Hooked on Houses: Virtual Open House

I’m participating in the Hooked on Houses Online Open House tour, so if you’re here from Julia’s site, thanks for stopping by.  If you got here from somewhere else, I encourage you to take a look at some of the other online open houses going on today too.

My wife and I bought this 108 year-old traditional farmhouse in June and immediately started the process of de-Victorianizing the previous owners’ work.  Our long-term plan is to return the house to its farmhouse roots, guided by the principles of simplictiy, honesty, connection to the land, and high-quality craftsmanship.  We’re doing the vast majority of the work ourselves and using local and salvaged materials whenever possible.  William Morris said to, “have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful,” and that’s the ideal we’re aiming for.

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On to the open house!

A classic farmhouse should probably be simple and white, but that would make us the fifth white house in a row. Still, we'd like to repaint in the next couple years. Maybe darker blue with brighter white trim?

Stripping the porch floor is on our long list of projects. Who paints a porch floor blue - and not only blue, but a shade that isn't anywhere else on the house?

Sorry about the fan - I was drying some polyurethane on the entry floor. Repainting the screen door, cutting off the spindles, and stripping the front door are also on our growing to-do list.

I just finished the floor in the entry - scroll down for a longer post about the process

Formerly parlor - now family room. So far, this the only room that's lost its lace curtains. The rest will be disappearing soon, god willing. The orange is going away as soon as we decide on a new color. Dusty green?

The family room opens into the living room – front door is just around the corner to the right.  These double doors were in the basement (probably for years), but just needed a deep cleaning and new brass screws.

Living room with our Lannon stone fireplace - office to the left, dining room ahead, parlor and front door behind

(Apparently I can’t put a link in a photo caption – here’s the history of Lannon stone)

The office, which is haphazard and virtually unpresentable. That's Missy, working at our makeshift computer table.

Dining room from fireplace - this room will be blue soon and the border will be gone. The pie safe is antique - the table is unfortunately not.

The dining room opens right into the kitchen, and one of our goals is to tie these two rooms together into one large space

A small bathroom (with tiny shower - see post below) finishes off the bottom half of the house

Painting contrasting risers is still a half-finished project

The upstairs landing, featuring The World's Lowest Railing and The Nation's Shallowest Bookshelf

Just off the landing is the upstairs bathroom.  Like any good homeowner, we have a bottle of orange Goop hand-cleaner front and center.

Fantastic built-in cabinet in the upstairs bathroom

Generously-wide upstairs hallway, with our bedroom to the left, Josie's room to the right, and Missy's studio at the end of the hallway. The guest bedroom is directly to the left, and that's a built-in linen closet just off to the left as well.

Our bedroom, which is desperately in need of paint and new curtains

We're very fortunate to have walk-in closets in a house this old

Josie's nursery - our first project (I'll be writing a longer post about this soon)

Other half of Josie's room

Missy's studio, which we just started unpacking and prepping for paint. These two windows are directly above the porch.

Other half of Missy's studio, including the famous closet (see my post a few days ago)

Guest bedroom, currently used for storage while we paint other rooms. Our apologies, potential guests! (Ironically, as I post this, Missy has everything from this room out in the hallway so she can start painting it this morning.)

Back downstairs, through the kitchen and out the mudroom (the door to the left opens into back of the kitchen). It's a great room to have, but the paneling and vinyl floor are painful to look at.

Finally, our garage and backyard, featuring invasive clovers and overgrown lilac bushes (which, unfortunately, belong to our neighbors).

Thanks for coming on the tour, and again, if you want to watch the house evolve, I encourage you to stop back often.  The e-mail subscription link or RSS feed button in the upper-right corner are good ways to stay updated without having to click back here every few days.  Comments – good or bad, constructive or critical – are always welcome!