Tying together the old and new with exposed shiplap

As we have torn into walls in the existing house, we have discovered much about the building practices of the 1930s.  It's truly wonderful really.  

When we first looked at the property, I took note that I could not see any evidence of termite damage (odd for a house of any age in this part of the country).  The first time we cut into an existing wall, I figured out why.  I have always loved the smell of cut lumber—it reminds me of my dad working in the garage nearly every weekend I can remember.  I especially love the smell of cut cedar, and that is exactly what I smelled when we cut into one of our walls.  Not only is every wall lined with 1 inch thick shiplap, but every stud and every wall board is cedar—no wonder the termites aren’t interested.

Guide to types of siding.  See shiplap in the middle.

The fact that every wall has 1” shiplap on each side is great when you want to hang something heavy (no more searching for a stud).  (If you aren’t familiar with “shiplap”, it refers to the charming wood planked walls that are so popular, and all over Pinterest, right now.)  It really evokes the classic farmhouse feel—once you peel off the two layers of paneling, three layers of wallpaper and a layer of flour sack fabric. 

The famous ” Feed sack dress” – 1940s ration fashion.
Not just for dresses

That’s right—flour/feed sacks lined my walls.  I suppose this was their method of insulation.  The fabric was nailed to the walls and wall paper was layered over that.  What a great way to use something more than once!  My grandmother and great grandmother made quilts, dresses, kitchen linens and so much more with feed sacks.  Why not line your walls with it?...

As soon as I discovered the shiplap, I knew I wanted to expose at least some of it and decided the best spot would be the kitchen wall where I want to put open shelving for dishes and dry goods.  It was a very dusty process, but I got the wall cleaned off, nails, tacks and staples removed, seams caulked and boards primed, and now I have a perfectly farmhouse-y background in my kitchen.  (It does, however, still need a few coats of paint before shelves go up.  I’m waiting for counters to be completed before I do that.)

Exposed shiplap after most of the wall paper came down.

Existing exposed shiplap was caulked primed and painted.
We will add exposed shelving after the counters are installed.

We will open up the space between the existing house and the addition soon, and I really feel like we need to do something to tie the two spaces together.  When I discovered that the local lumber yard carries the same size shiplap as they used on my house nearly 80 years ago, I decided that an exposed shiplap wall in the new dining room was the way to go.

I priced shiplap at the local lumber yard as well as McCoy’s and Sutherlands in the nearby town.  I even discovered that Home Depot carries it.  Wait!  Not true.  They list it on their website but do not stock it anywhere I could find within 150 miles.  It turns out that my local lumber yard, which closes every weekday at 5:00, noon on Saturdays and is closed on Sunday, must be more suited to older homes as they carry shiplap in a variety of lengths and have the best prices and great service.

At our local lumber yard.  They load it all on the truck for you.

My husband and I showed up at the lumber yard one Saturday morning with Grandpa’s big ranch truck (a King Ranch edition F350 that I sort of have a crush on), placed our order and got loaded down with boards for my dining room wall.  (Actually, it wasn’t loaded down at all—not like our F150 would have been.  I’m thoroughly impressed with the load capacity of this truck—hence, the crush I have on it.)

From there, my husband installed my wall, sometimes using rather comical methods.  Since wood is natural and there are no straight lines in nature, not every board slid right into place.  Many needed some coaxing, coercing or just plain man-handling to get into place.  It is now completed and also ready for paint.  I absolutely love the look of it and can’t wait to see what it all looks like once everything is completed.

They even let me be really picky about which boards I want to keep and the ones I don't like.  Here, my husband is checking to see how straight the boards are.

Not all the boards were perfectly straight--some required some flexibility and brute force to get them into place properly.

Slight change of plans

When we set out on this adventure, the intention from the very beginning was the biggest DIY project we had taken on.  My husband and his dad love working together, and so much of this has really been their project.  My father-in-law has played the role of general contractor on most of the things we have hired out and has spent more time on the site than the rest of us.  Change of plans now…

The kids say prayers every night at bedtime and almost always ask the Lord to cover and protect anyone working on our house—Dad, Grandpa, me, friends, and any hired workers.  They also worry that Grandpa works too hard and needs to slow down.  This week, gravity forced him to slow down.

While moving the scaffolding with the help of a worker who has been out here a few times, Grandpa decided not to wait to hand off a section of scaffolding support and to toss it to the ground instead.  The area was clear so he let it go.  It, however, did not let him go.  Some piece of it caught on his glove and took him down, 15 feet, right along with it.  I was inside working on the computer and heard something metal fall.  It sounded like a ladder.  Many would jump at the sound, but I hear construction stuff going on all day long; I generally wait to hear voices after something falls so I know everyone is okay.  This time, something told me to get up to investigate the sound.  Before I was even out of my chair, Jose was banging on my window gesturing for me to come quickly.  I flew to the entry way, through on my boots (no time to put on socks) and ran out the front door while hollering for my son to grab my phone anticipating the dialing of 911 based on Jose’s expression.

When I turned the corner of the house, I saw my father-in-law motionless on the ground and all the worst images rushed into my head.  This may have been the most terrifying moment of my life.  I immediately started crying out to the Lord and praying that Grandpa was alive, although he did not look to have much life in him at the moment.  By the time I reached him, I breathed a huge sigh of relief to at least hear him moaning—he wasn’t dead.  Now, to assess the situation.  Thankfully, I tend to keep a cool head in emergencies.  I checked for obvious head injuries—there were none, his brains were all still in his head.  I looked for anything on which he might be impaled—nothing.  I looked for open fractures—nothing apparent.  I did see blood, but I had not yet determined its source.  Then he started to move more and regain a little more consciousness, and I ran all the options for emergency care through my head. 

Somewhere during that time, my 13-year-old son brought me my phone.  I know he was terrified.  I could see it all over his face.  (He really came through for me that day and became my 13-year-old hero, staying calm, keeping his younger sisters away from the scene and taking charge at the house after I left with Grandpa.)  As I assessed Grandpa’s condition, I also assessed how long I thought it would take an ambulance to get to the house after I called 911 and they located our rural address.  I also assessed if there was any way Jose and I could safely get him into the truck and drive him to the emergency room myself.  Then, I had to decide whether to take him to our local ER or drive 30 minutes into the suburbs where the ER might be a little better.

[When we considered this property, we considered many factors.  Not the least of which was its proximity to a freeway with direct access to the bustling suburbs with their many shopping facilities as well as medical centers nor the fact that just across the freeway and one mile down was our small rural hospital.  Several locals had informed me that the ER here is good, you just don’t want to go there for major surgery—head into the suburbs or the main medical center for those things.]

He started moving more and began talking and asking to be moved into the shade (for some reason, he got really hot).  (He told me later that he remembered me yelling at him to be still.  I’m fairly certain I just used my stern mom/teacher voice, but whatever worked to get him to be still is fine with me.) He appeared to have landed on his left side, and once he moved, I figured out where the blood was coming from.  Somewhere between the top of the scaffolding and the ground, his left leg had violently collided with something that had torn him up pretty badly.  It was a nasty gash, although more of a deep rip.  By this time, my girls were nearby and I called for my 11-year-old, the future vet with a strong stomach, to bring me some towels to wrap his leg and help control the bleeding.  She quickly ran inside and returned with two bathroom hand towels and, as she handed them to me, leaned over to get a good look at Grandpa’s wound.  (That’s my girl…)

Since he was moving and did not appear to have a significant back or neck injury (amazingly enough), I decided Jose and I could get him into a vehicle.  I did take a brief second to assess whether I wanted to take him in his truck or my car and decided that, since his truck was closer and I didn’t really want blood in mine, we would take his.  The keys were in the cup holder.  My son moved some boards out of the way so I could get the truck as close to him as possible.  Once I pulled up the truck, Jose and I helped him climb in and get him buckled and we were on our way to our local ER.  Now, I had to call my husband and mother-in-law, which thankfully went pretty well.

Our local ER is no trauma center, but I have never been in an emergency room where the patient was taken to CT and X-ray within 5 minutes of coming through the door.  Therein lies the blessing of the quiet rural town.  My father-in-law was one of three patients being seen at the time and given that his condition appeared serious, he got priority.  They took him to get checked out while I got him checked in and my mother-in-law arrived. 

Long story short, it ended up being a lot better than it could have been.  He ended up getting transferred to a major facility in the city due to trauma caused to his lung.  He had fractured three transverse vertebrae and had a terrible laceration on his left thigh.  We immediately sent out text messages, phone calls and emails to family, friends, church groups, etc. to start sending out prayers for his condition.  Prayers were answered quickly too!  When he arrived at the major trauma center in town, his lung was no longer an issue (at the local ER, he was having serious pain in his chest and they had clearly seen a small pneumothorax).  Praise the Lord, for healing him quickly!!  They did take him to surgery to repair his leg and kept him a couple of nights for observation.

Now home and recovering, this has been a wake-up call for him to slow down—the harsh realization that he is no longer 25 years old.  It also means that my husband’s primary build team is down from 2 to 1, so we are going to be hiring out a little more than we had intended.  That’s a small price to pay and of much less of a concern than Grandpa’s recovery though.  

Princess? or Pirate?

I admit that this has nothing to do with our country life or renovation, not directly anyway, but I still feel it worth sharing…

One of my dearest friends, a life-long friend that I have known since high school, is halfway through her pregnancy with her second child.  As is tradition these days, she and her husband wanted to have a gender reveal party to celebrate with friends and all be surprised with the knowledge of Baby #2’s gender.  Instead of letting a bakery full of strangers be the first to discover the big news, I suggested that our other girlfriend and I were up to the task.  Honestly, I was a little surprised she said yes and honored that she entrusted us with such precious information.  AND she invited me to help plan the party!  I love planning events and until my recent decision to quit working and move to the country, have done so professionally for the past 8 years. 

(I guess this sort of does have to do with my move to the country and out of the workplace since I actually had time to plan this shindig and wasn't busy planning a huge fundraiser event for someone else.)

She and her husband chose a movie theme for their gender reveal: The Princess Bride.  Best I can tell, this was a new idea as Pinterest shows no evidence of such an affair.  (And Pinterest is, of  course, the ultimate authority on available party themes.)  So, away my party planning brain went, and now, I present to you the outcome:

Instead of the standard pink and blue, we opted for pink and black.  I cannot bring myself to use plastic table covers even at outdoor parties, so linens are layers of pink, black, black ticking stripe, burlap and cream.

Will baby be a princess like Buttercup or a pirate like the Man in Black?  A painted wooden castle stood in for the Buttercup's castle and a black pirate ship for the Dred Pirate Roberts' vessel.
The party itself was hosted at a neighborhood park with a nice green space for kite flying, a playground for the kids and a quaint fishing pond.

In addition to the official gender revealing cake, chocolate frosted cupcakes and some with pink icing were offered, each bearing some of the many beloved quotes from the cult classic Princess Bride.

Some quotes were especially perfect for the theme of the event...

And there were even clues hidden in the cupcakes.

Guests were asked to make their guess for Baby's gender by selecting either a black mask or pink crown to clip onto their clothing prior to the big reveal.

Pretty much everything on the menu had a Princess Bride theme, including the Iocane Lemonade.

Fezzik's Fruit Salad and Yes, this is a kissing book!

Twoo Wuv Taco Salad to feed a crowd

Nothing unusual about these M.O.U.S.s

Buttercup's Buttermilk Ranch for veggie dipping

Miracle Max's Miracle Pills (AKA chocolate covered almonds) -- the chocolate coating makes it go down easier

Horses, goats and trailer tires! Oh my!

We took a break from construction this weekend to trek to San Angelo and La Vernia to pick up our horses and my son’s goats.  We bought a 2-horse, straight load, bumper pull trailer several months ago for a great price on Craigslist.  We checked it over pretty well and were confident it would make the trip.  (In retrospect, a good tire inspection would have been wise.)  

The day my daughter has been anticipating for the past 7 or 8 years had finally arrived!  We made it to San Angelo safely, stayed the night in the Holiday Inn Express (my favorite road trip brand), visited with our dear friend from whom we were getting the horses, loaded up said horses (after a little sedation for my daughter’s paint) and were on our way to La Vernia to get the goats my son bought.  

Just on the south side of San Angelo on our way out of town we heard a noise.  I looked out the passenger side mirror and realized that one of the trailer tires had just shredded.  Great.

We pulled over and had to decide a course of action.  My daughter’s paint horse, Paisley, is not an easy loader, so taking her out while we changed the tire was not an option.  We would just have to jack it up with Paisley and Dr. Pepper in it.  My husband got the spare on only to discover that it was flat.  

He's a good man!

About that time, a sweet older gentleman pulled up and offered to go get a compressor to air it up, and our friend from San Angelo came to meet us and help us figure out what to do next.  With the tire aired up, we decided to limp to the nearest Discount Tire and get a new tire (or 4).  (Our friend had called to see if they would be willing to change the tires with the horses still loaded and, horse town that San Angelo is, they said they do it all the time.  They even got us in line via that phone call so we wouldn’t have to wait so long once we got there.  We also offered our compressor toting rescuer some cash for his help, but sweet Texas gentleman that he was, he refused.)

We arrived safely at Discount Tire and waited our turn.  (My husband, our friend and the kids went across the street to Mr. Gatti’s to eat while I waited with the horses.)  In no time, they backed up the trailer, jacked up both sides, replaced all four tires, and with very little fuss, we were on our way again—only delayed by about 2 hours.  

With two slight detours to retrieve two adorable baby goats, we were nearing home by dark.  Our progress was once again impeded, however, by runners participating in the Texas Independence Relay which happened to be following the exact same route as us.  Our final few miles home were spent driving about 20 miles an hour alongside several determined men and women who would be running for the next 20 or so hours.

Safe and sound at home around 10:00 that evening, horses were unloaded, goats were introduced to their new home and four exhausted travelers (my youngest stayed behind with Grandpa and Nana for this trip) took showers and crashed. 

Our animal count is now up to 9: 3 horses, 2 dogs, 2 goats and 2 cats.

My son meeting his blue-eyed goat, Pablo for the first time.

Pablo and his little buddy Paco the morning after arriving at their new home.

Paco still takes a bottle in the morning.

Dr. Pepper in front enjoying green grass for the first time. 

Paisley and Dr. Pepper have spent their entire lives in West Texas.  They are in awe of this delicious green stuff that covers the ground in our part of the country.

Angel (who really needs a bath in this picture) is definitely the mama of this pasture.  She is so happy to have her new friends, Pepper and Paisley, join her each day.  When horses go to their stalls for the night, they call to each other for several minutes just to make sure everyone is still here.

Time for siding

The addition structure is complete, but it needs siding before we can open up the wall between the existing house and all that we have added.  The existing house still has its original wood siding that was put on in 1938.  It’s cute but really needs to be replaced so that we can get some insulation in the walls (they are so drafty and do not keep out the cold) and to make the insurance company a little happier.  They are not fans of wood siding for fire protection (I can see their point), so we really need to go with a cement board product.  I really hate all things faux, so I just couldn’t bring myself to get the cedar look Hardie board and the smooth Hardie is special order only and about 25% more than the cedar look.  After some research and a trip to my friendly neighborhood Home Depot, I discovered Maxi-Tile siding.  Despite it’s funny name, it’s a great product—basically the exact same product as Hardie just without the name brand and at about 1/3 the price.  Done.

My husband, father-in-law, uncle, friends and a few hired helpers spent the better part of Spring Break and every spare after-work moment in the month of March getting siding up.  As soon as it is all up and eaves are sealed, we can get moving on the interior.  Siding is almost all done!

We are so grateful for friends and family who have come to pitch in and ease the workload.  We are praying for opportunities to return the favor.  In the meantime, it's really fun to share these experiences with loved ones. 

With the peak of the roof at about 30 feet up, we have run quite a network of scaffolding and ladders around the house to gain acces to the highest points.

Getting ready for horses

My youngest, although not the equestrian her sister is, has a huge heart and is a hard worker.  She couldn't wait to get out and help dad put up the fence.  She knows that showing responsibility is the first step toward getting her own horse.  Smart girl!

One of the things we looked forward to most about our move to the country was the opportunity to have horses and other livestock—but mostly horses.  I have wanted a horse since I was a little girl, and one of my girls has dreamed of having one since she was 3.  At 11 years old, she is already quite the equestrian.  She has a knack with all animals, but horses are her first love for sure.  We started planning an equine addition to our family long before we ever considered making this move so that she would have her own to love and train on.  Now, with over 9 acres, we have room to spare for a horse or two.  Or three.

First things first though… Our 9+ acres are beautiful but unfenced.  In order to fix this issue, we had to take a few short breaks from home construction in order to get the front pasture ready.  Thankfully, a quality fence is something my husband can build in his sleep.  He has hung miles of fence around our area for several years now leaving hundreds of happy customers in his wake. 

Although I realize our present project seems rather large, I really am a simple girl with simple tastes.  I wanted a fence that was “non-ugly” and functional (that meant no t-posts or scraggly wire).  We decided on a simple 1-rail fence with two rows of barbless wire underneath for the three sides that face the road and within the property (you never want barbed wire for horses—dangerous injuries would result).  The property line fence is just posts and wire.

In addition to having relatively simple tastes, I’m also a budget conscious bargain hunter.  Fences are really expensive.  (I’m so happy I don’t have to pay regular price!)  We opted for a half-new, half-reclaimed fence.  All of the street facing posts and all fence rails are new—bought at McCoy’s.  The remaining posts that line our 800 foot driveway, those that face the house and those on the property line are reclaimed posts taken from job sites where an old fence was being removed.  Instead of having crews toss the old posts, my husband loaded them on one of his trailers and brought them home.  Now, there is less waste AND these used posts have already cracked and warped as much as they ever will, so we don’t have to worry about shifting.  BONUS!

Due to the recycled nature of the project, not all of the posts matched, so we decided to paint all the wood.  All ~2000 feet.  Front and back.

Thankfully, like John, Paul, George and Ringo, we get by with a little help from our friends.  And we put our kids to work.  A dear family from church with whom we have been blessed to spend a lot of time with lately thanks to our shift in lifestyle offered to come out and work with us for a day.  Husband and wife and their 4 children pitched in with my husband and I and our 3 kids, my father-in-law and an uncle, and we got a TON of work done.  The 5 girls (their 3, my 2) were the designated painters, and they did an amazing job!  And they enjoyed each other (and got REALLY paint-y) in the process.

Choosing an exterior paint color

This is where I need help.  I cannot choose a paint color for the exterior, and siding will be here on Saturday.  Presently, the existing house is a drab tan.  It's not awful, but I just don't like the sandy color.  I love my juicy red front door that I repainted weeks ago--that's not going anywhere.  But what about the rest of the house?

View from the front gate.  Those bare trees are pretty much all pecans behind the house.

I have always adored a pure white farmhouse, but I fear that will be too stark.  The front of the house is shielded by a grove of live oaks, but the side and back are clearly seen from the surrounding pastures (and that is what surrounds us on three sides--hay and corn--with a pecan orchard behind us to the north).  I don't want my house to be a glaring white structure from the road.

I am leaning towards a lighter shade of grey or maybe I will stick with the white that I love.  I am open to suggestions.  I do intend to use quite a bit of white on the walls in the main living spaces inside, so I am also inclined at least to consider a real color on the exterior rather than a light neutral.  It's not like I have a homeowners' association that is dictating my house color any more.

I need help!  Sound off with any suggestions.  Pictures are below.  Please excuse the construction mess.  (That has been my most commonly used phrase over the last few weeks, I think.)

Existing house with the addition behind.  It's a simple bungalow-style home with minimal detail--a very simple version of a craftsman home.  All my interior mouldings are simple 1x4, 1x6 or 1x8 boards with no detailing.  The kitchen will have all shaker style cabinetry.  We have kept our new windows in line with the original windows and will keep a simple exterior as well.

Southwest side of the house from the horse pasture.  There is still another 600 feet behind where I stood to take this picture before you actually get to the road.

The southwest corner of the house.

Another view from the south.

That live oak in the center beyond the scraggly trees is the tree directly in front of the house.  This is what our house looks like from the highway.  People who have lived in our town for 40+ years had no idea there was a house back there.  Some even argue with me, insisting that they have driven past a hundred times and there is not a house there.  I assure them that my house has been here since at least the 1940s when it was moved from a location somewhere in town.  I like being that obscure.  That is one thing that keeps me from wanting a color like blue or yellow or even white.  I don't want my house color to make us stand out from the highway.

Again, look for the live oaks in the middle and the house is there with them.  The pasture in the foreground will be all hay come spring.  The brown pasture was corn last year.  I'm not sure if it will be again this year.  This is a view from the west.

View from the road on the south side of the property.