Our Girls Get Luxury Accomodations

Eric had one surviving hen from his Ballard home named Rosie. She is super sweet, easy going and friendly. He's even carried her around in his puppy carrier bag while out shopping!  Here's a picture of a much younger Rosie next to her travel bag...see, she's saying 'take me shopping!'

Soon we purchased two semi-grown hens and named them Thelma and Louise. These new younger girls were a bit timid, but Rosie showed them the ropes and made them feel at home. Of course, we didn't have their new coop right away, so we had  to make them a temporary coop for the daytime and we locked them in the basement after dark. I know...so redneck...but see below...

They look happy don't they?

Of course they were happy...they were about to get the best darn coop in the neighborhood! And here is their new luxury coop made by Comfy Coops! As you can see, they were living better than us in the main house!

Well, happy chickens means more yummy eggs for us...so it pays to make your hens happy!

New Roof and a Much Needed Facelift!

So here's the first major transformation the home went through. The house desperately needed a new roof. There was a mushroom growing on the inside steps because the roof was so old and leaking! Above is a picture of the house while the new roof was being added. You can almost see the house smiling it was so long overdue!

Next up the house got a new paint job. Boy was this an undertaking. Most paint companies didn't want to take on this project as the paint was so bad and peeling. The good old hardwood underneath was in good shape though (these old houses are well built)...this old girl just needed some makeup to make her pretty again! We think she looks fabulous and so do the neighbors who had been watching this poor house decay for so many years. She looks wonderful doesn't she? We actually played with house colors in Photoshop and selected this combination. Our first choice had been green, but there are too many green houses nearby. Oh well, she looks fabulous in her new colors anyway!

The Farmhouse Before....

So, this house was in the same family for about 50 years. It was built in 1907 and was one of the original farmhouses on the hill. All the houses around us were built on it's original farmland. In many ways we are lucky that the house was so neglected...it's sort of stuck in a time warp (except for the forties kitchen). A lot of the charm is intact and the home is filled with original hardware, electrical, and piping as well as most of the original windows and moldings. The floors appear to be old growth hard fir througout...but it will be a while before we get to those! The roof was in very poor shape and there used to be a large mushroom growing on the steps leading upstairs! Anyway, enjoy these images that show how the house looked when we started this process...

Our Farmstead

Hello, we hope this blog will help our family and friends (and anyone else curious) see the transformation of our 1907 Farmstead. We are a bit late in starting this blog, but you will have to forgive us...this was a crazy year for us. For those that don't know our story, we are a new couple who met via OkCupid (online dating), we sold two houses and combined our lives before we even reached one year of dating! Whew! We have three chickens, a snake, a cat and two energetic boys! And, now that we are finally settled and starting our new life (and remodel), we hope you will join us on our adventure!