Our 1865 Farmhouse Makeover & The Story of Us

Talk about a throw back Thursday! I mention our first home in the “About me” section here on the blog but I’ve never shared any of the projects or pictures. Mostly because there were no digital cameras back then and certainly no blog. I’m sharing now because there is so much more to the story. Our 1865 Farmhouse makeover made us who we are today not only as DIY’ers but in so many other ways.

 

 

When I say we put so much blood, sweat and tears into that project, I truly mean it. Since my husband will be joining me more here on the blog from now on, I want to introduce him and share the story of our first house makeover. We loved that house, and we think you will, too.

The story of us and our 1865 Farmhouse.

Flashback to the Summer of 1995. We were 25 years old and getting married in September. We had been looking at houses for a few months already, had two fall through and we were getting frustrated.

We drove by this old farmhouse with a white picket fence a few times but it just seemed a bit out of our price range, not to mention too close to the road. Out of desperation, we finally said to our Real Estate agent said, “Let’s take a look.”

 

 

We walked in to that house and took one look at those hardwood floors and beautiful front staircase and we were sold. Oh, the possibilities!

 

 

It also came with 30 acres and two barns.  They were dilapidated but we still thought they were amazing and possibly full of hidden treasures.

 

 

Even though it was out of our price range, we decided to go for it.  We put a low offer in and waited. To our surprise, they took our low ball offer. And just like that, two high school sweethearts who only had ever watched “This Old House”, bought their first house.

New adventure…

We closed on the house, got married and were off on our honeymoon. We spent hours talking about our new adventure and all of the things we would do in our new home.

We could not have been more excited. The front part of the house had been somewhat restored years before. The previous owners had started to renovate it but ran out of steam. Still, it had gorgeous pine wide plank floors, plaster ceiling medallions and original doors.

 

 

 

 

The middle section of the house, however, had no power or water and was all plaster and lathe with peeling wallpaper. Can you believe we bought that?? It was a disaster but we were ready (we thought) to take it on. So many people thought we were crazy, including our parents, but we were happy. We lived in the front part and only walked through the back to get to the garage or storage.

 

 

We spent the first 4 years putting our stamp on the front part of the house. We knocked out a wall to make the kitchen more open to the dining room, added new light fixtures and paint throughout.  It was our labor of love.

It’s hard to see, but that’s me spackling my heart out on the new crown moulding we added in our living room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we had saved some money, we started on the HUGE project that was the “back”. We were planning to do most of it ourselves.

Initially we had planned to renovate the space but after many hours of research we decided it was just too far gone and it would be better just to start from scratch. We had plans drawn and got to work on tearing down what was there, literally with our bear hands.

 

 

When I say we, I mean mostly Kevin and our family. Wheel barrows and shovels full of material came out until nothing was left.

 

 

And little by little,

 

 

That part of the house disappeared.

 

 

This is one of my favorite pictures ever…

 

An then the fun part, the rebuild.  A new foundation and then framing…

 

 

 

Soon, we could see this farmhouse makeover take shape.

 

We added a master bedroom and en suite and two more fireplaces. It was a dream come true.

 

 

 

 

 

Remember that awful “back half” picture with the peeling wallpaper? This is what it looked like when we were done…

 

 

All of the work had taken a toll on both of us. We both worked full time, me 50+ hours a week at my job and Kevin was also going to grad school. I also worked weekends when Kevin spent most of the time working on our project. It all got to be too much and we drifted apart.

 

 

We had lost sight of what was important and lost each other in the process.

We separated in January 2002.

I continued to live in the house and he would come over and work on the remaining projects such as tiling and trim until we finally finished our farmhouse makeover in the spring 2003.

We were officially divorced in early 2004.

Instead of selling it, I ended up keeping it and buying him out of his half so I got to live in the dream we built together.

 

 

It was bitter sweet.

Fast forward to the end of 2004 when I had to call him to ask a question about something.

I’ve been thinking about you, he said. I’d been thinking about him, too. We ended up talking on the phone for  a long time which lead to having dinner a few times, then a few dates and in January of 2005 we found out I was pregnant with our daughter.

We were remarried in May of 2005. 🙂

Our daughter was born in late September and we lived in our dream house with our new baby girl. Having a child changed the way we saw the house a bit as it was not as kid friendly as we would have liked. After contemplating the danger of the road and for the safety of the kids, we subdivided the land and put the farmhouse up for sale.

A fresh start.

The day we moved out…

This may have been one of the hardest days of my life. We spent our wedding nights in that house, had our first anniversary dinner, countless family gatherings, shared so much, loved, fought, separated, reconnected and eventually brought our daughter home to that house. It wasn’t just a house, it was a home.

 

Photo courtesy of Blue Iris Photography

 

But we moved on. It was a new chapter and a new home to build together, this time as a family. We were blessed with a son in 2008 and now we are complete.

 

Photo courtesy of Blue Iris Photography

Where you choose to live and the house you live in do not make a home. It’s the people you share it with and the memories you make there that create a home just as your experiences in your life make you who you are.

We’ve been in our new home 10 years and have done so many projects already. Having learned so much, we approach them differently now and our priorities are somewhat different but whatever comes our way, we do it as a team. 🙂

There is still more to our story and we’ll share more as we go. We hope you’ll follow along. Here’s to so many more chapters, countless DIY projects and creating something beautiful!

Happy DIY’ing!

Colleen & Kevin

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