colonial farmhouse
Under the Stairs Closet Shelves
We now have under the stairs closet shelves and I’m pretty darn happy about it. I’m also happy about “Clean Sheet Day,” a fresh jar of peanut butter, and no-show socks that don’t slip off my heel. I guess I’m an adult now. We have an under the stairs closet in our music room. When we moved into the Colonial Farmhouse, I found three fur coats hanging in this closet. So fancy…if moth hole chic is your sort of thing. That area looked like this when we moved in: Sorry. I forgot to warn you that picture was going to be a little harsh on the eyes. As a reminder, that wasn’t our stuff. It was all…
A New Old Closet Door for our Bathroom
We have a new old closet door for our bathroom. Did that sentence even make sense? Don’t worry. I’ll over explain what I meant in nauseating detail. Our main floor bathroom is a special place. It’s special because it even exists. This house was built before indoor plumbing was invented. It’s special because of its awkward location. Bathrooms were often tacked on to the end of an old house when indoor plumbing was eventually added. It’s special because holy moly it needed to be updated in the worst way. Here’s the bathroom on the day we took possession of the Colonial Farmhouse. Please note this was how we found the bathroom. None of the items you see…
Black Metal Roof for our Carriage House
We recently installed a black metal roof on our Carriage House. Well, not us personally. We finally hired a home improvement job out! Man, that felt good. You know what also feels good? Not falling off a roof. We’re practical that way. We kept our feet firmly planted on the ground for this project that was 14 months in the making! No joke. Almost from the day we took possession of the Colonial Farmhouse we were crossing our fingers that the leaky Carriage House roof would hold out long enough for us to replace it. First, let’s get some terminology out of the way. Before the invention of cars, a Carriage House typically referred to a…
Faux Copper Metal Awning
If I can’t have a real copper awning, I’m going to try my best to create a faux copper metal awning. I’m not 100% convinced I nailed it. However, I am 100% convinced that the metal awning over our small side deck looks better than when I embarked on this project. That counts for something, right? For reference, this side deck is right off the porch where we built my favorite shelves of all time for drink storage. Here’s how the metal awning started out. Quite frankly, the metal awning looked and sounded a little worse for wear. By “worse for wear” I mean it was an eyesore, especially after I…
Finally, The Deck is Done
Ding dong, our deck with black railing is finally done! I’ve only been waiting months to say that. While house projects sometimes feel like our full time job, they aren’t! That’s why they take a real life amount of time to complete. Although, this deck project took an extraordinarily long time to finish – even for us – due to factors out of our control. As it turns out, there was a pressure-treated lumber shortage in our part of the U.S. due to the work stoppages caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. But nobody told us that before we started ripping up the old deck! Oops. We might have put off…
Tiffany-Style Bedroom Ceiling Fan
We have a new Tiffany-style bedroom ceiling fan and I’m extra excited about it because you all helped me select it! Didn’t know that, did you? Technically, you helped me select a ceiling fan for our music room, but we had old house issues that prevented us from installing the fan in the music room. (Click here to catch up on what we installed in the music room instead.) And I’m being generous with the word “helped” because the ceiling fan votes were evenly split. Since there was no clear ceiling fan winner that just tells me you are an opinionated bunch. I like that. However, it meant I had to put…
All About Rim Locks (Vintage Door Hardware)
It’s no secret the best part of our Colonial Farmhouse is the original wood flooring, but the second best thing is that many of our doors have vintage rim locks. What are rim locks? I’m so glad you asked. A rim lock can also be called a box lock. It is a square-shaped locking mechanism that is installed on the surface of one side of a door. How do rim locks work? Excellent question. You’re really getting into this, I can tell. The rim lock has two locking features. First, it can be unlocked from either side of the door using a key. The keys usually look like what we…
Back Porch Shelves for Drink Storage
Some folks build shelves for important things like books. We build shelves for equally important things like drink storage. Reading is important, but have you ever been dehydrated? I rest my case. After living in our home for a year we had a pretty good idea of its problem areas. No, I’m not talking about the leaky roof, the rotting deck, or the oven that randomly switches the temperature display from Fahrenheit to Celsius. Do NOT get me sidetracked on the oven that is messing with me. We’ll be here all day. Today’s problem area was the back porch where we stored all of our canned and bottled drinks. Wait.…
Searching for Hidden Treasure in Our Home
I am convinced there must be hidden treasure in our home or somewhere on our property. Don’t laugh! It might not be probable, but it is possible. Our home is close to a quarter of a millennium old. You can’t tell me there haven’t been coins, letters, gold bars, jewelry, or cash hidden under a floorboard at some point in time. After all, I grew up reading Nancy Drew and watching Scooby-Doo. If that doesn’t make me an authority on mysteries and secret hiding places, I don’t know what does. There are several creaky floorboards in our house that are my top contenders for concealing hidden treasure. It’s not just…
The Reason Why I Like Old Houses
I had an epiphany while painting the wall of our main stairs about the reason why I like old houses. I’m qualified to speak on this issue because it’s is my blog and these are my feelings, duh I have lived in new construction, 100+ year old homes, homes built between the 1960s and 1990s, an apartment, a condo, and even a duplex in Europe. I know how lovely it is to live in new construction with that fresh-everything smell and a fabulous home warranty where the builder comes out to fix every single nail pop. I know how satisfying it is to take a home that is a money…
