Farmhouse Renovation Update: Drywall and Priming!

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My new studio/home office
Renovation on the interior of the farmhouse took a GIANT step forward last week with the installation of drywall, the taping and the beginning of priming.  I can't begin to explain how different the house feels now that it has walls  .....and ceilings (or how strange it is to spend 10 minutes looking for the broom that I left in the back of a closet because I can no longer look across the entire house and say, "oh yeah, there it is" ).
The hall bathroom
As the drywall was going in, I also took the time to install soundproofing (rock wool insulation) in all of the interior walls of the laundry room, the bathrooms and the furnace room which makes it much more quiet in the house.

Arched masonry wall with reclaimed scaffolding plank shelves
In a related note, it also makes it so that I spend a fair amount of time saying "where are you?" and "hello?" when I can tell that there's someone in the house but can't really hear where they are or see them (see "we have walls" above). Part of this may also be attributed to age but we're not discussing that so let's just stick with "the soundproofing is really great"  and move on.

Kitchen
Also last week, I finally ordered a fireplace insert which should be here this week.  I also gave up and ordered new garage doors after spending four days with chemical stripper and power tools and getting about 1/4 of the first door done. At that rate, it would be winter here in the Midwest before I finished.  I also had someone out to look at the springs and tracks and was told that they were not in good shape and would likely need to be replaced soon and that soon would probably mean sometime just after we finished installing the new siding and the drywall in the garage. He also mentioned the words "serious injury" so I decided that it was probably a good idea to replace them.
Guest Bedroom
Master Bedroom (with the old corner cabinet from the kitchen that still doesn't have a home)

On the exterior, we had a couple of nice cool days this weekend so I also got more of the lime stucco applied to the brick. I haven't forgotten about the tutorial. I just ran out of stucco (and daylight)...stay tuned.
Master Bathroom Extra Deep Built in Medicine Cabinets


Master Walk in Closet
Front door slabs and frame
 Lastly, the front door frame was installed this week which will allow the sill to be put into place. You're probably looking at this photo and thinking "Wow, I wouldn't have chosen that front door." Don't worry, I wouldn't have either. I had the door frame shipped with temporary slabs instead of the beautiful glass and alder doors because I don't want anything to happen to them during the remainder of the construction...a lesson that I learned from our last project when a trim carpenter ran into the door with a big piece of wood and took a gash out of it that was repaired but never looked the same.

We're still working on final grading, gutters and the last of the trim detail (shutters, a barn door, beams and posts on the porches) but that should happen soon....in the mean time, I've started doing a little planting and the gravel for the walkways is being put in.

Television opening in the hearth room
On the interior, this week, the primer will be completed, the fireplace is being installed and  the wood for the flooring will be brought into the house to become acclimated so that it doesn't expand and shrink after it's installed. I'm ordering the interior doors and the trim so that it will be here in a couple of weeks when we're ready for it.

Thanks so much for being a part of this journey!



Farmhouse Renovation Update and Being Authentic

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This month marks the second half of 2016. Since there are only six months left in this year, I decided to take a look back at my goals for 2016 and to take another look at my word for the year, "authentic". July also marks the third anniversary of our purchase of  the red brick ranch that is slowly becoming our bespoke farmhouse.  In honor of those things, I thought that I'd share a little "before/during" comparison of some of the initial shots that I took on the day that we officially took possession of the farmhouse and fill you in on what's been going on at our renovation.