Happy Monday, friends!! I’ve been quiet on here again. We are cleaning, packing, and working a ton. It feels a little overwhelming right now, but I know that in one month it will be much slower. Here is where we are currently at:

Almost all of the trim has been painted and put back up around the windows and doorways. The baseboards won’t be put back down until the carpet is laid. The contrast isn’t quite as dramatic in person as is showing in the pictures. I honestly think I’d like pure white trim a lot more, but this is something that was on hand. We are all about cutting costs. Realistically– curtains are going to cover quite a bit of the trim anyway.

The oven is all cleaned up and put back together. The new vent hood is hung. We are going to be foregoing a microwave here, and I’m actually really excited about it.

On Saturday, we painted the ceiling in the kitchen. I’m not sure if you can really tell in the previous picture, but the ceiling was pretty discolored. It was really noticeable over where the stove is. The farmer said it had probably been 40+ years since it had been painted.

We also put Kilz on the office and living room floors. The previous tenants had a TON of cats. They would apparently drag dead animals in. So nasty. Anyway, this coat of Kilz will keep any smells from rising through the new carpet.

New plywood has been put down in the school room since that flooring was much older. This will help the carpet lay better. Speaking of carpet, here is a grainy picture of what it will look like.

It’s a really pretty grey color with bits of tan mixed in. It’s such a pretty neutral and will hide any dirt really well. Plus, it’s so soft! The color is called Ash Grove. It will be going in the office, living room, school room, up the stairs and in the bedrooms upstairs.

This is the flooring that will go in the laundry room and upstairs bathroom. It’s all so pretty and neutral.

Even the yard and gardens have been getting cleaned up. The trees and bushes have been pruned, and are already showing lots of signs of regrowth. Isn’t that how life is?

Are you ready for the most exciting part? Once the carpet comes in and gets installed, we should be good to move in! At most, it would be two weeks before the carpet comes in. They are going to try and get it in much faster since we have our first party at the house in early September.

I can hardly believe it. Last night, Scott and I sat on the steps at the farm while the girls played. The breeze was blowing and birds were chirping. Monarch butterflies kept flying by. The kids were pretending they were in a fairy garden/ on a pirate ship / making soup and it was just bliss.

This week’s update isn’t quite as exciting as the others. But, that also makes it exciting. We are down to small projects to finish things up, so I don’t have a lot of pictures to show changes.

Something fun- we have apples at the farm! Scott made this discovery one evening while I was at work. The tree hasn’t been cared for in years, so I will be looking at how to make it healthier so we get more apples! It is really tall and there are quite a bit of dead branches. I’m sure there is a time of year thats best for pruning.

On Saturday, my mom watched the kiddos so we could go to the farm and help the farmer with some of the projects. We painted trim for 3 or so hours.

Unfortunately, the floors in this room aren’t able to be restored. I’m really fine with that. While it obviously would have been beautiful, I’m excited for the carpet that will muffle the noise. Vacuuming carpet is 100 times easier than sweeping the hardwoods– especially with a dog that sheds like mad.

The farmer got a quote on carpeting the school room, the living room/office, AND the two upstairs bedrooms! He will get carpet samples within the budget and we get to pick which one we want. That feels like SO much pressure. I’ve never picked carpet. I’ve picked out rugs before, but carpet is permanent.

We went to Rural King yesterday for a few things. They had the sweetest farmhouse decor, which I never expected. Some of it brought me to tears (big shock). I keep getting so overwhelmed with gratitude. It feels like a dream. (Side note: I picked these pretzels up at Rural King and they are SO good.) The kids also keep asking for a bunny and had fun talking about the possibility of getting chickens.

We are SO close and I feel giddy with anticipation. I’ve been packing and cleaning during the day. There are some things at the house we live in that I need to get cleaned up and painted.

The projects left at the farm that I can remember:
– paint the big upstairs bedroom
– carpet in main rooms
– sand and stain the upstairs hallway
– flooring in half bath
– finish painting trim and hang up
– clean

Hi, friends!!! I know I keep saying this, but we are SO CLOSE! The floors are being worked on! Hooray!

Goodbye nasty carpet on the stairs! Ok, the carpet was actually in amazing shape for its age. I just can’t help but think about the dust that accumulated. It looks so much better already!

The upstairs bathroom is put back together! The floor needs to be finished, but then this room is done! He put in a heat lamp so the room will be nice and warm when baths are done. So kind.

The master bathroom is also all painted. Last minute touches are all that’s left in this room. Putting the drawers back in, trim back in, etc.

This is super cool! The carpet in the school room got pulled up. Underneath was 1950s style floor. He said it was tar-backed linoleum. He was so sweet and asked me to come look at it so I could see. He knows my love of old houses and learning the way things were done, and I appreciated this so much. He pulled it all up, and is going to attempt restoring the ORIGINAL floors to the farmhouse. It will depend on if problem spots were found.

Just imagine these cleaned up and re-stained. So pretty! If carpet has to happen, then I will welcome the muffling of sounds. I feel like it’s a win-win situation.

Here’s the most fun part– A fun discovery was made in the master bedroom.

The farmer did not know that these were hiding underneath the carpet. He said this was done before his time, so he had no clue. This is what I love about these old homes. There are so many hidden gems waiting to be discovered.

We still have to paint the rest of the trim so it matches throughout. The kids’ rooms upstairs also haven’t been touched yet, but those will go quickly.

Scott and I will finally be off together this weekend, so we will be able to go and get work done. Everything is coming together quickly. The farmer said he doesn’t take a day off of working– he was even there through the heat advisory. I truly am so thankful that these kind people were placed in our lives. God has so clearly been in every step of this crazy process, and we can’t wait to see what He does with this.

Any guesses on what week will be the final update? I’m hoping week 18, but we will see. 🙂

I really love creating vision boards. We won’t have the budget to completely re-do our family room. But, I love getting an idea of what to save up for. Here is my vision board for the family room!

\\ Leather Couch // Grey Couch // Blanket // Rug // Media Center //
\\ Throw Pillows // Pouf Ottoman // planter //

I always felt like I didn’t really know what my personal style was. A great way to find your style is to create a Pinterest board for whatever room you are thinking of. Go through and pin the pictures that you really love. Once you get that done, you can go through and see what the common themes are. I always thought I wanted a lot of color.

It turns out, I find the neutral color schemes to be really soothing. When you add in great natural wood tones, brick, and plants, it just feels like such a cozy space to me. I love the LOOK of the leather couch. I think I’d rather the comfort of fabric though.

What is your style? Do you love tons of color or neutrals?

We are getting so close!!! The farmer said we should definitely be in by the beginning of September– most likely before then. We had a picnic dinner on Friday at the farmhouse. It has been brutal with the humidity. We had a little bit of a break and took advantage of it.

When we went inside, we talked to the farmer. He had painted several of the rooms and the area above the stairs! The carpet guy will be coming soon to replace the yucky carpet.

The light is at the end of the tunnel! Woohoo!!

We finished painting the kitchen. The color we chose (color matched Shiplap) makes it hard to see where you’ve painted over primer until it’s dry. We’ll go back in this week to do a second coat in there.

The school room is all painted. I think I’m going to paint over that green also. The carpet in here will get replaced soon and trim will get painted and go back on.

The kids were with us and playing in the room with dry paint. Pony rides for life.

Here is the master bedroom all painted. Look at the view out the windows!

Sick of white? haha! We really are just trying to be budget friendly with this process. The farmer insists on paying for the paint because he doesn’t believe that any of our money should go into the house. I think that’s nonsense because paint isn’t necessary. Either way, we are going to do this color throughout since 5 gallon buckets are much more affordable. Once we add in our furniture and decor, it won’t feel quite as sterile. This color is a creamy white, so it feels much warmer than most whites.

The detached garage even got a new roof.

If you are new here, this is the before of the farmhouse. There is no other way to describe how this all came to be than it’s all God. I just “happened” to meet the farmer’s wife and tell her our dream of living on a homestead. I just “happened” to bump into the farmer when I went out to look at it. He let me walk through it and everything has “happened” to fall into place. We get to rent this beautiful farmhouse while we are here, and we couldn’t be more grateful.

The farmer said that they feel truly blessed to have us. I told him that words could never adequately express how much they mean to us.

I can’t wait to sit outside and read my Bible with a cup of coffee. The sunsets are incredible. The wildlife is so fun. The quiet is bliss.

PS- It’s Prime day. Are you shopping it? I’m not shopping, but I am sharing some of our favorite things that are on sale in this facebook group.