The Farmhouse Project - The Final Chapter

Hello there friends! I am writing to you from a nice 80 degree day here in Iowa, which is actually pretty nice considering it was 100 degrees all last week. I am not sure what is up with Iowa lately, but I guess 2020 has taught us to be ready for literally anything.

We just wrapped up a 9+ month renovation, the farmhouse project, and we are really excited how it turned out. We have a lot of new visitors here, so I will give a super quick recap.

Last October, we bought a tired but sturdy c.1900 home in the heart of our community. When I say tired, I mean it showed it’s age and was missing some modern amenities. Since then we tore off a section of the home, rebuilt it with added square footage, put in all new windows/doors/siding/sheeting/roof/hvac/electrical and added central air and a large deck. It took a little longer than planned, due to 2020’s challenges (complete with a ‘derecho’), but in the end it was all worth it.

Let’s get right to the photos (roughly in chronological order)

Photo from the listing when we bought it

Tore the back section off that needed new trusses

New Foundation!

Putting a large Addition Back On

Tearing off the siding and sheeting from the original section of the home

All put back together, complete with new windows

A very cold day! (view from front porch)

The kitchen ceiling no longer droops!

Vertical siding for the win!

As you can tell, we replaced almost everything at this home. Here are a couple fun before and after shots, I tried to take the ‘afters’ at the same angles for easier reference.

Let’s start with the kitchen…

Sink and stove in same position

There’s really nothing the same about this kitchen other than a few of the appliances, everything else is new. We kept the kitchen the same size and roughly the same layout, but this new space is much brighter with an added window and lots of lighting!

Here’s another before and after set…the upstairs bedrooms!

Bedroom 1 before…

Bedroom 1 after

Bedroom 1, second angle

Bedroom 1, second angle

Bedroom 2 Before

Bedroom 2 After

These bedrooms both received new windows, flooring, paint, doors, trim, electrical, and some drywall. The photos from the first bedroom show the new set of stairs and new railing as well. New stairs were essential, as the previous stairs were no where near the correct size, but there weren’t building codes 120 year ago!

The living room was part of the original structure that was kept intact during demolition, and we really wanted to keep as much of the home's character as possible. We tore off multiple layers of ceiling, added all new drywall, windows, electrical wiring and fixtures. We also took up the flooring and sanded down decades of carpet glue and stain. These next photos show the transformation of the living room, which is one of my favorite parts of the home.

We kept the same door in the same place, for reference.

Next up is the main bathroom, which was also serving as the laundry room. We moved the laundry into the (newly added) master closet, and this room got to return to single function status after it was torn down and rebuilt, of course.

Last but not least, the exterior. You might notice no window air conditioners in the after photos….that’s because this home finally has central air. I’m not sure how previous owners managed the sweltering Iowa summers for 120 years with no air!

Front view

Back View

New Back view, with deck! (and central air!)

It was a long 9 months, but it was all worth it in the end. Throughout the renovation process, we had neighbors stop by almost every single day and express how happy they were to see this older home in the heart of their community get the help it needed to see its next 120 years. We even had a person stop by that used to live in the home in the early 2000s, she was amazed at how far it had come since then.

These encounters with the community members were so heartwarming, and often the motivation we needed to get through another 16 hour or 100 degree day (or both!).

Last week it was time to see this house off to its new owners, and while it was almost sad to pass the keys along, it was also very rewarding. It’s in good hands.

Our ‘inspector’ even gave her final seal of approval!

What’s next for us?

Well as you can imagine this project took up most of our free time, but now that it’s completed we have a few other small things in the works, along with some storm damage repairs from our most recent natural disaster. In October we officially will own our acreage, which will bring on another list of projects. It’s going to be a down-to-the-wire finish for us to complete everything before winter but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Stay safe out there and we will chat soon!

-Rachael

Farmhouse Renovation: Month 6 Update

It’s a new month, and that brings a new farmhouse update!

This will be the last update before the finished project reveal, which will be sometime in June. Originally we had planned on this project only taking 6 months, but as we know a pandemic had other plans. We have tried to remain as flexible as possible and just log some extra hours when we can (between essential jobs).

My favorite part of this month’s update is the vertical siding on the front of the home, which is something we have never done prior to this project. The cost of this type of siding is significantly greater than traditional horizontal siding, and I am not sure why other than increased demand due to current trends. Anyway, it looks great! Here’s a close up…

Another addition to the front porch is the tin ceiling, which will naturally rust over time and look older/more original. We also are in the process of installing a deck over the existing porch cement slab, which will level it up and overall just look nicer. Here are a couple photos of the front exterior.

Note: Final door and frame are not installed yet!

Another exciting install this month was central air conditioning, which was never previously installed in the home. I’m not sure how anyone survived for the last 120 years of sweltering Iowa summers without central air, but we have officially solved that problem!

A/C for the win!

Equally exciting is the addition of attic access and blow in insulation. Iowa is an extreme weather state (extremely hot and extremley cold) so proper insulation is key to managable utility costs. Anyone else get excited about insulation? Just me? Ok…

Attic access in the hallway!

That’s all the photos I can share for now, as I need to save some for the final reveal. I’m really looking forward to these next few weeks of finishing touches, and I will probably have a few sneak peek’s over on Instagram.

I hope wherever you are reading this that you are able to stay safe and healthy during this unprecidented time. I am looking forward to finishing this project, for the simple fact of having one less iron in the fire during all of this uncertainty. As always, thank you for stopping by the blog today, it really does mean a lot!

Unitl next time,

Rachael