4 years ago today.....

It was exactly 4 years ago today that we took possession of this rickety ol farm! It has been quite an adventure to say the least! Alot of sweat and hard work and some money has helped this place go from a house to a home. We are proud to call it ours and are very prouder of where it has come from. We are excited to see what will happen in the next 4 years and I am very excited to see the full potential that this farm has to offer! I tried to compare as many before pictures as I could so you can see the tranformation!
The following "before" pictures are from when we looked at it with real estate...so I take no responsibility for the conditions!!!

HOME SWEET HOME :: Aug 27, 2004

The exterior before:

After...we removed the big deck that was rotting and added a

stone walkway and bordered it with flower beds.

The stone walkway to the main entrance. I gathered those flat stones from the fields and labourously built the walkway stone by stone!

Before...another view of the front of the house

After...we added a front deck and window shutters and brought

a flower bed continually around the entire house and deck and

also removed the top part of the chimney that was threatening

to fall down.

Before..the back/front of the house...the fence you are seeing is a horse pasture, I wasn't too keen on livestock being that close to the house, so we removed the fence and posts.

After...what was the horse pasture is now part of our lawn and my run for

the dogs. Last summer we added a 24' round pool and have been

working at the decking. Our plan is to take the deck completely around

the house at the back and attach to the raised deck around the pool.

Window shutters are in the works for the back of the house, the wood

is milled just have to build and paint them!

Before...going upstairs to the kids bedrooms

After...a fresh coat of paint over the panelling (have I ever mentioned that I absolutely hate panelling)? Also added a new stair runner and new paint on the stairs. Just recently I have wallpapered over the panelling, I chose a green faux look which minimizes the grooves in the panelling.

Before...the view of the barn and shed.

After...beautiful pine boards to renew and update the barn that looked so terrible with all its boards falling off or with holes in them.

Before...the machinery shed

After...new doors and doors that actually close!

We plan to at some point get the roof of the shed and

barn painted.

Before...the livingroom inside. Hard to believe but it was this room that sold me on the house. It is a huge room about 25x20 and I loved the open space of it.

After...we definitely could not keep the peel and stick tile that was on the floor..hmm..ya think?? We added a beautiful maple hardwood floor. I still love the look today as much as I did when we installed it.

With our furniture, it is a very warm and cozy room with lots of space for all of us to gather.

Before...you can see over our property. There was no fencing and nothing had been done with the land for years.

After... we put a perimeter rail fence and in the distance if you can see we put up page wire to fence off the the hay fields that we planted. The fields at the back were totally over grown with weeds and thistles. There was also a whack of red gads or scrub trees growing through the middle of our pasture field, we dug them all out for a clear view across the pasture field. This was alot for safety for the sheep that we could see if there were predators lurking!

Another view, you can see in the distance the hay fields just freshly cut.

Before: the kitchen, I really think the only colour these people liked was cream..the entire house was cream...ugh..
After...oh ya! A fresh coat of paint, I chose "golden wheat" a very warm colour for the room we usually spend most of our time in. The only border I put up and I'm not really a border person but I absolutely love sunflowers so up it went! We also added a new dishwasher...apparently the previous people didn't think built in appliances should stay with the house...

Our plans for the kitchen are kind of up in the air, I don't mind the layout of the kitchen, I would like to add a center island, backsplash and new countertops but for the rest I don't mind the cupboards as they are.

Before...the main bathroom

After...this was our most recent "big" project. Dave gutted the entire bathroom to start over. We removed the shower/tub combo unit,overhead cupboards and the vanity. We moved the toilet and added a shower stall, and stacked the washer/dryer. Also added a smaller vessel sink with clear glass vanity and floor to ceiling closet space. We chose a upbeat color of paint. Doesn't even look like the same room huh??? We also added a 2nd bathroom upstairs with a corner tub so if anyone so chose to have a bath, we still have a tub.

Before..the front door, how awful is this???

At one point there was a single door and 2 sidelights but when they re-sided the outside of the house they covered in the sidelights. So outside you couldn't see them but inside you could...it looked terrible!!

After...we removed the door that you see to the left and also added a double garden door with over head transom. It was amazing how much light we weren't getting! The front door leads out to the deck. A fresh coat of paint and WOW!!

Before...going up to the livingroom

After...a brand new railing for safety reasons more than anything, apparently 20 years had passed with people living in this house with no railing. I wasn't going to take any chances! More paint and viola!Before...upstairs..told ya...cream..
After...more paint and laminant flooring in the hallway and bedrooms


Well that is about the end of my befores, but some other projects that we have worked on over the past 4 years...

The front deck, completely made from eastern white cedar ( of course..Dave the wood guy)

The front entrance done in ceramic

Another view..

New kitchen flooring..called fiberfloor, just went right over our existing floor, no new sub floor needed!!

Dredging the pond that was over grown with weeds.

So in the past 4 years it has been a work in progress. It has been challenging and rewarding at the same time. We have lots of plans for what we would still like to do but it is always a balance of time and money. Our next big project will likely be new windows at least in the old part of the house. In the winter when that cold wind blows our curtains move!!! Not exactly energy efficient! However, I am proud to call this place home and prouder that most of the work we have done ourselves!!!