This is one of many 'after' the remodel pictures to come.  My absolute favorite of the house! Barn wood staircase and hand forged iron rails.

The Beauty Lies Within....

The construction process has begun and for the past 8 months or so I have done nothing but think about how I can make my house unique. We are turning our 1930's craftsman style one-story house into a 2 story farmhouse style home.  Every day we seem to run into a snag of some sort and today's issue, the foundation! Not a simple fix but thankful to have found it now rather than a year from now when the house would have started to settle!

 

This is the house as it is now.  As you can see though, they have begun the concrete process of pouring the columns to hold the porch roof up. Garage in the back is going up as I type!

 

As you know, I love all things old and salvageable.  I found 3 doors in an old barn that was doomed to be dozed in and discoved them to all 3 have a different hand carved pattern.  The were so covered with milk paint that I thought they just might be the death of me getting it off.  (And it still may as I am not quite done with door #2 and haven't even started door #3!)  After getting to the raw wood of door #1 (which has the most detail) I have since discoved that my blood, sweat and tears will all be worth it.  I can't imagine what these doors may have cost back in their day, or how excited the lady of the house may have been to showcase them in her new home.  I hope I have done them justice by bringing them out of retirement and giving them new life in their new home. 

 

This is door #1 in it's 'before' state.

 

Door #2 in it's 'make-over' state.

 

 

Not a very glamourous job!

 

Ahhh!!!  Finallly! In the space where there was once glass, I will replace with a mirror.  Not too bad if I say so myself.  And a little shout out to my mother-in-law for helping me for 2 days otherwise I may have lost my sanity by now!



 

Keep it clean!

Due to lack of extra floor space in my son's room, I had to come up with an alternative plan for getting those tractors up off the floor.  Once again I went to my stockpile of wood and found some very characteristic boards to build him a toy shelf.  It's been in now for over 2 weeks and his room has remained clean! Linc likes the responsibility of putting his toys away (for now at least!).  I also made my mom a shelf not quite as tall as this for her to use for her books. 

Little Piece of Serenity

In our modest little farm house, all 5 of us have had to learn to share one bathroom.  Up until 3 years ago, our one and only bathroom was honestly smaller square-footage-wise than the back of my pickup.  When we remodeled the basement, we then moved the girls down there and transformed their bedroom into a very spacious bathroom that accomidates more than one person in there at a time.  I am one of those people that absolutely love soaking in the tub while reading a good book, so I knew I was not going to skimp on my one luxury I was being granted.  When I told the carpenters that I was going to have them put 'old tin' on the walls behind the tub, they gave me that "Are you crazy?!" look.  After considering they were getting paid good money to do what I asked of them, they stopped asking why and did what they were asked.  Upon completion of the remodel from bedroom to bathroom, one of the carpenters told me in his words "We've done a lot of bathroom remodels and I have to be honest with you, I had my doubts about your ideas, but I will admit now that this bathroom is by far my favorite."  I did give the 'old tin' a refreshed look by giving it some color with a mixture of wood stain and concrete stain.  I think it matches the tile quite nicely!

I fell in love with these hand-hammered copper sinks the minute I saw them in one of my many Western magazines.  Not wanting to pay the outrageous price they were listed for, I jumped right on e-Bay and found them for a fraction of the cost. I think I even had them in storage for a year before the remodel even began.  I would, however, suggest not putting them in a highly used bathroom.  Thus being anything with any amount of acid, chemical, toothpaste being left on, causes the aged look to get stripped off right down to the bright orange copper! I have had to 'fix' these spots many times with none other than shoe polish! I found this out the hard way when the sinks weren't even in for a week and I, not even thinking, poured rubbing alcohol onto a rag that I was holding over the sink.  Came back into the bathroom a few minutes later and nearly had a heart attack when the bright orange copper was staring me in the face.  I immediately got on the phone and called a sink store in Omaha and they did some research for me to tell me how to fix it.  If you don't know those 'fixed' spots are there, you wouldn't even know they were there at one time. 

I can't even begin to tell you how very, very spoiled everyone on my husband's side of the family is thanks to the fact that his grandfather was a cabinet and furniture builder.  He sadly passed away almost 2 years ago now, and we all miss him, but fortunately have all these wonderful pieces of furniture to remember him by.  This vanity is made out of wormy maple.  If finished correctly, it is absolutely beautiful.  If finished poorly, it is a gross nightmare!  I lived the nightmare before getting it done correctly! I had to grovel to my mother-in-law who is very good at finishing wood, to beg for her help in fixing it.  So, there you have it, a look at our very spacious, very rustic one and only bathroom!

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

Thank you, Amy S. for being one of my first customers to actually place an order with me! I hope you enjoy your barnwood frame around your bathroom mirror.

Coffee Anyone??

I am not a coffee drinker, I will admit, but I do like the look of a neat coffee table.  This particular table was inspired from a DIY episode where they used old sheet metal for a countertop.  I didn't have any old sheet metal, so therefore, I had to put my new sheet metal through an aging process.  The base of the table is made from 6 x 6 interior barn posts and the cross piece is from an old horse-drawn wagon tongue.  I love this piece and wish our living room was big enough for me to put it in there, rather than have it being out in the garage just in storage.

 Here you can see just how 'sturdy' this table is. Don't be afraid to sit on it!

 A closer look at my 'aging' process done to the sheet metal.

Here you can see I added a decorative corner piece to hide my seams on the tin.  I think it compliments the look of the reclaimed style I was going for. You can also see how I left the hardware from the 6 x 6 on the legs of the table.  I think about all the stories the old stuff could tell if only it could talk.  Yes, I talk to myself too.  :)

JUST FOR FUN TABLE!

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I love horses and am blessed to have 4 of them on the farm here.  Some time ago, I made a coffee table similar to this one (will try and get a picture on here of it).  I had the legs of this table done for a couple of years and they were just sitting in the barn, waiting for the right top.  So this winter (thank goodness it has been so beatiful out this year) I threw this top together and think it would make a great entry-way table.  Or if you wanted to get a piece of glass cut to fit the top, it would make a nice small table for two.  I know if I was to make my husband eat at this table, he would prefer a tractor picture in the top instead of the 'hay-burners' as he like to call them!  Now, my girls and I, we can appreciate a table like this!





Oh Christmas Tree!

I admit...I stole this idea after being in an antique/craft store.  I thought it was super cute and knew I had the ability to make one myself.  So in the spirit of the season, get yourself some old barnwood and start creating your own forest of trees.  Start with cutting them into 1 1/2 to 2 inch strips.  The bottom of the tree is 24 inches long with each 'layer' being 1 1/2 inch shorter.  I attached each layer using a biscuit joiner (greatest thing EVER!).  Hang indoors or out...whichever you prefer.  Merry Christmas everyone!  (Or at least to my one follower!  Haa haa!)