A little bittersweet after Granann’s passing last year, but I’m excited to share the new farm name. Welcome to 410 Farm.
We considered many different farm names for almost 2 years, and while “Cory’s Farm” kept coming up, nothing really stuck 😉
Last year, I received a birthday gift that was really special to our family. Granann passed on an heirloom, the transom that was over her father’s medical practice in Indianapolis, Indiana. I’m not certain of the timeline or specific years, maybe some of the family can help me out with that?
Today, my great grandfather’s antique transom is over our mantle and reflected in our family farm. It has been cracked over the years and several moves but has no shortage of character! Â I kept it in the original frame that hung in Granann’s house for as long as I can remember.
The antique transom from over the door my great grandfather’s medical practice.
We love the heritage and wanted to put our own spin on the farm name so Cory came up with a new logo for the farm.
We’ve focused some energy on the barn this year, so I’ll be sharing all of the updates we’ve done to the barn in my next blog post. You can now follow the farm on Facebook at www.facebook.com/410Farm
As always, thank you so much for checking in as we FIX THIS FARM!
Had enough door jokes? NOT ME. I’m just thrilled to have all of the doors hung upstairs. With door knobs and trim!!
Door, knob and trim. This one is Claire’s closet door.
The upstairs hallway.
As you can see, we also hung pictures in the hallway! Finishing a room and decorating it are two completely different worlds to us right now. So, I’m reminding myself to be grateful for the little things. I’ve realized there are so many details that go into a room (read: so much to do!), even before the decorating process.
Thanks for dropping in as we FIX THIS FARM. Our door is always open! Sorry, couldn’t resist. I’ve been spending too much time with Cory and his Dad jokes 😉
Over the Christmas holiday Cory hung drywall in the mudroom and I did the mudding, sanding and painting. Mudding, by the way, might win the award for my least favorite DIY project! It’s simply maddening. (And still not perfect.)
Drywall hungSanding. so much sanding.
3rd coat of mud
It’s been primed grey but we won’t pick a final paint color until we see the floor installed.
The brick floor will go in next along with some paint, storage for coats and then all things muddy! I can’t wait to get all of the shoes and coats out of the kitchen. Â More pictures soon.
Thanks for hanging out as we FIX THIS FARM. And you’re welcome, for not handing you a sanding block. xoxo
In this post we are celebrating a milestone! No more exposed insulation. As we approach the one year mark with this farm, we can finally boast that we have walls!! (For now, this might not be the case if we get a wild hair next month.)
Cory replacing wood paneling.
We were able to find unfinished wood flooring that was similar to the size of the existing wood paneling. However, it wasn’t beveled so Cory had to route the edges to match.
The wall is up.
Oh, the wood paneling. We have big plans for all of that wood. (It includes a lot of paint.) Stay tuned for that!
We also have a new light fixture in the Den.
New fan in the den.
We have several projects that will be wrapping up over the next two weeks so I’ll be posting more soon. Thanks for joining us as we FIX THIS FARM!
We’ve been in the house for almost 3 months now. It’s still half construction site, but it’s now officially home! We (mostly) finished the two upstairs bedrooms before we moved in, but we’re still putting the finishing touches like baseboards and framing in the windows.
Claire’s room is so close to being done! Cory framed in her window and completed her built in toy closet. I painted it but we haven’t put shelves in yet. This space was previously part of her closet. It was a narrow long space, so we decided to break it up and open the access. This will be a more functional way to store her toys, separate from her clothes and true storage items. Here is the during and almost final product of Claire’s built in toy closet:
We also haven’t hung anything on our precious walls!!! I do want to hang pictures, but the thought of putting a hole in our freshly painted, newly hung drywall still makes me cringe (a lot).
The progress has slowed down a bit now that we live here. As expected, we spent time over the summer cleaning up the property and keeping it mowed. We miiiight have even spent some time floating in the pool with friends and family! We also found some great end of season bargains on outdoor furniture. We got a sofa set for the deck, a pair of chases, new umbrella for the table and two huge deck boxes to store all of the fun new pool toys.
Now that it’s turned chilly we had a cover made and winterized the pool. The one we chose is highly rated for safety, a 95% mesh weave, and will (hopefully) cut down the algae growth over the winter. We got lucky and were able to use all of the existing anchors for the cover so we didn’t have to drill into the concrete, phew!
We had some of the water hydrants in and around the barn replaced and spent several weekends clearing and burning branches.
Our major project in the house right now is the upstairs bathroom. It will be Claire’s bathroom and serve as the guest bathroom. I have a design plan and the tub is installed, so it should go pretty quickly now. I’ve got a test spot of the paint color drying on the wall as I type. This is some of what I’m planning:
clockwise from top right: floor tile, shower tile, vanity, granite for vanity, shower curtain, and wall color
We also replaced the water heater. Not as flashy, but oh so necessary!
On a more fun note, we were very generously given their outgrown swing set by Grampa (Cory’s Dad), Grandma Judy and Ben! Cory and his Dad spend most of last Sunday reconstructing it on the farm. Claire absolutely adores it (thank you guys)! We will be spending a lot of time out there enjoying it this fall!
More updates coming soon, along with more pictures of the upstairs. As always, thanks so much for checking in as we FIX THIS FARM!
As we put the “finishing touches” on the upstairs it’s really starting to feel like a house again. Here’s our list of updates since last time:
We’ve finished the drywall (walls & ceilings) including mud, sanding and primer.
I finished laying the floor.
The door frames are painted and we’re working on painting the doors.
We’re really happy with how the colors are coming together. We decided to go with a palette of greys for most of the upstairs with light ceilings, slightly darker walls and darker grey doors. (more…)
So we finished the demo. Here’s what we ended up ripping out, repairing or replacing.
Removed wood paneling
Removed all carpet
Removed and replaced water damaged sub floor in the bathroom and bedroom
Removed water damaged ceiling
Repaired framing that had minor water damage
Removed the old vanity, toilet and bathtub
Replaced insulation that was impacted by water damage
Replaced all the recessed lights with fan mounts and replaced the bathroom exhaust fan
The guest bedroom. You can see the state of the windows and the water damage in the corner.
Claire’s bedroom closet. Later I converted part of the closet to a built-in.
 The guest bedroom closet and entrance.
Another angle of the guest bedroom.
After everything was demo’d we cleaned up and moved forward with the next phase: drywall. I hung all the drywall myself including the ceiling. Beth did lend a hand for some of the more challenging pieces but mostly it was me, a drywall lift and some creativity.
Guest bedroom drywall is done including ceiling and walls.
Claire’s bedroom and built-in all drywall is finished.
Guest bedroom showing the repaired sub-floor (bottom left) and finished drywall.
In the next update we’ll share our progress with finishing and painting and new floors!
I’ve started the demo for the upstairs. The upstairs includes two bedrooms, a bathroom and a hallway.
Claire’s future room — all wood paneling removed
Looking down the future hallway
The whole upstairs was done with wood paneling in the 80’s which we might have been able to keep and paint it if there wasn’t so much water damage from roof and windows. Oh well; so this is a full gut! So far the paneling has been removed and I’ve pulled down some of the ceiling where the roof was really bad.
Bathroom after demo — walls, vanity, floor, tub and toilet removed
The guest bedroom — also our temporary bedroom as we finish the downstairs
Removing the ceiling after the wood paneling was removed
We’ve made a ton more progress recently and we’re way behind on the blog so stay tuned for some additional updates!
Without further ado, the big exterior reveal: Before & After pics
Before – Front Door
We couldn’t be happier with the new look of the house. The new siding is finally complete and the new windows are in! There is so much more light in the house now.
As you can see we changed two of the windows on this side of the house. The far left hand window was shortened to accommodate shelving and storage that will go in the new mud room. The second window from the right was shortened because we are remodeling the master bathroom and there will eventually be a shower right there.
After – Front Door
Before – road sideAfter – road sideBefore – Back
The back looks totally different! The deck is on the project list this summer as well.
After – Back
(spoiler alert – the pool is my next post!)
We also love how the grey blue plays off the stone.
Siding and Stone
We have been so touched by the kind words that so many people have sent us. Thank you for following our journey as we FIX THIS FARM!
Two more posts to come tonight, we’ve been super busy! Â – Beth
We’re also excited to share that the pool is no longer just a hole in the ground, it’s officially a POOL! One that you can actually get in without needing some sort of tetanus or cootie shot afterward. We got to enjoy it with family on Memorial Day. I have to admit, it’s pretty nice to take quick swim breaks while working in the house.
Pool BeforeVegetation cleared, coping primed and stairs epoxied.
wait for it… you’re sitting down, right?
Pool Done!
I even got to ride for the first time in my own ring last weekend. It was absolutely amazing!! I’m so grateful that Sam brought her fabulous mare Fiona out for me to play with! Icing on the cake – I got to ride with Garland and Diesel THEN we all got in the pool post ride.  Pinch me 😉