Month One: Beginning Projects

It's hard to believe we've almost been in the farmhouse for 4 weeks already. To be honest, it's been mostly about survival. As I mentioned, we moved in a day before the coldest weather in two decades and a big snow storm that caused schools to be closed for the boys for a week. Since then, it has been snowing on and off with periods of bitter cold. Schools were canceled/delayed again for a couple days this week for cold.

We were feeling grateful to be warm and toasty in the farmhouse until we learned that we burned through almost a half-tank of propane in 3 weeks, that there was a nationwide shortage, and that the cost per gallon had skyrocketed. We had to turn down our central heat & use the baseboard heat more. Since we don't have electric heat in all of the rooms, some of the rooms are chilly. (Upside is that we don't really have furniture in those rooms yet anyway.) So, it's been hard. I think we'll get a little more propane tomorrow and pay a million dollars for it (a slight exaggeration) which hopefully can last us until prices go back closer to normal. The things you learn!

But, we've made great progress on unpacking. We are pretty much box free in all of the living spaces. We have one room upstairs, that will probably become my craft room, which is housing a few boxes and Todd is sorting through boxes still in his office (in the "parlor").

We have a washer and dryer now, which is a huge relief. We did a little demo on the laundry/mudroom before they were installed since it would be hard to do after. Then we stalled out on that project a bit. We have some decisions to make about how to proceed/how that room should function that we need to puzzle out before we continue.

I've been able to do three small projects. The first was to replace one piece of ugly in the master bath. The master bath has issues. It is partially divided into two rooms--one with sinks and one with the toilet and bath. There's a bunch of wallpaper and a bunch of brass--not our thing. One of the brass things was a standing toilet paper holder. I found this cool alternative at PB; I liked how it would hold extra rolls--we have no storage anywhere near the toilet. It would be majorly awkward to go the bathroom and find out there was no paper...I've left a little space for you to imagine that. But I didn't want to spend $50 on a TP holder, so I found a basket at TJ Maxx for $10, a dowel at Meijer for $3, and made my own.

I was quite happy with how it turned out. B was less impressed. He said: "That's not a toilet paper holder. That's a basket with a pole in it." Hard to impress, that one.

Next up was the butcher block in the kitchen. It's a small section of countertop next to the stove. It was NASTY. Like, I didn't even want to put a pot on it, nasty. Inspired by the ever awesome Nicole Curtis, I decided to sand it down and see what it could be. Turns out, it could be pretty nice. I think it is maple, but I'm not a good wood identifier.

Before (OK, I sanded a little before I remembered to take a before picture!)

Before (please admire that wallpaper, will you?)

After

After--do you think this is maple?

According to the internets, I need to wax/oil this if I want to use it for food prep, which I think I will now. After sanding off all the old guck and washing with peroxide & dish soap, I think it's food worthy again.

Finally, I had to set up what the folks o' pinterest are now calling "command centers." I call it control-the-paper-crap-before-it-makes-you-nuts. Same thing, really. I located it in the room without a name...I guess it's another mudroom which is connected to the master bath, dining room, kitchen, family room, basement, and laundry/mudroom. Maybe it is the room of six doors? It used to house an antique stove that we had moved out before we moved in. (It was cool, but not for us.)

Anywho, the room is the spot where backpacks come in & get thrown on the floor now. It needs new paint badly, but I needed to get our paper piles in order sooner rather than later. Thus, I hung up some items we had at the last house in different rooms: wire wall baskets, dry erase calendar, and small cork boards. We now have a dedicated spot for spelling lists, class calendars, mail/bills, our family calendar, and other school papers. (I swear to god we get about 50 pages home each week for each kid.) I like that it isn't in the kitchen--or anywhere else you might lounge about--because I don't even like looking at contained paper clutter.

Well, I think that's it. Small projects that are close to essential needs: TP, clean counters, and keeping up with bills and homework.

Next month, I hope to get a wallpaper steamer and get started on what is sure to be a loooooong process of de-wallpapering the house.