Carriage House Update

Is is "normal" to love a garage?  I sure hope so, because, I love my garage.  Maybe it's because I lived without one through the most hideous of winters, but I really , really am enjoying our garage!  It is not totally finished, but it is totally functional and that's all I care about at this point.

Jason did a great job of reusing the existing brick and creating a center panel.  We still need to paint the new wood to match the rest of the structure.  He also created an opening on the side closer to the house.

We removed the brick and siding and added a door.  Notice the window above the door.  I like how he used half of the existing window.  Sort of like a transom. This too, has to be painted.  We also added the step and matched it to the existing walkway.

Hard to see with the snow, but it matches perfectly.  The final step will be paving the area in front of the garage.  The house originally had cobble stones, while pretty to look at, they were dangerous to walk on.  Wes tore them up last fall and put down asphalt millings.  We will pave when the weather warms up. I can't wait to pave because the milling are a mess!! Whenever they get wet , which is all of the time, they get tracked in the house by dogs and people alike.  Yuk!

I have been experimenting with Transferring the French Typography I told you about last time.  This is my latest effort.

The Mod Podge method did not work for me, so I hand painted the image with the help of graphite tracing paper.  This is an old side table that is pretty beat up, but I like the way it turned out.

I am now exploring the world of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  Stay tuned!  This may prove to be amusing.

Thanks for stopping by.

Crazy For Crafts (or How I survived Winter)

Well here we are again, many inches of snow on top of the ice.  What's a girl to do?  Well of course - go crazy with crafting!  But first I am conducting an experiment.  I am very scientifically charting how many days I can go without washing my hair!  Gross, you may say, but with this weather I have been wearing hats and ear warmers and we all know how beautiful a gals' hair looks after removing her hat! So I have decided - why bother - where am I going - oh that's right - outside to shovel or walk the dog.  Hence, the hat. And the pretty hair underneath.  And the best part?  Cliff has not said one word.  Does this man even look at me??  Bella doesn't care either!  I am now on day 3.

Now on to crafting.  I don't know if this has anything with The Farmhouse, but I have a very strong need to craft.  So far I have painted and stenciled an old window, painted and stenciled a sign, painted coasters, painted a cake plate and tried my hand at French Typography transfer!

Here are a few of my projects.

These are ceramic coasters I bought at Michaels.

I painted them with Chalk Paint (my new favorite Thing) and then of course - stenciled!

While at Michaels I also picked up this small cake pedestal.

Painted it Black and then...

Won't this look cute with a giant cupcake?

I also decided to use my Porch stencil again.

I hope to hang this on an actual porch.

While cruising craft sites online I came upon a great site called The Graphics Fairy.  This site allows you download graphics for free and also gives directions for crafting.  I am drawn to the French Typography section and I hope to try it on furniture on day.  For now I am just doing test pieces.  First you download the image and then flip it, yes I learned how to reverse the image on my computer!  Next you print it out and apply a thick coat of Modge Podge and place it over the surface you want to use.  The hard part is waiting 24 hours until you soak the image with water and remove with a sponge.

Here is my test piece.  I hope to try this on a large pizza board.  Fun!!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Valentine's Day.  I even crafted a card for Cliff!!  Really, I got snowed in and didn't get to the store :) 

Uh Oh! A bird just fell out of hair!  I gotta go wash it!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Serenity Now

Enough Already!!  As I sit down to write this blog the lights are flickering, there is a coating of ice on the trees and my pants are getting tighter.  May I just say - THIS WINTER SUCKS!  I know I am not alone in this sentiment, but as the Creative Director of this Blog I feel it is my duty to complain loudly about the weather.  Yes it was "charming" when the first snowfall came to The Farmhouse, but come on, how much of this crap must we endure?  I fancy myself as an outdoors type of gal.  I love riding my black pony on a crisp winters day, Bella and I enjoy hiking the trails at Oregon Ridge , heck I even make Cliff join me on a walk around the hood.  But this - this S**T is unbearable.  Forget riding even the most surefooted beast in this weather.  Kitty hails from Canada , wears shoes with special snow pads and borium and I still can't ride her in this mess! Walking the dog becomes a challenge just to stay upright due to the ice.  My big outing today will be a trek to my beloved Starbucks. And let's talk about the mud.  When we finally get a day above freezing the ground turns to mud!  Bella is not a dainty type of girl, when she runs she runs Hard!  Skid marks are all over our new, delicate "lawn".  Of course then she comes inside and brings all of that mud with her.  It's an endless cycle of washing towels and washing the floor.  Fun stuff, but when your stuck inside what else is there to do?  Oh and let's not forget baby Fletcher.  When he comes to visit it's double mud.  My little grandpup now weighs 50 pounds.  Big muddy paws!  Love him, though!

Ok - I am done complaining.  I have much to be  Grateful for and I know this, but every once in awhile it feels good to complain. Think Spring!

Thanks for stopping by.

Finishing Touches

Recently The Farmhouse has been  getting gussied up.  We now have an actual garage!  As I write this  our cars are all tucked in and out of the elements.  Oh, how I appreciate the little things!  The garage doors were installed today and now we are waiting for the electrician to come back and hang the outdoor lights and Jason needs to paint the new siding he hung above the doors.  We wanted to get Gooseneck lights for above each door, but, alas they were too pricey!  How come everything I choose is the most expensive?  I wish I had bad taste :) Instead we settled on the hanging lantern style lights that match those on our front porch.

We also had our window treatments installed today.  They really warm up the room.

I enjoy decorating and I spend a good deal of time searching the Internet for fun crafts to make.  I was quite the decoupager back in the day.  I also dabbled in painting birdhouses and painting wooden trays.  I wanted to have a project that incorporated The Farmhouse. I decided to use one of the old windows that we removed to make way for the new energy efficient windows.

This old window cleaned up real nice!

Next, I taped and painted the glass.

Painted some Roosters (homemade stencil) and painted the Porch Rules - they must be enforced!  I think we will hang this on the screened in porch if it ever warms up. I had a lot of fun making this and now I am searching for a nice beat up piece of wood to paint on.  Give me a call if you know of some.  I strongly have the urge to stencil!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cool Discovery

Once again the Farmhouse is a beehive of activity.  On Monday we started the renovation of the Carriage House.  While the Carriage House is a huge building, it was not set up as a proper garage.  We had sliding barn doors, while charming to look at, not so charming to open and close.  We are making the opening in the

front wider so it can accommodate two working garage doors and we are opening up a space on the side for a door to exit closer to the house. 

Cliff went out to check with Jason, the contractor and Jason informed him he had found a cool relic from the past.  While tearing out the frame around the old barn doors Jason discovered this:

 It's hard to see in this photo, but on this piece of wood is a handwritten name.  In beautiful script it reads:

General Felix Agnus Stevenson Station Maryland.

Born in France, Felix Agnus came to this country to fight in the Civil War.  He rose to the rank of General and was honorably discharged in 1865.  His post war career saw him rise as a prominent newspaperman in Baltimore.  He founded The Baltimore Star.  In March of 1888, Annie Agnus, wife of Felix purchased 171 acres of land that was known as New Stoneton for $25,000.  General Agnus renamed it Nacirema, American spelled backwards. Where the Farmhouse sits today.

 

The area at this time was known as Stevenson Station.

The General died in 1925 .

Now the story gets better.  Remember the urban legend of Black Aggie???  Black Aggie was the statue that was placed on the grave of none other than General Felix Agnus!

I remember stories of kids going into Druid Ridge Cemetery to see Black Aggie and be terrified that it came alive.

Black Aggie

 

Anyhoo - Jason is going to remove the nails and make a frame to put around the sign. I love these history lessons!

Here's the progress so far:

Wide open.

We also got new windows installed in the old part of the house.  We are now an energy efficient Farmhouse.

Thanks for stopping by.

Fifteen Minutes of Fame

On Wednesday the Farmhouse had its fifteen minutes of fame.  A crew from Maryland Public Television came to the Farmhouse to do a bit of filming. You are probably thinking they were doing a story about old houses, but you'd be wrong!  My friend Karen is a producer for MPT and is working on a program about saving the Chesapeake Bay.  She needed to do a few spots about natural cleaning products and ways to conserve water and keep the bay clean.  Enter The Farmhouse.  Karen asked if they could film here and of course I said Yes!  I always fancied myself an actress or at least an actress wanta-be.  Karen arrived with a camera woman and a still photographer and the fun began.

These photos were taken in the kitchen where using natural products was demonstrated.  I even got into the act and was filmed loading the dishwasher (Meryl Streep look out), I requested that only my hand be shown, as I can't deal with the paparazzi right now.

This was a very moving scene.  A dripping faucet.

The producer hard at work.

Cliff even got into the "act" - get it - act?  Look at him load the washer!

Uh oh, Bella snuck in the shot.

It really was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to seeing the finished product in April.

Please...no autographs at this time.

Now on to my latest project.  Remember the cool cabinet Dave made in the mudroom?  Well I have been thinking it needed a finishing touch.  After much Internet searching I decided on a hand painted sign.  Since we seem to have quite a pig theme going on my thoughts turned to swine.  I made a pig stencil and used chalkboard paint and came up with this.

Step One.

From here I ordered a custom made stencil. And then....

The Flying Pig was born.  Or Established 2013.

Love it!  Do you?  Now I want to stencil the whole house.  Cliff has gently reminded me of the sponge painting debacle of 1992.  I will stop.  Until springtime.

Thanks for stopping by.

What Lies Beneath

As a new homeowner I am  trying to be very diligent about maintenance around the old homestead. My last home had a well and I swore up and down that I would never, ever own a home with a well.  WELL...I lied - we have a well...again.  With a well comes a multitude of maintenance issues that must be followed. One  such task is changing the water filter in the basement.  Uh oh - I don't like that place!  Cliff said he needed my help and he wanted to show me what to do in case he decided to move to Florida.  So we headed on down to the basement.  Now our basement is not what you'd call civilized, it's more like a cellar.  To get down to the basement you must first open the hatch door.

Once the door is opened you must scrunch down (think hunchback) and walk down to the bowels of the Farmhouse.

The new heat pump.  Repair man must be under 3 feet tall.

Look at these stone walls.  Cliff says these walls are at least 2 feet thick.  Is this good or bad?  Not sure, but it's held the Farmhouse up for almost 100 years!

Cliff showing me the filters and such.

Here is a good view of pipes and other "stuff".

Remember back in the summer when they saw the black snake.  Here is where he was living.

Now it's all nice and clean and snake free!

And that my friends is the basement. Oh yeah - the best part?  Cliff couldn't get the old filter off of the pipe.  He turned and turned , but it was stuck on tight!  Guess we will be calling a plumber.  I told you I didn't want a well :)

This is the part of the program where I must confess my utter obsession with my new "grand pup".  I think I may have a problem.  

Is he not the cutest thing ever? Am I biased? I think not.  Is it weird that I pray that my son will call and say he is coming over (with the baby), not that I don't want to see Josh - I do - but that baby!! I even passed up riding Kitty to stay home and see him.  Help! We stayed home New Years Eve to babysit.  Of course I wanted Josh to have a fun night - it wasn't because I wanted the baby for myself :) What's happening to me?  And more bragging - Bella loves him too!  She is the perfect playmate for Fletcher.

Don't let that face fool you.  She loves him. The wrestle and chase until they are exhausted.

Of course after he goes home we collapse, too.  Then we clean!

Thanks for stopping by.