THE HOUSE IS EMPTY

 THE.

HOUSE.

IS.

EMPTY.

Saturday was a busy day.  A coworker came with a friend and a big truck because we gave her our bed frame and mattress/box springs for her son.

I had moved it to the barn to get it out of the house using the farm truck but he had a much bigger truck, ha.  In fact, they also took the guest room mattress/box  springs for her mom.  We kept that frame because we want to use it in the new guest room.  We'll just buy a new mattress for it.

She also took some other pieces for herself so it was nice to give stuff to someone who will enjoy it for years to come.

Then, the movers came and took the rest of the furniture, the big pieces we couldn't move with the pickup truck.

We were worried about the steps from the porch.  Well, they had this brilliant solution (I'm sure lots of movers use it but I'm easily impressed, ha).  They backed the truck close to the porch and then got out this two piece "bridge" that arched up over the stairs.  Then they just rolled everything in like it was all at the same level.

The guy told me it was the easiest move they had that day, ha.  It took them about 20 minutes to get everything out of the house.

The other thing we were worried about was fitting it all in the remainder of the storage unit.  We kept the small things about halfway over and left the rest empty.

We had three bookcases, the dining table, the yellow kitchen hutch, the bedroom dresser and armoire, a filing cabinet, coffee table, end table, sideboard, the marble top kitchen table and two more cabinets.

Would it all fit?

Here it is...all in there!  It was like the game Tetris for sure and there was still a little room to spare.  Now we don't have the eight dining room chairs in there.  I put those in the barn (all eight fit nicely in the back of bed of the truck).  If they had gotten there and they didn't fit, they'd charge extra to take it back so I figured the barn was good, at least temporarily.  I used the empty space to bring a couple more items...

...the orchard rack and couple more boxes I missed the first time and a few smaller things.  Oh, and I moved that top box before I left and put it on the floor, it was smashing the one below it (books).  2nd Man is worried about the dining chairs being in the barn since it's not climate controlled but I reminded him the house has not been climate controlled for years.  Plus, we're going to put them on the screened in porch so non-climate controlled again.  If we get a nice cool day when I'm out there, I might move them.  I bet I can make them fit.  I'm great at Tetris!

The last thing I had to do after they left was clear off the porch.  I moved the plants over by the barn where they'll be in mostly shade like they were on the porch.  And bonus, if it rains at least once a week, I won't have to worry about watering them.  If I do have to water though, I'll have to fill up 5 gallon buckets from 2nd Family until our well is up and running.  Then I moved the clay pots and some misc things we are keeping and that was it.  I was finally ready to leave.

I was driving down the driveway and then I remembered something...

...the construction string lights that I put under the house last year for the freeze!  They were good, heavy duty and kind of pricey, so I figured we should keep them.  You never know when we could use them again.

  We could put these under a tree or between the barn and shed if we put in a concrete pad there, heck we might need them in a chicken coop or the garden or something.  So, I crawled under the house and pulled them all down and put them in the shed.

When I left, I didn't lock the doors and yesterday two guys came out to strip the house of anything they could use.  They are taking the stove of course, the furniture we left (couch, loveseat, a few small tables), they are going to save the shelving from the mudroom, the ceiling fans, light fixtures, even the mudroom sink.  At least things will continue to live on.

Wednesday is the big day...the house is being demolished.  We'll both be out there, filming and taking pictures as this chapter comes to an end and we prepare for the next one.

And of course, we must remember today to say thank you to all who serve our military!  Thank you and your families for what you do for us.

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

Yesterday was busy and lots of work. I was there almost 8 hours (2nd Man had to work).  More on that in an update tomorrow.  It was hot and sunny and clear and today it's cooler and overcast.  We're off to run some errands that we need to do but in the meantime, here as our (mostly) regular tradition of some good food and some Hobart!

After a busy day at the farm, I came home and 2nd Man made one of my new faves.  It's just a variation on something we used to make but with healthier ingredients.  This is whole wheat pasta with tomatoes, low sodium tomato sauce, onions, and turkey sausage.  All topped with a little shredded reggiano and parsley.  Oh and a nice glass of red wine and of course our salad before the meal.

It was delicious and much needed after my long day.

When I came back, Hobart was laying by the front door and I think he gave me the stink eye for being gone so long on a weekend, ha.  Notice he's laying on a towel.  We bought some new bath towels and decided to give him this old one for a new place to sleep by the front door.  Because...

#notspoiled

LIVING ROOM NEW HOUSE TEASER

We are going to have a large living room.  Family room?  TV room?  Never sure what they call them these days.

It's open to the kitchen and nice and large.

Here it is, it measures 16x20 feet.  Remember, you saw a bit of this in the teaser for the screened in porch because we are having this opening wall/door to the porch.

Normally, this floor plan has a wall of windows and the door to the screened-in porch would be off to the side of the dining room.  But we changed it to this so can enjoy (on those nice days) the indoor/outdoor vibe.

We're going to put our TV on this wall.  This is from a similar model to ours, only we'll have the opening wall of windows.  We are having them put extra support studs in the wall for a wall mounted TV as well as the outlet and cable wires mounted up high so there are no cords running down below for the clean look.  We're also going to buy a new, bigger TV.  

The ceiling is almost 11 feet high in this room so guess what means?  GIANT CHRISTMAS TREE IN THE CORNER!  It will be nice to have a big, open space.  We'll have plenty of room for furniture.

A nice sectional would be good so we can relax and maybe even nap.  Maybe L-shaped and leather. We'll just have to see what we can find when the time comes.

  

Or maybe U-shaped and fabric. It might even be cool to have an L-shaped sectional with swivel chairs on the opening wall side. Then we could open the doors to the screened-in porch so guests can sit and still be part of the conversation in both spaces.

As we have mentioned before, a lot of this will be easier once it's drywalled and we can walk around in it and visualize the space in 3D.

The one thing we didn't get but really contemplated, was a fireplace.  But alas, it was just so expensive.  We might regret it someday but literally the cost to put one in (on the big wall just like above which is a version of our floorplan) was over $15,000.  That was money better spent in the kitchen and other spaces to get what we really wanted there.  There are some options we've seen for something later, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there, ha. 

The room will have recessed lighting and a ceiling fan.  For the ceiling fan though, we went with the standard option.  We actually did that in each room so that it will be easier to swap out later (for something like the above) and get what we really want without "mortgaging" the cost of a ceiling fan, ha.

Next time, dining room, then laundry room and then the posts about kitchen and pantry.

ONE OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS

No house teaser today, too much going on yesterday and I didn't finish the post.  So, to get something new up, I thought we'd share this.

Look at this rose bush.  It's got some pretty roses, a couple ready for gathering and some not so much.

But wait...this is artificial!

As I was moving stuff to storage I moved this and realized I've probably never blogged about it.  My Mom found this once upon a time.  I have no idea where she found it, it's certainly not some heirloom piece, ha, but we've always thought it was so cool.

There are almost over done roses...

...some new buds and even one that wasn't "cut" and has lived out its life with petals getting ready to fall off.

There is one that is almost ready...

And one that is perfect...

Even the pot and the soil and the moss are artificial!  It's crazy realistic and one of our favorite things to put on display.  It'll be on a stand in the guest room at the new house for sure.  Our color scheme in there will be pastel pinks and pale yellow so it will look perfect.

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

There is rain!  This weekend has been rainy.  Just relaxing today since the last couple of weekends have been double day working at the house.

It's nice to rest.

We usually mention salads before most of our dinners but I never think to take pics.  This one was iceberg and green leaf lettuce with red cabbage, radishes, shredded carrots, pea pods and pickled beets.  We made an Italian dressing and topped with some shaved parmesan reggiano.

Mahi-mahi pan seared and served over some couscous with mixed veggies.  It was a wonderful and healthy and very filling.

And speaking of a resting weekend, Hobart is doing his best to copy us, as long as we make sure his afghan is freshly fluffed and the sun is streaming in at just the correct angle.  Because...

#notspoiled

REPURPOSING SHELVING UNIT

 So, as I was clearing out the mudroom, we have wooden shelves.  On one side of the room, they are deep, 18 inches deep to be exact.

Here is a picture from when we first put them in about ten years ago.  I thought about moving them to the mower shed (the larger barn/workshop is full with shelving so there's no space there) but they were too deep in the smaller space of the shed with the mower in the middle and needing space to walk around it.

But then, behind the door in the mudroom, I forgot that there was a single set of shelves, shallower at only 12 inches deep.  Because they are fully assembled, I just carried them out and put them in the truck (along with the other stuff head to the barn/shed) and drove it over and crossed my fingers.

Here is the end result:

Look at this!

It fits PERFECTLY in this spot! This will give me more space to store things like the supplies for the mower and the weedeater as well as stuff like wasp spray, fire ant killer, tools I use for the mower, etc.  It was the only one in that size we had, but it's good we had it.

Once we get out there, I'll have my hands full organizing the barn and the shed, but it'll be so easy because I'll have plenty of time to do it whenever I want.  Right now, it's just the weekends and there was always so much else to focus on.

Not only are we building our dream house, I'm going to be able to turn those two buildings into my dream workshop and shed!

THIRD BEDROOM NEW HOUSE TEASER

 OK, last week was the guest room, this week it's the 3rd bedroom which, while it is designed as a bedroom on the floor plan, will be our study.

So, here is the study.

It measures 15.3' x 13.5'

9 foot ceiling.

4 recessed lights and a ceiling fan in the middle.

Wall mount ready for a TV/monitor.

It is in the hallway by the guest bedroom and across from the second bathroom.  Since it's the bigger of the two, we chose it to be a study for two reasons.  One, well, we have always wanted a study because...

...we have books!

Lots of books, ha.  We will use these bookcases initially (we have four total, these three are already at the farm and one more is at the apartment, also full of books). We might change to something else though.  Floor to ceiling shelving would awesome with a small ladder to get books high up (well, 9 feet high up, ha).

We'd like to have been able to do some built-in shelving but when you do that, it makes the room kind of permanently that way (what if we changed our mind and wanted to swap the guest room for this one?).  It is also a lot of expense (like kitchen cabinet expense since they are custom-made to fit).  Standalone bookcases it is, ha.  But again, we might find something different that fits better, it's kind of hard to judge all of this on paper at this point, so we figured that once the room is drywalled, we'll be able to do some planning by measuring and then shopping.

Would all these books make it a library? 😂

The other reason we need a study is because 2nd Man works from home 100% of the time.  He's been using the bedroom at the apartment, and he'd rather have a dedicated space for that as his home office.  We'll have to figure out how to fit a new desk in here and make it work.  For me, I REALLY would like two chairs with a table in between right under the windows.

I've always envisioned something like this.  Just a comfortable place to sit and read, away from the living room or bedroom with lots of light.  If we can have a couple of walls of bookcases, get 2nd Man's desk in there and save space for this, it will be wonderful.

Also, since the house will be very tech forward, we opted to have all cables, wifi wiring, etc run into this bedroom instead of the attic where it is normally put.  To make them easy to access, they will be run into the closet in this room so we have these builtins and we'll still have space for storage of course.  It can also be just the spot for cables and lines to "neatly" terminate and have the wifi router, backup battery for the internet, and other computer paraphernalia, ha.

Like the guest room last week, we are doing something different in here with paint color.  Oops, did that picture give away something?  We'll see!  More on that in a post on all the interior colors we chose!

Next time, the living room.  We're only two or three room tours away from the kitchen and pantry (and THAT'S going to take a couple of posts).

MOVING IS PRACTICALLY DONE

At least the part we can do.

Phew.

It was a busy weekend (week actually).  I took a day off and did more packing and moving (the books took FOREVER and the boxes were REALLY heavy).  Then, we were out there on Saturday doing more.  And then I was there on Sunday!

It was hot, feels like of 90's.  Ugh.  It's almost November, what the heck, weather?

There was so much to do but other than the big furniture that we are keeping (and the porch) it's done.

This is from the back corner toward the front.  I tried to keep it all on one side so that we will have room for the big items we are keeping (movers taking them).  It will be dining table and chairs, the yellow kitchen hutch, the two pieces in the guest room, the white canning cabinet, a marble top baking table, cedar chest, a wooden file cabinet, a coffee table and end table, and three bookcases. 

We're thinking the bookcases can stack at the back and the dining table will allow us to put the chairs on top, then we can squeeze in the other things.  Fingers crossed that we planned correctly!  There might be a couple of smaller piece (and maybe even the dining room chairs) that we can stick in the barn (though it's pretty full now, ha).  

OK, now this made us laugh.  You know that we've been saving up boxes from the apartment and taking them out there (it's been a godsend to have so many at our disposal, and we have extras!).  Well most are just U-Haul or Lowes or Walmart or random names.

But this one stood out:

We were a self-fulfilling prophecy and didn't know it! 😆Two men with the little truck that could!

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

Here it is, already Sunday and the last Sunday of October.  Where DOES the time go?  As this posts, I'll be heading out to the farm for one more day of packing and moving.  It was all day yesterday.  This should be it, then the movers can come soon. 

2nd Man made a nice hearty breakfast of a whole egg mixed with egg whites, sweet potatoes, onions, green bell peppers and parsley.  Sort of using up things we had in the fridge and put it all together to into one delicious breakfast!

Here is Hobart, saying hello.  He was recharging his batteries in the sunshine on his afghan on his chair in front of his favorite window.  Because...

#notspoiled

ALOE VERA PLANTS TRASH TO GARDENING TREASURE

Regular readers know that I have a favorite place to look for bargains...our downstairs trash area!  Our building has trash chutes on every floor, and they feed into a separate room, but for boxes and other things that people can't put in the chute, there is an area (indoor) near the loading dock where people can put the things they don't want.  I've found quite a few cool items over the last few years.

I was taking some of our empty boxes (I break ours down by the way, like you're SUPPOSED to do, ha, but I digress).  I walked in and saw these two aloe vera plants.  We had a nice one at the farm, but we missed it one year in the freeze and it never recovered.  I told 2nd Man we needed to get one to have at the new house and then these fell into my lap!

Two nice and healthy aloe plants, one in a plastic pot, the other in a nice, colorful, clay pot.  I'll repot the plastic one into a clay pot but otherwise, these are great plants in great shape and now we have two new plants for the porch at the new house.  Aloe is always great for burns (and maybe even wasp stings?).

For now, they will live on the balcony at the apartment so I can keep an eye on them and bring them in this Winter and then they'll be at the farm.  Maybe one on the front porch and one on the back porch.

GUEST ROOM NEW HOUSE TEASER

 OK, this might be a boring update, since there's not a lot to see but we said we'd go room by room and since we did the master last week, now it's on to the other bedrooms. This week it's the guest room.

The house will be three bedrooms.  We had the option for a 4th but aside from adding a lot of expense, we didn't really need all that space.  I mean, it's just the two of us and we don't have much family.  We never have a lot of people that stay with us, certainly at the apartment we have none (1 bedroom/1 bath), but at the house we sold before the apartment, we had a guest room that was used on occasion by friends and family visiting

Of course, being the country, you never know, someone might come visit and would rather stay overnight instead of driving back into town.

So here is the guest room.

It measures 12.8'x13.6'.

9 foot ceiling.

4 recessed lights and a ceiling fan in the middle.

We could choose either bedroom to be the guest room but we chose this one since it's at the end of the hall for maximum privacy (also the other one is slightly bigger which would be better for how we'll use that room, more on that next week). 

This is from a model home photo (before they started decorating, ha).  It has a good size double door closet with some built-ins, of course it will probably end up being more of an extra closet to store our stuff, ha.  The guest bed that we have is queen size so it will fit nicely.  There is this large window that will face the front yard (the master bedroom windows face the rear) so it will let in a lot of light.

You've probably seen pics of our guest room at the farm, but in case you haven't, here it is:

This is a great, vintage Hoosier style cabinet my Mom had in her bedroom, we'll put it on the wall by the door going into the room...

Here's a yellow "Jack and Jill" dresser (something my Mom found at an estate sale), we'll put it opposite the bed.  We're going to, more or less, recreate this room in the new house.  We're saving the bed frame, end tables and the two pale yellow furniture pieces (they are antiques).  Some of the decor will move over but we'll repurpose others.

Speaking of repurposing...

...we're going to use these pictures in the new guest room.  We had them in the farm living room and we think they'll fit the guest bedroom theme a bit better.  We have four of them.

Chair in corner, image via Pinterest

One thing we want to do differently is put a comfy chair in the corner of the bedroom, with perhaps a small side table. Ottoman optional, ha.

Overall, the "new" guestroom will be much of the same color palette as well.  Our main decorating style always seems to lean more toward earth tones and more grounded, deeper, richer colors in the rest of the house (though at the apartment we've added blues and orange to our palette, ha).  For this room though, we want it to be softer and gentler.  This honors our mothers with their favorite colors and will give it a different energy.  Plus there will be a wall color, more on that in a future paint color post!

If someone does stay overnight, we want them to be a calm, relaxing space.  Because of the pastels and the flowers, we're going to call it the "Spring room".