A New Look

 June was both a destructive and constructive month. A few days after our last hosting event the siding crew showed up and started taking off the vinyl siding and then cutting and banging the stucco siding off. It was a rather noisy few weeks with some quite days in-between. Some of the destruction was sad, but after all the house renovations I'm starting to learn to trust the process (sometimes...).

Eggs from the hobby barn, Great Oma's strawberries, and our rhubarb all collected in our morning rounds.

Made some strawberry rhubarb crumble

and some strawberry rhubarb jam. Yum Yum!

No end of entertainment out the windows these days.

Before(ish) picture of the front entrance.

After(ish), front entrance is opened up and the steps were removed. I should note that they found out that the steps were solid concert and needed to be jackhammered out! Good thing the guys like working with machinery.

Bye bye rotten deck, and the steps followed a few days later. It was interesting getting in and out of the house for a few days... thankfully we were on holidays for some of it.

Hazel modeling her anklet that she made with her spool knitter.

A lovely pop of blue through all the green!

Redone inside and out! 

(see 'A house to make a home' post for before pics)

Back yard before pictures before the excavator inevitably shows up to take down the shop and whatever else is in its path.

Backyard blue berry snack, only got a few handfuls off of those bushes, but I'm happy that Hazel is willing try the fruit growing in our back yard.

The inevitable day finally arrived...

"It's okay if a few things fall into the garden during demolition?" was what I got asked that morning...

Come afternoon the excavator leveled the whole thing, and moved one grape vine that we hope to save. My stomach did drop... but it was out of my control and as beautiful as it was in its own way, starting over was cleaner then trying to redo or repurpose what was existing.

The excavator driver set aside a few on the old mattresses that were in the shop and later used them to nicely sweep up his mess! 

The falling over, 5 foot tall, not properly framed green house stayed pretty much in tack when it got picked up.

A very different look out the living room now.

The entertainment started up again early the next morning as dump trucks rolled in to load up all the rubble. Another end of another chapter on this property, while also being a new beginning.

Making the New House a Home

 It is so nice to have the time of transition finally closed off that started last March. We are living in our long awaited house and making it a home. We are settling into our own space and loving it very much already. Enjoying our own family time and views.

Testing out the new bath tub, the girls had a blast.

Warming up with some Aunty Corday snuggles afterwards.

First batch of bread and

Laundry out on the line adding to the homemaking feel.

Hazel has been enjoying the flowers and set her vase of flowers on the outside table

Walked for a few laps around the barn as the girls were getting cranky and they both feel asleep in the buggy for a much needed nap.

Enjoying the warm April weather with a picnic.

Our first harvest of rhubarb, I did not know the leaves could get that big!

Washed them up in the sink,

And then chopped them up outside while the girls played happily with the chalk.

Smelling the apple blossoms

The girls have very much enjoyed the carpeted space to tumble and play. 

Saying "Hi" to the new chicks that arrived.

Sitting out by the hobby barn watching the tractors and trucks harvest the grass kept the girls mesmerized for quite a while.

Very happy to be in our farmhouse, and enjoying farm life.

Phasing 4: Putting it back together, Part 1

A new year has started and with it the hope of rebuilding as well. 

The original thought was to redo the roof in a year or two, but with structural adjustments needed and heavy rain fall it showed some leaks, so a new roof got added to the list.

Curious and a bit concerned about what was behind the upstairs paneling the demolition mode that was finally done downstairs moved upstairs. "It will be worth it in the long run" seems to be the common theme around here.

All furred out and strengthened. 

Downstairs the framers and other trades were also done the plumbing and wiring. Ready for insulation and then drywall. 

God gave us some spring in the middle of "winter" and we were able to paint the outside trim on those two nice days. This bedroom window proved to be very handy roof access. 

Half way done the first coat and the nice white paint was looking clean and bright with the sun shining on it. 

The view from the roof top

The upper side peeks were very tricky to paint, I laid on the top roof to paint the face of it while Jared and Luke tagged teamed the trim underneath. 

The girls watching all the roof trim painting excitement from the comfort of the buggy.

The upstairs rooms are being redone with T&G boards rather then drywall. Adding some structure to the roof and walls, while also adding a rustic look. Very thankful to have a big dry work space for painting. It brought back lots of memories of painting poles and jumps from when I was working at Milner. 

Insulation is in! We had a very pink house for a few days, which was appreciated by Hazel. 

Drywall got installed, definitely felt like a turning point in the whole reno process!

Upstairs room number one is 95% done, and looking super cute. It was very fun watching them work on this too. Jared was set up on the driveway with his chop saw and table saw, while Dad and Luke were upstairs calling down measurements for the boards, which would then get passed up through the window. 

We starting painting the kitchen cabinet wall, so we can get them in asap, it was very interesting trying to guess where the cabinets were going to end up. I was a little skeptical of the paint colour choice at first, but Jared really liked it and I'm warming up to it more each time I walk in. 

The kitchen cabinets arriving!

The first cabinet in the house! Corday was over to help paint that day, and we were just finishing the second coat on the cabinet walls when they started bringing them in. It was a very efficient day!

Very curious to see how the layout that we planned in the shop works out in the house.

It worked out very well! The only thing that ended up changing was that the glass cabinets ended up going together rather then one on the fridge wall, which was a really nice change in the end. We still have some figuring to do on the fridge wall and island, but those are less time sensitive at this time as we focus on getting the rest of the house ready for flooring.