colonial farmhouse
How Much Our Insurance Changed With Hardie Fiber Cement Siding
When the wood siding on our very old house started to rot away, everyone told us to reinstall new wood siding because that’s what buyers of old houses on the East Coast expect. Clearly, “everyone” hasn’t had to maintain painted wood siding. We decided to have Hardie® fiber cement siding installed instead because our priority for protecting our almost 250-year-old home was to make it fire-resistant, deter wood-eating pests, protect it from severe storms, and add resistance to moisture-induced rot. If an owner of an old house isn’t sleeping well, you know why. We have a lot to worry about! Fiber cement siding protects our home from all of those…
4 Old House Construction Techniques We Found When We Replaced Siding
While putting new siding on our very old house (circa 1780s with later additions), we had a first-hand view of 4 old house construction techniques that blew our minds. Not everyone has the opportunity to see the “guts” of their home, so we’ll use my home as an example so that you’re not shocked someday. Fasten your proverbial tool belt and come check out the 4 old house construction techniques we found. #1 Old House Construction Technique: Timber Framed Construction Our home was built before power tools existed. It was built before electricity was invented. It was built before modern nails and screws were invented. In fact, the frame of…
Colonial Farmhouse 5 Year Anniversary
Pop the cork and put on your party hats! We are celebrating five years of living in, loving on, and fixing up this colonial farmhouse of ours. Time flies when your hands are covered in paint, caulk, and lime mortar, to name a few. Our house doesn’t have an official name like some old houses do. If she did have a name, the top contender would be Money Pit. It’s not stately but it does have a certain ring to it. Without an official name, we call it the colonial farmhouse as a descriptor of sorts. It doesn’t have any super distinct architectural markers that would easily identify its style,…
Basement Time Capsule Has Been Installed
We installed a basement time capsule in our almost 250-year-old home and I’m giddy with excitement about it. Why would we do this? Hold onto your Swatch watch and I’ll tell you. It was time. I have been looking for treasure ever since we bought this home. Every time we dug a hole or opened up a wall while renovating, I hoped we’d find something amazing. Gold coins. Prohibition alcohol. Jewelry. I wasn’t picky. What have we found? Nothing of note unless you’re into rats’ nests and lost paperclips. I decided to channel this treasure-hunting energy into something more productive and forward-looking. If I’m not going to find anything of…
Gross To Gorgeous Pantry Cabinet Transformation
We may not have a huge walk-in pantry in this old house of ours but we do have a gorgeous built-in cabinet that we are using as a pantry. Gorgeous is a description that is a bit “in the eye of the beholder” as it didn’t start that way. That’s why I titled this blog post “Gross To Gorgeous Pantry Cabinet Transformation.” The gross pantry cabinet started out violating multiple health codes if such a thing existed for pantry cabinets. Then there were the violations of our visual sensibilities. I think it is safe to say this cabinet would not win any interior design awards. However, if you can get…
Caulk, Cracks, and Home Maintenance. Oh My!
Caulking cracks. Chipping Paint. Rotting Wood. When it comes to this old house we live in, it’s us against nature. Who will win? Nature is unrelenting and seems to be in the lead at the moment. But don’t count out me and Handy Husband. We’re tenacious and industrious problem solvers. When you buy a fixer-upper like we did you have to expect to be in it for the long haul, especially if you aren’t doing a major renovation all at once. For the past couple of months, we’ve been focusing on siding maintenance. Like many old homes in the Northeast, we have wood siding. Wood siding can last decades but…
Colonial Farmhouse 4 Year Anniversary
Put on your party hats! It’s our 4 year anniversary of buying this Colonial Farmhouse. It was love at first sight when we first toured this old fixer-upper with its leaky roof, overgrown bushes, and smelly carpet. I kid you not about the heart eyes. I’m a sucker for a project. The real estate agent and I toured the house one spring morning. The owner was waiting for us on the front porch, which I did not know because normally owners do not stick around for showings and the bushes were so thick they blocked my view of the porch. Four years later and I’m still hoping I didn’t say…
How We Did Meeting Our 2022 House Goals
2022, what a year it has been! At the very beginning of the year (fine, it was mid-February), I detailed five house projects we wanted to tackle this year. How did we do meeting our 2022 house goals? Better than I thought! Although, isn’t that how it always goes when the teacher lets the students grade their own tests? Let’s dive into those house goals. 2022 House Goals #1: Replace rotten siding. We did this! I have not written a blog post about replacing the rotten siding on the back of our kitchen addition but I did detail the journey on social media as it was happening. Replacing the siding…
Check Out These Old Photos Of Our House
The most amazing thing happened a while back. The family who used to live here gave us a few old photos of our house from the 1980s and 1990s. The previous owners were the caretakers of this home for almost 50 years before passing the responsibility onto us. We’re so grateful that they loved this home as much as we did and did the best they could with the resources they had to keep this old gal standing strong and solid. I thought it might be awkward meeting one of the kids (now an adult) who used to live in our house. What if they hate what we’ve done? But…
Carriage House Interior Before Photos
If you follow us on social media then you’ll know I speak about our Carriage House fairly frequently, but I’ve not mentioned the Carriage House interior on the blog yet. We’ve owned this property for 3 years and this is the first time I’m addressing the Carriage House interior here. What have I been writing about?!? Hmm. That’s a good question. I have written about the new roof we put on the Carriage House and how snazzy that building is looking with its fresh exterior paint. The inside…well, it’s never felt done enough to write about it. It’s still not done, frankly. We put the slow in a slow renovation,…