Or at least of 2018. It’s been a year of dramatic change here on the farm- and our lives. Retiring and moving cross-country mid-June to take on the restoration of this old farmhouse. Taking it from a quickly declining structure and mish-mash of design eras and tastes, to a strong, ready-to-stand-another-200-years structure and decor to honor the people who originally built this home- Daniel and Abigail. We’ve enjoyed the process of researching what New England life was like just after the Revolutionary War, what Daniel and Abigail would have been like, what their day-to-day lives were like, how these houses and barns were built, and why. We’ve learned so much, yet still have so many questions.
One of our neighbors stopped by this morning, and she asked us “how do you even decide where to start?” in referring to the restoration. At the time, we didn’t have an answer- it’s all such a blur. With few exceptions, we’ve worked ever single day since we arrived full-time in mid-June. Having had some time to process and reflect, we do remember wanting to finish off the screen porch first, so we would have a finished space to retreat for the evening after a long day of working on projects. Necessity brought us to work on the barn, as it was revealed that it was unlikely to have stood another winter. Having a lot of dying and diseased trees too close to the house necessitated their removal, and the escalating drainage issues lead into working on the landscaping- to some degree anyway. There’s still much to do in the yard, but not until all the heavy equipment is finished driving around, which will be in the spring. As a reminder, this is where we started;
Looking back at the progress we’ve made, and what we’ve accomplished this year, we are filled with appreciation to those who have helped us along the way. We’ve met so many truly wonderful folks who have provided their expertise, advice, labor, time, and craftsmanship to the overall project. People who are passionate about antique homes, the stories, the history, and their craft. These are people who will likely never be famous, never have thousands of followers on social media, or even desire to. These are guys who care about what they do, do it to the best of their abilities, and expect nothing but a fair wage, a firm handshake, and to go home to their families feeling good about the job they’ve done. These are the guys to whom we owe our appreciation, and due to their hard work, this old farm house will stand for generations to come. This first post of 2019 is dedicated to them.
Come spring, we’ll be wrapping up the major drainage, foundation, and landscape work, and we can start turning our focus to the “pretty stuff”. We’ll re-side the house, adding some insulation and vapor barrier in the walls. We’ll also seed the field next to the barn (currently staging for the barn building materials) with a wildflower mix that will hopefully self-seed. Oh, and FINALLY plant a garden where we can grow most of our own food. Seed catalogs are starting to arrive….
In a week or two, we’ll be laying the new hearth room floor, which arrived yesterday. The boards were salvaged from the attic of a 1790 house on the seacoast, and once they’ve acclimated to our house, we can install them using a mixture of period (salvaged) and new reproduction cut square-head nails. They are currently around 20% moisture content, and we need them to be closer to 12%. The floorboards are between 9″ up to 21″ wide, and are either pine or hemlock (I can’t tell the difference). We’ll just be using a boiled linseed oil/turpentine mixture, which will really bring out the rich color of their age.
Hope you all had a nice Christmas/New Years/holiday season. We spent Christmas Day exploring a few of the covered bridges in the area, because what could be more quintessentially New England?
Just because most of the contractors will be taking the winter off doesn’t mean the work stops, so stay tuned. Thanks for following along!
Here’s a current photo of the house for comparison. The trailers and construction equipment will be going come spring, then we can smooth the grade and seed some grass. Little by little…
Leave a Reply