It's coming along

        It's been two weeks since they started the house.  Siding is done on three sides and the porch is coming along.  It's looking so much better.  A view of the northeast corner of the house.  

        Here's a closer look at our house's makeover.  For the first couple days it was funny to see the neighbors drive by.  Normally cars fly right by our house, but they were going a lot slower to see what we were doing. 

       With anything there is always an oops.  Well here was ours.  We came home from picking out a new front door and found our TV antenna had fallen over.  We thought it was anchored in the ground and the straps on the soffit were just for extra projection.  When the contractors undid the straps the wind took it right on over.  Luckily there was a cable stretching from the other corner of the house that held it off the ground. 

        It ended up being a blessing in disguise.  We were able to take off the two old antennas that didn't work anymore, move the one that does to the top, and anchored it in with concrete so we don't have to worry about it again.  Bonus, we now get CBS all the time.

        The south-side is done too.  I love not having the overhead electrical lines running across the backyard. 

         It's hard to tell in the picture, but this is the downside to buying your siding two years ago and storing it in the back machine shed.  The mice and weather carried mud in between the layers.  After they put up a side I have to wash it down with soap and water.  For one box I tried washing it down before they put it up, but it was even more challenging. 



        Our back door is looking great.  Yesterday my brother and dad stopped by after work to do some electrical work for us.  They installed our doorbell and new light that was my husband's Christmas or maybe it was birthday present two years ago.  On the bottom left corner you can see a spot where we will be putting an electrical outlet in.  The evening just wasn't long enough.  The other door, in case you are wondering, goes to the basement. 

        Meanwhile on the west side my husband and dad ran electrical wires for an outdoor light between the door and window.  Currently we have a makeshift light until the siding gets put up and it can get put into the exact place it will go.  Also, they re-ran the doorbell wires.
        While I was fixing supper it was interesting listening to them try to locate the wires to bring it through the small holes.  Down just a little bit more,  oh I can see it but it is too far to the right, now you are to much to the left, etc.  We are hoping to put an electrical outlet on this side too.   

         One side left to go.  You can see they replaced the old front door and have started framing up the porch. 

         The top of the porch is decking that is made out of recycled plastics.  It is supposed to be maintenance free.

        The small gray rectangle to the right of the porch is our new underground wiring bringing electricity into the house.  Maybe by next weekend the siding will be done so we can focus on roofing and gutters. 

Home makeover

      Stripping off the old wood siding to replace it with vinyl siding was going to be our first home improvement two years ago.  We bought the siding and had it sitting in the back shed, thinking we would find a week or two of good weather to get it done.  Well it proved hard to find that nice weather that wasn't already filled up with planting, putting up hay, harvesting, or some other farming task.

         This spring we decided we better bite the bullet and hire someone to help us out. Otherwise pretty soon the mice will have chewed up and destroy the new siding.  On Thursday a local contractor and his son came to get started. 

        We plan on removing the square entry way and porch to make a single front porch.   

        After they removed the wood siding, there was a layer of felt paper.  I guess you could say it's an older version of house wrap. 

        Once the contractors went home that first evening, we tore off the felt paper and loaded up the wood siding to disposed of it. 

        I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture, but the windows facing the north used to be a lot longer.  When my husband's grandfather purchased the farm in the 1950's, the house was a two-story home with longer windows.  

         My sister-in-law just found a picture from right before they purchased the farm.  This is the same view from above.  In 1951 my husband's grandfather remodeled it. The front entry way was converted into a bathroom.  So that door became a window.  Then the front parlor, which I believe was on the right, and the dining room, which I believe was on the left, were converted into two bedrooms. 



        This is a west-facing view with his grandfather and great uncle on the tractor.  They squared up the back portion of the house.  The west-side became a living room and dining room/kitchen while the east side became a third bedroom and back entry way with a half-bath.  You might notice a whole in the back roof.  At the time of the picture they had already knocked down the old kitchen chimney.

       Here is what the west looks like today with a trench dug through the driveway and yard.  There is little comparison between the farmhouse before the 1950's and our home today. 

        By the way the trench my husband dug is for an underground electrical service for the house.  Before electricity came into the house on overhead wires attached to the south-side of the house.  We are going to put it underground and bring it into the west basement wall.  It should make it much safer during storms and instead of two 60 amp services, we will have one service with ample room to grow with today's modern-day electricity demands. 

        Meaning we have another project to do.  Slowly we will be switching all the old wiring out and changing the electrical outlets so they are grounded.  Then running them to a breaker box instead of two over filled fuse boxes.  Luckily when we remodeled the kitchen last year we already had this project in mind.  Besides for the lights, one room down, five to go.  

All things baby!!

        With 6 weeks to go, a rainy week provided the perfect weather to make progress for all things baby.  I was able to finish a crib skirt, teething cover, and baby boy quilt.  

         Project #1 Using a pinterest tutorial with my own modifications, I created this crib skirt that should coordinate well with baby girl or baby boy things.  At first the skirt was going to just be the gray/white striped fabric, but when there was a little bit of extra solid gray from baby boy quilt I could resist the extra touch.   

       Project # 2 Crib rail protector for future teething baby.  I know we are a little ahead of the game here, but I couldn't resist especially since soon my sewing room will be turned completely into the baby's room. 

      Project # 3 Baby boy quilt is a chevron quilt complete with red barns on the front and a variety of tractors on the back. I will post pictures soon of the finished project. Just waiting for a sunny day to snap a few pictures of it.  Above is a preview of the fabric choices, though.
     If you are wondering about baby girl quilt look closely at the first couple pictures.  I'm still in the piecing stages, but the crib is providing a nice table to lay it all out on.