Laboring in the Breeze

It’s officially fall! Fall is easily my favorite season. I love the crisp days and even cooler nights. Apple cider and soup become staples in our home and the rich smoky scent of fire always seems to be in the air. I love that fall draws me out into its bright and colorful world, but also inspires me to get wrapped up in a good book while cuddled in a comfy chair! Ahhh… Fall!

Though it’s gorgeous outside and the days have been perfect, it seems that every weekend Jay has to remind me that we’ll have three or so cold months to work on indoor projects and right now we should focus on getting a few things done outside so we have less clean up to do in the spring. It’s kind of hard to ignore all the things that need to be done inside but I’m enjoying the progress we are making outside!

Jay has been working on clearing out all the random brush and trees that have sprouted up around our fruit trees along with a few other areas along our property. The kids have had quite a bit of fun “helping” pull the trees to the brush pile and burn old stumps.

Our huge ride on mower is getting a lot of use since we don’t have a tractor 😉 It works well for pulling the trees though!

During the weekdays I have been clearing out a couple of areas that use to be flower beds. We’re not huge flower fans, we like them but we don’t really want to bother taking care of them or have them taking up a lot of space. However, the beds are perfect for an herb spiral and vegetable garden. It’s been fun getting my hands dirty and playing with the kids while being productive. They’re really enjoying this weather.

This is our plan for the space next spring.

Brydon is such a great helper 😊

These two have become expert frog spotters. They don’t seem to understand that frogs don’t like being chased though.

It’s been great to be outside these last few weeks and hopefully the weather continues to be great because there seems to be a never ending list of things to do! And honestly we kind of love that! The indoor projects I’m ready to be done with, but being outside is one of the main reasons we moved out here.

 We have made a point, however, to do fun things not centered around projects each weekend as well. This past weekend we got to visit where Jay works and he showed the kids all the large equipment he gets to play around on. The kids had So much fun! 

Desmond and Etta both got to drive the remote controlled dozer, Des was actually really good at it! It’s amazing that someone can control that big of a machine with a remote!

You never really realize how big these things are until you get up close!
 As I write these posts I can’t help but be super grateful for the life we have. Too many times I get so caught up with my own plans and desires (which tend to not get done)  and I miss the joy all around me. We don’t have a glamorous life or a super easy one, but we have the perfect life for our family. I’m still learning that daily. 

Until next time,

Abbey 

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On the Homestead

We are finally here! We have officially moved in! 

There are still a few odds and ends at the old house.. dirty clothes, random dishes, the entire contents of our back storage room in the basement 😬 Seriously, how do we accumulate so much Stuff?! And that’s  just it, it’s stuff. I don’t even know what all is still over there but so far we’re doing just fine with what we have. I think a garage sale is in order!

Now I won’t be selling off our silverware or dirty clothes (thank you very much.) there are a few things I can feel the void from. Plastic forks and cups don’t seem to fit the bill for us. And I’ve basically been wearing the same clothes on rotation this week which may not sound bad except we haven’t gotten our washer and drier working quite yet so my clothes aren’t exactly clean… but it’s not like I’ve been going out in public anyways 😉 

Though we’ve been living here for a week we still have a few things that need to be fixed and done pretty quickly… such as hanging up the tv instead of resting it on the love seat 

Not exactly child proof.

Also I somehow managed to misplace all the hardware for Etta’s bed so she’s been sleeping on the floor… 

Thankfully she doesn’t seem to mind. 

It’s definitely a work in progress but we’re here!

I don’t know what it is, but this house already feels like home. We’re still figuring things out and discovering a new daily routine now that the TV is no longer front and center. Mornings are a little different around here, but I like it! Some how we seem to just work in this house and in this place. Maybe because we made it ours long before moving in. Or maybe we were just really meant for country life. 

Either way we’ve settled in quite nicely! 

The girls are still struggling a bit with sleeping in the same room. If one cries the other cries… sometimes this goes on for a while. But they’re learning 😊

I’ve come to the conclusion that this year we’re just going to focus on the inside of the house and start all the fun stuff outside next year.

Jay still says he will open the pool and wants chickens this year.. I’m not opposed to this but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t realize it’s the end of July already! 

Let’s do a quick overview of what we need to do to be “done” with the renovations:

▪️finish painting baseboards 

▪️paint behind built in bookcases

▪️paint far back dining room wall

▪️ make shiplap wall

▪️paint kitchen 

▪️hang up shelves and picture

Once we’ve finished all that I’ll do a post to show you all the things that will be future projects, because let’s face it, we didn’t get to redo everything this time around! 

We’re on an adventure and so far it looks like it’s going to be a good one! 

Abbey

Light at the end of the tunnel!

We are getting So close to being done! And I don’t mean done with the house over all… that will probably take us the next 30 years (🎉) But, we are almost to the point where we can move in!!

Jay finished painting the ceiling which looks Amazing! I seriously can’t even tell that there were walls around the living room!

The living room is finished, minus the fireplace

AND today I painted the trim and walls in the dinning room so they’re almost done!

Given the condition the wall is in (nail holes, larger holes, glue) we have decided to do ship lap on the large wall in the dinning room rather than painting that Annoying beadboard and patching everything. That’s an added project but it can be done after the floors and even after we move in if need be. Today I went ahead and did one coat of the grey paint on that wall so that the gaps show that color instead of the lovely salmon shade it was originally.  I’m super excited to see it when it’s done!

Our hope is to sand the floors on Saturday, then put the finish on and buff them on Sunday.

Next week is VBS at our church and I am helping out. It’s going to be crazy busy in the evenings so we’re really hoping to finish up this weekend! 🙏🏻

Des and Etta are very excited for VBS though. Hopefully it will be a fun time in the middle of all the crazy 😊

Abbey

Check list

Alright, let’s see where we are!

✔️purchase house

✔️tear down 2 walls

✔️ tear out carpet through out house

✔️rewire lights and sockets

✔️ put in new lights

✔️ paint Desmond’s room

✔️ paint girl’s room

✔️ take out wallpaper

✔️paint master bedroom

✔️put down hardwood floors

✔️paint hallway

✔️get drywall and ceiling patched

⚪️ paint ceiling in living room

⚪️ paint living room

⚪️ paint dinning room

⚪️ sand hardwood floors 2xs

⚪️ oil finish on floors

⚪️ buff floors

⚪️ move in!!

It sounds like we have a lot left to do but really the floors are the last big project. Well, that and packing up our current house 😬

But it’s really coming together and I am loving the outcome! The dry Waller made it so you couldn’t even tell there were once walls enclosing the fireplace room! Once it’s all painted it will really look like it had always been that way!

Yes, we kept the popcorn ceiling and even had it patched. I know, I know, everyone hates popcorn ceiling… but you know what I hate? Wasting time and money on something I don’t really plan on staring at all the time 😀 and honestly I don’t see what the big deal is. Sure I wouldn’t purposely put it in, but it’s not That bad!
Ry is pretty happy that she can finally get down on the floors since before there was gross old carpet then dangerous sharp staples everywhere. Now there’s just a lot of dust 😉

Jay just nailed in the final piece today 😊🙌🏻

We are So close to moving in! Let the adventure keep on going!

Abbey

Holiday weekend

It has almost been a month since we first started this adventure! It’s crazy how fast it’s gone by and how much we have gotten done (and how much there is left to do!) For the first time since taking ownership of our new house we had a relaxing afternoon with family on the back deck to celebrate Independence Day. My dad told me he thought we were crazy to host a party on top of everything else. But, like I told him, it was actually really nice to do something that was just fun on our new property. It’s been all about work the last few weeks and so it was great to be reminded that this will be an awesome home and entertaining space! Besides, when it’s family we don’t get stressed out or go too crazy 😊

We had a cookout for lunch, along with the kids playing in the sprinkle and everyone taking a turn shooting Jay’s air rifle… because that’s what you do when you own land in the country 😂

The kids took late naps while jay stayed behind to finish putting in floors in the master bedroom and I just relaxed 😊

Later in the evening we headed out to my sisters house for more 4th of July fun!

The kids had so much fun!
That was all on the 3rd. On the 4th my dad watched the kids so jay and I could do more work. I painted some baseboard and pulled out staples (will it ever end?) Jason put down more floors. He got a good portion of the living room done! Around the fireplace took quite a while but he’s almost done with it! We’re getting closer!!

It’s starting to look like a house again! There’s a light at the end of the tunnel!

Abbey

This week

We keep chipping away at our to do list and so far it’s all coming together! With a lot of help from my dad we got the hallway and master bedroom painted (minus the wainscoting.) now we just have to paint the living room and dinning room! Jay had also been working on all of the annoying little areas where the wood floors have to be cut in certain ways to fit around things like fireplaces and vents. It takes forever!!! But it’s progress 😊

Hopefully with the up coming four day weekend we’ll get quite a bit done.

In other news, I finally finished my chair!

It’s amazing what adding the wax finish does to the paint and fabric. It makes it almost leather like! We’ll see how long it lasts, especially with kids climbing all over it 😊

I was so pleased with how it turned out that I purchased another awesome chair. I can’t wait for it all to come together!

Abbey

Demo “day!”

Well if you don’t have a giant team like chip and Joanna, demo day ends up being more like demo Week or even month.. But I’m so glad we decided to do it all ourselves (at least I am so far) because knocking down those walls was SO fun!

Days 1 and 2 of demolition.

The plan: knock out entry way wall and kitchen wall.

He was being such a dork 

And so it begins!

Don’t worry, Des didn’t really do those holes so the fact that he has no shoes on etc isn’t as bad as it looks 😉

We got a little carried away considering it was past bedtime.

End of day one.

Day two
Let me just be real honest here since I know anything online can look like it’s all fun and games and everything is working out perfectly. My original plan was for a friend to watch Ry at our current home (CH) while she napped in the AM so I could take the other two to the new house (NH) to do some prep work and power washing. But then at 830 or so a realtor called and wanted to show potential buyers our CH around 2:30 which is nap time for everyone and so I felt a bit stressed from that. Then Ry decided she was Not going to nap in the AM, and the other two were bound and determined to undo any sort of cleaning etc that I had done and were really pushing my limits. Needless to say I had an exhausted/overwhelmed melt down. I threw all the kids and our dog (ok I didn’t literally throw them) into the car and we all headed to the NH to meet Jason and start working. Ry was so tired and clingy and Des and Etta were a bit crazy but we got quite a bit done. 

We are EXAUHSTED! But we’re one step closer.

Abbey

Chalkworthy Rocker

I’ve always wanted to revamp an old chair. I actually tried a couple of times with a chair Jay got long before we were married. But let’s be honest, I don’t have the patience, time or attention span to truly reupholster a chair. I tried to take shortcuts such as ulpholstery glue and fabric but it never really worked out or lasted.

Then I found a tutorial on how to PAINT upholstery! It sounded so bizarre to me yet perfect! I love to paint and it didn’t sound too time consuming.

I picked up this little beauty for $5 on VarageSale!!

It’s in great condition and has great bones. When I first saw this chair I started day dreaming about cozying up by the fire with a cup of coffee or a book (a mom can dream right? 😉 ) and I just knew I had to have it! The color really isn’t that bad but I figured Jason wouldn’t love the idea of a pink chair in what we are lovingly calling the fireplace room.

With a little research about technique and product I decided to try out chalkworthy antique chalk paint with a soft wax finish. I gave Jason the choice of 3 colors and he chose the light grey “mockingbird.” I secretly wanted the DustyMiller 😉

I’ll just have to use that next time!

Following a tutorial I found on Pinterest I decided to start with the seat coushion first, since the rest of the chair was in my youngest’s bedroom and she was napping 😜

After the first coat this is what it looked like,

I feel like it covered pretty well and it only took about 1.5 episodes of friends to do 😉

Eventually I had to do about 3 coats on the top of the coushion. The sides seemed to require less. I then decided to just go ahead and finish the coushion to make sure that the wax and everything would work the way I was hoping before I attempted to do the whole chair.

Here is the coushion freshly waxed,

I’m not 100% if I put enough on but we’ll find out after it’s “cured” for a day or two. The wax seems to have softened the paint for now and blend it all together. It also closed up any holes that the texture in the fabric created. Over all I’m pretty pleased with how this is turning out!

Check back in a week or so and I’ll post the final product 😊

Abbey

Hardwood floors

A quick word to the wise; if you’re planning on doing all new flooring in a house be sure to do some research and looking around before going into a store to order! And all the people say, “Duh!”

I didn’t realize how many options there were in hardwood! I thought I knew what I wanted and then I was thrown into a room with so many samples my head was spinning! Thankfully the sales lady was ridiculously helpful and oh so patient!

We chose our species (hickory) and size preference (4″ width) and headed out the door. Then I started looking on Pinterest, big mistake! The phrase, “if you want to start a fight with your spouse, build a house.” Came to mind 😉 Thankfully after s few minutes of hammering out our preferences we discovered we were actually on the same page and what we ordered would work after all *whew!* Now on to waiting for it to arrive and then the long dreaded process of putting it all in, sanding, cleaning, putting down the oil finish, and cleaning some more. Maybe I’ll just play in the pool with the kids and let my husband do it all 😉

Abbey