The chickens or the eggs?

Our chicken coop is here.  They delivered it in on a flatbed truck, backed it up to the designated spot and slid it in to place.  Chris and I went to Tractor Supply and stocked up on chicken related things – there’s a whole aisle of stuff to choose from – for those of you who don’t frequent such places!  We chose a feeder and a waterer, picked out pine shavings for bedding  and chicken crumble for food – and some chicken treats so we can teach them to roll over and beg (just kidding – about the tricks, not the treats).

Well beyond the scope of the renovation project – our builder, John, graciously supplied us with our girls.  These hens are Red Sex-link Chickens.

In this case, the chickens came first.  We’re still waiting for the eggs.  The chickens are a bit young, and maybe they have to get acclimated.  And, with shorter days, maybe they think they will wait until spring to get to work.  The internet suggested extending their hours of daylight — so they have a light in the coop from 4 PM to 8 PM.  It looks a little funny when you look out there in the dark — it’s like they’re tucked in and watching TV.  But happy chickens lay nice eggs.  Someday soon….

We’ve already had our first guest spend the night, and yet the guest room has gone unoccupied.  Arianna stays upstairs with us.  She calls the office her “office-bedroom” and makes herself quite at home.  I’m an over-protective grandmom, and she can’t stay in the first floor guest room all alone until she’s at least 30.

So, that still begs the question — who will be the first guest to stay in the guest room?  When we lived in New Jersey, we called the guest room “Rahel’s Room” when Chris’ niece came to stay for awhile.  Then it became “Remo’s Room,” when his nephew came to visit.  Maybe this room will become “Eric’s Room” if we can convince that nephew to come visit.

When we found this house we weren’t even sure what to do with this space.  Should it be the living room?  It looked too disgusting to even envision that.  In fact, with stained brown carpet (at least we thought it was brown), a hole in the wall for a non-existent stove pipe, and botched up HVAC duct work — it was apparently too disgusting to even take a picture of it (I’ve looked back through our old pictures, and there isn’t even one “decent” picture of the mess.)  Then we decided to build the addition on the back of the house, and that became the living room area — connected to the kitchen by the large archway, making it convenient to entertain — because everyone always ends up in the kitchen anyway.  We decided this awkward space, at the opposite end of the house, would work best as a guest room and a downstairs bathroom.

I think it made the transition better than expected (as did this entire house).  The bathroom is beautiful and when I finally get done unpacking and have some time to do nothing, I’m going to take a bubble bath in the claw-foot slipper tub.  The guest room is cozy (yes, that is a code word in real estate for “tiny”), but it’s adorable, it’s just the right place for our antiques and we can’t wait to welcome our first guests.

At the start of this project, when I was still very naïve, I thought we could just replace a few floorboards on the porch — a project that probably even Chris could handle.  Then we noticed that the porch wasn’t exactly attached to the house and was precariously ready to fall into the front yard.  Then John told us he had a vision for the front porch that was “just what this house needed.”  He talked of Mortise and Tenon construction, no nails or screws and wooden pegs.  He talked about mahogany floor boards and hemlock beams.  Chris thought it sounded wonderful.  I thought it sounded expensive.  We went through rounds of designs, talked about other types of lumber and agonized over whether to spend that much money on a front porch!

But a front porch is a first impression — and it’s where we will sit for a cup of coffee early in the morning — or a drink at the end of the day, so we figured it might as well be beautiful.  All we needed was a set of rocking chairs to make it complete.  And one day we came home to two large boxes on the front porch (Thank You Len!)!!

So, watch out Ma and Pa Kettle — we’ve moved in and we have the rocking chairs to prove it!

When we first stamped out the dimensions for this room in the snow, and later laid miscellaneous branches around the frozen ground to get a perspective of the size of the space, we had not envisioned an “alpine room.”  What is an alpine room, one might ask.  I’m not really sure, except that it evokes images of Heidi (Arianna’s favorite book) — a sloping roof, steep mountains (well — a steep hill), and two tiny windows that flank a chimney.   All we need now are flower boxes overflowing with spring flowers — but that will have to wait ’till spring.

During the course of construction — it looked big — when we just had branches marking where the walls should be.  Then it looked small when they poured the cement footers.  Then it looked big when it started to take shape.  Then it looked small when the walls started to go up.  Then it looked big when the dry wall went up.  Then it looked small as the fireplace was completed and the trim went in.  So small, in fact, that we were shopping for a smaller alternative to our sofa and loveseat.  And then we decided to just wait.  Wait and see what it was really going to feel like when we moved the furniture in.  Not only does it fit, but it feels like home.  We have the pictures hung, the TV connected and the fireplace is ready to go — if we can stop unpacking long enough to strike a match.

So here it is – from “gut it” to glory. All those agonizing decisions about the style of cabinetry, the type of counter top and the choice of appliances – the result is stunning (if I do say so, myself)!  In fact, I’m almost speechless.

I wanted white farmhouse cabinets – since we’re on a farm and because they remind me of my Dad’s parents’ kitchen. We wanted a black counter top, initially envisioning something more polished, but when we saw this “leathered” Ocean Black granite, it seemed the perfect choice – dramatic, but not shiny.  Shiny just wouldn’t work in this rustic space anyway.  And we wanted stainless steel appliances.  Of course, we started at one end of the spectrum, and ended up at the other end – with Viking (mostly because I liked the French door oven, and you can’t mix Viking with GE – right?).  Miraculously, it all came together.

The first time I saw the cabinets installed, I thought I had fallen down Alice’s rabbit hole. The ceiling is low (very low), and my kitchen wall cabinets in our previous house were made to fit 9 foot ceilings, but somehow, those two thoughts hadn’t really connected in my head.  These wall cabinets looked so tiny that I rushed right out to buy a shoe-horn to wedge my dishes into the space.  Moving in was a bit challenging, but everything found a place – even if that place is Goodwill, for the stuff that didn’t exactly find a place.  And that was part of the plan anyway – downsizing.

Opening up the fireplace was one of the best decisions we made. It makes this house.  It’s the perfect backdrop for Thanksgiving Dinner at the farm table. Of all the rooms in this house, this one went from being a dungeon to being dramatic.  Take a look….

Yes!  We’ve moved in.  Friday was our first night .  The mattress was on the floor, we had a couple of chairs and one TV — but we were home.

And we were so excited to start moving in, that I forgot to take pictures… except of our welcoming committee.  They came to see what all the commotion was in the neighborhood.

Moving is never easy.   And this REALLY hasn’t been easy.  We are downsizing.  The entire size of this house is 1800 square feet.  It’s configured differently, it has lower ceilings and smaller rooms.  It has a lack of closets.  Things moved in and then out again, and in some cases, in again (and in one case — out again).  At this point, the furniture is in and the guest room is ready.  The Master Bedroom needs a bit of work in the closet (there are still some unpacked boxes).  The kitchen — well, not everything went where we expected it would go (and thank goodness for extra shelves in the laundry room for the “overflow”), but Chris has cooked two REAL dinners here already.  The family room just needs some pictures hung.  And then there is the office.  The ceiling is low (80″), my shelves don’t fit, the desk doesn’t fit, the sofa barely fit.  It will need some work,   That’s a project for another day.

Can’t wait to share my before/after pictures… soon.

Back to unpacking!

An odd topic for a blog, to be sure.

Our toilets just got installed. I don’t know if they flush yet. The electric isn’t connected, the well needs electric to pump water, and we need water to flush toilets. But just having them in place is hopeful.

When we first started coming out to this property, I was thankful for the Turkey Hill convenience store less than two miles away. The “facilities” left a lot to be desired, but it was better than nothing – which is exactly what we had – nothing.

Then construction started and a Port-a-Potty appeared in the front yard. They come pump it out weekly (thank goodness). While I’m not fond of Port-a-Potties, it too is better than nothing, and more convenient that driving two miles for facilities that probably aren’t as clean as my green plastic “outhouse.” Even Arianna has become accustomed to using “Grandmom’s Outhouse” when she visits.

Last weekend I went with Becky and Arianna to Linville Orchards for the Apple Festival. We had an enjoyable day at the petting zoo, picking a pumpkin and getting apple cider donuts. When it was time to leave, we asked Arianna if she needed a bathroom before heading home. There was a lengthy queue to get into the actual bathroom building, so we suggested one of the Port-a-Potties. I was surprised that she didn’t know what that was, given the presence of our very own front yard Port-a-Potty. And then Becky explained it to her… while we were standing shoulder to shoulder in a very long line of other pumpkin-pickers…“You know, it’s like the outhouse in Grandmom’s front yard,” she said.

I decided to wait to get back to my very own Port-a-Potty rather than stand in line with people chuckling.

And maybe by next week, we can flush.

This house comes with decisions.  Not just the first decision of whether to do this or not, but other decisions.  Big decisions like Viking vs. GE appliances; medium decisions like carpet choices; and little decisions like door latches.  Everything is a decision.

I love watching HGTV.  People on those shows decide what they want done and then walk away.  They see it again for the “big reveal,” and — Voila — it’s exactly what they wanted.  This hasn’t been quite so easy.

Back in February we went to the appliance showroom in the middle of a snowstorm and picked out our appliances, changed our minds in the middle of March, looked for other alternatives in the middle of April, postponed making decisions in the middle of May and finally in June — committed to what is about to be installed in the middle of October.  I’m not even sure I remember what it is — except that I liked it in the middle of June.

We’ve chosen tile, flooring, cabinet door styles, cabinet colors, counter tops, siding colors, porch decking wood, shingles, trim colors,  a tin roof, faucets, towel bars, a back splash and more trim colors.  I’ve bugged friends (thank you Susan) — and family (thank you Dianne) relentlessly for their opinions.  We’ve debated, argued, agreed, disagreed, decided and undecided more times than I can count.

But the end result is — it’s the end.  Whether we made all the right decisions or not — I don’t know.  We’re down to the final two week count-down.  Baring any unforeseen problems, we’ll move in two weeks from now — and then we’ll live with those decisions for a very long time.

Are you ready for the final reveal?