The things that they found as they were tearing apart the walls was immense. Sadly, only 74₵ was found during the demolition, however, we uncovered the history of the old farmhouse. There were at least three different wallpapers used on the horsehair plaster and lath, we found an old newspaper used as insulation from 1924, and old outlines of arched windows. What really caught my eye was and old beam that was a foot wide with old holes used for mortise and tendons. They must have reused that big beam from a barn that they tore down to build the house. I just couldn’t cover it back up again.
So how am I going to keep this beam exposed without it looking silly? That is when I decided that I wanted a more open floor plan. What if I take down a few walls and use other beams to use as archways? My STB husband wasn’t quite on board with my idea yet, but he wanted to make his future wife happy.
Down came the walls between the kitchen and living room and the living room and the stairway. Instantly the house seemed brighter. My STB husband and his cousin lifted these old barn beams that we bought and my future FIL and GFIL used a hammer to bang in two more beans on either side. There, project open floor plan was a success! (I get compliments all the time about those beams.) Next was the windows, we needed to replace 17 of them and with the help of our family and friends it was completed in a weekend. With bigger and brighter windows, the house was being molded into what we wanted.
We weren’t going to remodel the kitchen; it wasn’t part of the plan. We had a few friends over so that they could check out the progress of the house when my future husband started to rip up the cabinets. Okay, I guess we are gutting the kitchen as well. It was a good thing that we did, because that was when we realized the sill under the kitchen was rotted away. It was hovering over the basement. We replaced the sill, and I got new Birch cabinets and green granite countertops, I consider that a win!
Sheetrock, for those who want to try to do their own sheetrock and have little to no experience doing, I suggest you don’t. It is dusty, heavy, and miserable. This is when we learned that in an old farmhouse nothing is straight. Fitting together the sheetrock was like a huge puzzle That was what took the most amount of time and patience. Spackling, sanding repeat, at least three times in order to get a smooth application.
Finally! We can paint and decorate! I picked out the colors that I wanted. If you ask my husband, I am boring and neutral, but that is how I like it. The living room, kitchen and master bedroom was all painted while we were on our honeymoon. Oh, I forgot that while we were buying a house and renovating it, we were also planning our wedding. (See I like to be busy)