I posted on our blog every week faithfully for two years, but lately I have been just too exhausted to post. So here is a long overdue update on our farmhouse restoration progress…

After getting several outrageous quotes to professionally restore the exterior, we realized to get it done correctly and at a price we could afford we would have to do it all ourselves.

This was very daunting at first, but we found a ton of great resources. If you are willing to work really hard, it is possible to restore your exterior yourself. Our biggest hurtle has been fitting it in with the rest of our life.

Just because we need to get the exterior ready for winter doesn’t mean life stops. The real learning curve through this whole process is learning to balance our jobs, our family, and our responsibilities while taking on a farmhouse restoration.

Thankfully the girls have been very content to watch from a safe distance and play in their wagon or playhouse while Mommy and Daddy are working.

However we tend to get the most uninterrupted progress while the girls are asleep at night. They must be used to the sound of hammers and scrapers by now. The “restoration lullabies”…

We don’t have any family that lives close by and our farm animals tend to just watch the show instead of lending a paw.

So it is up to the “Hubby” and I to finish the job in record time and without any formal training. Now you know why we are exhausted! Climbing up and down the scaffolding was fun at first, but it really takes its toll on your joints. I feel 90 years old when I fall into bed at night.

Progress Report: This is what the front elevation is looking like… The tar paper at the bottom will stay till the structural guys come to fix our rotted sill plate and joists. We also had to leave the ugly vinyl in the gable temporarily so we could focus on restoring all the windows first. We have moved the scaffolding to the north side of the farmhouse, to get going on the 4 windows on that section. The Lord has blessed us with perfect weather and we are charging ahead, but restoration is a complex process of a hundred little steps. Demoing, Cleaning, Scraping, Epoxy, Sanding, Calking, and Painting… the list goes on! This is the kinda stuff they don’t show you on HGTV…

Seeing the transformation is what spurs us on. This window top Before and After is so exciting! I wake up every morning excited to see my beloved 1893 farmhouse come back to life. Both Michael and I are passionate about historic restoration and this passion along with our vision for our lil Bryarton Farm fuels our dedication.

There have been over 123 harvests on this land since our farmhouse was built. Long ago a pioneer women dreamed and fussed over the building of this farmhouse as she stood in this very corn field. Thinking about how happy Mrs. White would be with all we have done to save the home her family built gives me chills. I love being apart of this heritage. All our bruises, our sore backs, and tired bodies will heal. The legacy of our lil farm is worth fighting for…

Okay, I gotta get back outside and get to work.