’t keep anyone away.  It ended up being one of the best birthday parties we have ever hosted—essentially 15 teenage boys playing football for 3 hours straight, stopping only to eat cupcakes (decorated like footballs, of course) and pour water, Gatorade and/or Dr. Pepper down their throats.

While the boys played football, I gave moms tours of the “before” house and explained my vision and plans for the “after”.  Some parents stayed and visited.  Others checked out Buccees or local antique shops.  Once all the friends had gone home, family stuck around for a casual steak dinner. 

It was a great first party!  We look forward to many more to come.

The King

We almost lost the King this week, Mr. Elvis the King, that is—one of our beloved beagles.  He had a nasty run in with one of the dangers of living in the county.

Mr. Elvis the King in his "hardhat" (actually a facemask).

Our home sits on piers so it is a good 3 or 4 feet off the ground leaving quite a bit of room underneath for furry friends (and vermin) to run around.  Additionally, we are surrounded by pastures, which critters love to inhabit as well.  Referencing a previous post regarding the formerly rat-filled trailer and the rat nest discovered under the old bathtub, there is plenty of evidence of unwelcomed rodents on our 9 acres.  To combat this issue (and because above all other critters, my husband hates rats the most), there was quite a lot of rat poison tossed underneath the house to try to get a jump on things.  The crawlspace had been pretty well sealed off for animals the size of our dogs (20-30 pounds), but then construction started.

Long story, short: the dogs must have gotten under the house and partaken of some rat poison.  We notice Elvis was feeling out of sorts—a little sluggish for him is like lethargic for any other dog.  He didn’t seem to have much of an appetite and looked uncomfortable going up and down the front steps.  I decided to keep an eye on him for the morning (the same morning our piers were being dug) before I called the vet.  After all, they are beagles and eat nearly anything in sight, edible or not.  Sometimes they get a tummy ache that some Tums will take care of.  This was not that. 

Again to keep things short (and not too gross)… He ended up losing a lot of blood—nearly all of it I’d say.  And he lost it all on my entry way floor.  Child #1 discovered it.  Child #3 came to check out the commotion and screamed bloody murder.  Child #2, my future vet, remained calm while I gave the floor a quick clean-up and then went with me as we rushed the King to the vet.  He was completely out of it and as pale as a tricolor beagle can be.

Although we now live in a small town, we have two good vet clinics in town, one of which is quite a large practice and cares for animals of all sizes.  They took Elvis back immediately and found that his body temp was about 5 degrees below normal at which point the doc told me that saving our canine friend was going to be expensive.  He said this with a seriousness that scared me a little because really, isn’t a trip to the vet always expensive?  If he’s saying this is going to be expensive, it must really be something.  I asked for a ballpark figure.  He gave me a number and then asked if I still wanted to go ahead with treatment.  He asked this as my 11-year-old stood right by my side hugging on her beloved pet.  I didn’t think that was very fair.  How could I say no (even though I watched ski trips and renovations flash before my eyes as I considered the drain this would be on our bank account)?  But of course, I do love the King and couldn’t imagine our home without him, so I gave the doc the go ahead.  They whisked him away and told us they would update us later in the day.

We went back to visit Elvis later that afternoon.  He was stable but definitely out of it.  He normally lives up to the words of his namesake: he ain’t nuthin’ but a hound dog cryin’ all the time.  He’s very, very vocal.  He barely made eye contact with us that afternoon, but they assured us that he was making progress after his blood transfusion.  He had improved by leaps and bounds by the following afternoon, and we were allowed to bring him home.  He howled with glee when he saw us this time, so much so that the entire vet clinic staff came in to see what was going on.  As we walked him out, the staff proudly declared that Elvis had left the building.

Elvis still needed several days to recover from the blood loss and was always cold, so the kids kept his favorite blanket handy for him at all times.

When it’s done raining, it’s time to pour

The cement truck arrived this morning, but the driver wasn’t completely certain he had actually arrived.  The weather has turned and gotten much warmer over the last few days, so we had a thick layer of fog this morning.  Our house is nearly 1000 feet off of the road, so we were very difficult to spot.  My father-in-law and husband got in the truck and started honking the horn and flashing the headlights until they were spotted.  Once he realized he was in the right place, he headed to the back of the property and the pouring began (after everyone had to scream and wave their arms at him to keep him from running over our new septic tanks with his giant cement truck).  The rest of the day was spent levelling the cement in each individual hole (the workers we had hired had already run string lines and determined the right depth, etc. for the holes).

It was a messy day (for them), but one more thing is checked off the list.  And one more large check is written.

A few days later, lumber was delivered and they started leveling the beams.  Another large load of lumber is coming Christmas Eve.  Then, the real fun starts.

Holes

This post has nothing to do with the book or the movie with Dule Hill in it.  It is only to say that...

We have holes!!

Holes that are laid out for piers for our addition!  It turns out that one of my husband’s cousins also has purchased a local property with an old house on it and will be adding on in similar fashion to what we are doing.  The guys he has working over there have now come over here to do some work for us.  The holes are all dug and ready for concrete to set piers.  I am beyond happy that we are moving so quickly.  We have a habit of postponing or dragging out projects, but I don’t think this will be one of those.  For one, my father-in-law is half-retired and is no better at sitting still than I (in fact, he’s probably 10 times worse), so this is a joy for him to contract.  Secondly, I’m pretty sure my husband realizes that my sanity (and thus, his) are closely tied to the completion of this project, so there’s no time to waste.  From what I hear, concrete will be on its way later in the week and lumber is set to be delivered shortly after.

Outdoor entertaining

Since the day we started moving in, it has been cold and rainy.  Really cold (for our neck of the woods) and really rainy.  Working outside has been anything but an appealing idea.  This weekend, however, the sun finally decided to come out.  It was still cold and very windy, but at least it’s not wet.  Looking ahead to my son’s birthday coming up this weekend, he and I decided that we needed to upgrade our outdoor space while my husband got to work on the horse stalls.

Before--scraggly and NOT pretty or inviting.

We have a circle drive in front of the house with some lovely trees creating a fabulous spot for outdoor entertaining.  Previous Owner had left a firepit behind in this area, but it was surrounded by broken bricks and piles of limbs and sticks and sad, patchy grass.  Conveniently, we had some leftover gravel from when my father-in-law leveled out our road.  This would be the perfect base for a fire pit area and would cover up the patchy grass.  My son and I surveyed the area and decided the best way to lay things out and asked Grandpa to bring over the big tractor to move a few loads of gravel to our spot.  We planned where we would place our existing outdoor furniture and the small metal fire pit we already had, intending to add a stone pit in the future.

A trip to McCoy’s for supplies for the horse stalls led to a serendipitous finding.  As my husband was getting the trailer loaded up with wood and tin, I noticed a fire ring package in front of the store—3 layers of 4 perfectly-sized cement bricks forming a perfectly-sized fire ring—exactly what I had envisioned.  I was certain it would be out of the price range I had budgeted, but I decided to check anyway.  That piece was half-off that day and fit my budget exactly!

We got home and all three kids got to work.  We trimmed hedges that looked like they hadn't received any attention since the 90s, raked leaves and got to work on our outdoor entertaining space.  The kids leveled out the gravel Grandpa had moved for us and found and placed rocks to create a surround for the gravel.  (They worked SO HARD and refused to take breaks!)  My son and I marked the spot for our pit and hauled and stacked each of the twelve 40+ pounds bricks in place.  By nightfall, we had a fire blazing and marshmallows roasting while hot cocoa was working in conjunction with the fire to warm us all up.  I foresee many more days and evenings being spent out here.

The sofa was a dumpster find a while back.  We cut it down to a smaller width and painted it.  The cushions were a great buy at Garden Ridge where I also purchased cushions for the chairs on our front porch.

It's amazing what a coat of spray paint can do to a yucky old bench, which, by the way, is a teeny tiny kid bench and is super cute.  We need guests with tiny kids to come sit on it.

The black adirondack was made by my husband's grandfather years ago.  It is one of the sturdiest chairs I own.

A few days later, the kids decided we needed a tire swing, so they took it upon themselves to haul over an old tire, found some rope and figured out how to get the rope over a sturdy limb.  Working together, they heaved the tire up and tied it up as securely as three kids can do.

Another Before shot

Really overgrown and unpruned shrubs + a dingy brick red door.  The door has been repainted a fabulous juicy red--"Scarlet" from Home Depot.

Before

Before

Everyone helps

Our new homestead and project for the next several months is definitely a family affair.  All three kids have picked up hammers, drills, sledges, pry bars, shovels, rakes and more to pitch in and help with the work around here.  They have raked leaves, moved dirt, hauled wood and dirt and gravel and even demolished an old playhouse all on their own.  We turned them loose on it one afternoon having given them safety precautions and the proper tools.  They had so much fun that they didn’t want to quit once it started getting dark.  My son finished off the job on his own a few days later by pulling the 4x4 posts out of the ground all on his own.  He even moved all the scrap wood to the appropriate save or burn piles without being asked.

No one wanted to quit just because it was getting dark.

I love seeing my children get their hands dirty and pour some of their own sweat into this project.  Like anything else, they appreciate things more when they have had a hand in it.  Allowing them to play such a visible role does wonders for their confidence as well.  They feel so grown up when we hand them a drill or a small sledge and ask them to take care of a task while we take on something else.  The responsibility boosts their egos in a really healthy way.  My dad never seemed afraid of taking on a large fix-it task and trusted me to help him even at a young age.  That built something invaluable in me.  He taught me to think that I could do just about anything—at the very least I could at least try.  I want my children to have that same confidence.  It’s so great to see them working together too.  When they started demo on the playhouse, they divided out the jobs and assigned the sections where each would be working.  They each took on pieces of a larger task and worked as a team to accomplish a larger task.  Isn’t that what they will be doing in their adult jobs one day? 

New septic system goes in

Because we are so very rural out here, we do not have city services which means no water and no sewer.  We rely on a well and a septic system instead.  My father-in-law had an updated water tank installed for our well, and our septic system was definitely in need of updating.  It likely was installed over 70 years ago and was really too close to the well along with being too small and in the wrong spot entirely (right where we want to add on). 

We had plans drawn up weeks ago and vetted several installers/maintenance companies after getting referrals from other rural dwelling friends.  We have chosen Hurts Waste Management from Ganada, Texas, to do our install.  From what we have heard locally, they are the ones to go with.  They had hoped to get the new system installed the week of Thanksgiving (our move-in week), but the weather had other plans.  It was basically cold and rainy the entire time we were moving in and hoping for that new system.  It dried out within a week, and the morning of December 2^nd, the trucks arrived.  As promised, they were in and out that very day.  I now have a modern system that can handle a 3000 square foot house full of girls, large family parties, and a future barndominium.  They also left us a nice, large pile of dirt that we used to level out our back pasture where our horse stalls will be.

Check one more thing off the list.  And write one more big check.

The Main (and Only) Bathroom or $1500 and 40+ Woman-Hours Later

When we were a couple of weeks away from move-in, the bathroom that had been gutted needed to get finished.  Thanks to Pinterest and the afore mentioned Excel spreadsheet and a lot of online and in-store price shopping, this bathroom—the only bathroom—has been the very picture of budget consciousness.

I wanted the bathroom to have a classic look that stayed consistent with the age of the home.  I don’t want it to look like it is still the 1930s, but I want things to look like they might have been here in the ‘30s.  The heart of the design actually began with a piece we bought at Round Top last year that we had intended to use as a vanity for our girls’ bathroom at our old house.  It’s a charming 1920s china hutch that is perfectly sized for this bathroom.  The gentleman from whom we purchased it had refinished it already, so all we needed to do was add a sink and faucet.  The faucet I found on eBay for $40.  The sink was a clearance steal at Lowes for $20—down from $70.  (I’ve made it a habit to go through both local Lowes stores after dropping the kids off at school to see what treasures lie waiting in the clearance aisle.  I scored a $300 bathtub for $105 there as well.  It will go in my son’s bathroom.)

Obviously, a china hutch isn’t intended to be a vanity, so some work had to be done to it.  We cut a hole in the top for the sink and removed the drawers from the center.  I cut the whole drawer off of the top drawer front to make room for the sink and with the help of a table saw and a jig saw, reworked the bottom drawer to fit around the plumbing pipes.  In doing that work, I made a fun discovery.  Whoever originally crafted this piece signed and dated it on the bottom of one of the drawers (“H Holmes 3-8-26”).  I hope H Holmes would approve of my reworking of his craftsmanship or at least appreciate that his piece is still very much being put to use.

From there, I started brainstorming and laying out a design plan and started checking our usual spots for good deals.  Floor’n’Décor Outlets has become my favorite place for all flooring and tile projects.  They have a fabulous selection and great prices.  I knew I wanted to stay relatively neutral with my tile since the vanity is an antique yellow.  In browsing their site, I found exactly what I wanted for the floor as well as for the shower surround and walls—a variegated grey penny-round tile for the floor to which I would add a band of white penny-rounds for interest and grey and white subway tile for the shower and bathroom walls.  Both groups of tiles were listed online at a great price ($3/square foot or less), so my budget was happy.  HOWEVER… When I was a week away from being ready to buy the tile (and waiting on a check to make the purchase possible), I went to the store to check their inventory and they had none.  No one knew when it would be in either.  I had my heart set on that tile, so I just hoped and prayed it would come in.  We were on a deadline simply because it is the only bathroom and we were getting ready to move in.  5 people need tile in the bathroom.

A week later—the day I had to have tile in hand—I went back in and still no tile on the shelves.  Then Jorge came to my rescue.  Unlike some of the other “workers” there (they get "" because they weren't working very hard), he was willing to go comb through the backroom for my tile.  While my husband and I waited and searched for a viable alternative (one that matched both style and price of my first choice), Jorge searched the back.  He came out with a flatbed full of my penny-round tiles!  I realize it’s just tile, but it was the only tile I LOVED, so I was thrilled.  Next to find the wall tile, which now appeared to be on close-out and in very short supply.  Jorge to the rescue again.  He crawled on the floor under the shelves to pull out exactly as much as we needed plus some extra, just in case.  Our flatbed was full and we were right on budget.  Next, up… Lay the tiles.

Jorge searching for my grey subway tiles.

Our flatbed full of tile.

 My husband and I have tiled plenty of rooms in our 15 year marriage.  We have remodeled a 300+ square foot kitchen and a large master bathroom, both with lots of tile involved.  Penny-rounds were something new though.  Subway tiles were a first as well.  And I don’t think I quite realized just how big my only bathroom was.  It is about an 8’x10’ space with 9.5’ ceilings.  Suffice it to say that besides the time it took my husband and father-in-law to replace and repair subflooring, repair and replace plumbing, install the bathtub, etc., it took me well over 40 hours to tile, grout and seal all of the tile.  Up to that point, a welcome side-effect of staying home this year was great nails.  This project ended that.  I think it’s going to take a few more manicures to get them back into shape.  In the meantime, however, I will lie back in my nice clean bathtub and admire the floor to ceiling subway tiles gleaming in my shower.  (I will also take time to enjoy the other amazing deals I got for this space:

• $38 for the $99 ceiling fixture I had wanted all along (Thank you, Home Depot Clearance aisle!)
• $25 for the antique wall cabinet that now houses our piggy bank
• $25 for the marble top side table for bath essentials
• $45 for 6 yards of yellow cotton Oxford stripe fabric from Fabric.com for an extra-long shower curtain to complement the height of the room (Unfortunately, in the move, this fabric went MIA for a while, so we had only a clear shower curtain liner making any bathroom overlap unlikely.  With the shower curtain in place now, one person can brush their teeth or use the toilet while someone else is in the shower.)
• $20 for a mirror I bought on a whim at a local antique store a couple of years ago
• $5 for a wall-mounted magnifying mirror from IKEA (I had prepared to spend $40 at Bed Bath and Beyond.)
• 30% off paint at what previously had been my local Sherwin Williams because they were sad I was moving

I failed to mention that because of a myriad of factors, the bathroom was not entirely complete come move-in day.  The sink and toilet were fully functional, but the shower needed grout and sealing so we spent several nights showering at the Rectangle (my in-laws’ place)—inconvenient but definitely a blessing for the interim.

I am super proud of this bathroom!  Our family of five has learned to share the space very well, and I still like to go in there just to look at how pretty it is.

dual-flush system--press the left button for #1, right for #2