My Creative Blog [Search results for Farmhouse Renovation] 

T his time of year, I'm reminded of the other part of our farmhouse renovation....the yard. The above picture shows what the side of the house looks like today...

....this is what it looked like after the contractors left. Due to new electrical, plumbing and water lines, and grading new elevations around the entire house, we were left with a sea of dirt and gravel.
So we had to start from scratch. The yard landscaping was a project we hadn't anticipated when we set forth on our farmhouse renovation and is one that is taking time to complete.
Last summer, we put in a picket fence, front walk and stairs, and dining patio....these tasks alone took the entire summer to complete!

Here's the what the front of the house looks like today. The picket fence offers a coziness to the area around our house. We also wanted to define the area of our property that would be for gardens (inside the fence), from the part that would be more natural and simple (outside the fence).

This is what the front of the house looked like when the contractors left.

This is what the outdoor dining patio looks like today.

This is what it looked like after the contractors left. Once again, Mr. Engineer (Hubby) used all his know-how to design and build a retaining wall, level floor and two sets of stairs.

This is what our 'backyard' looked like just before we went through the renovation. The edge of the 'lawn' previously dropped off a couple of feet past the old deck (which was torn down during the remodel due to rot). The fill we had excavated from the front of the house was hauled out back to extend the lawn area.

This is what it looks like today. We planted over sixty (back breaking work!) White Simplicity hedge roses along the entire perimeter of the lawn. We have yet to rebuild the deck/balcony (this comes off from the french door in the living room)....as we're trying to enjoy summer this time around instead of always working on the house. Also, we're still deciding on some of the design elements of the balcony. I'll do a separate post on that soon.
So that's what we've done so far.
Landscape design is something I love but is not something I know. I've always loved gardens, especially old country gardens, and I love old houses with hedges and a sense of outdoor coziness. But exactly how to create that with a blank canvas completely stifled me.
Then last fall I came across Tara Dillard's beautiful blog and was overjoyed to discover that she did long distance consults! After sending her dozens of photographs of the yard, and discussing ideas over a few phone calls, she created a beautiful landscape design plan for our property.
It was just what I needed....professional vision. The plans will evolve over time, as money and time permit, but it feels really, really wonderful to have a plan. Tara's amazing gift for creating beautiful landscapes is something I truly admire. I feel quite honored and very happy that her vision will be expressed here on our property.
As we progress with our landscape projects, I'll be sure to keep you updated!

This past Sunday I attended a baby shower for my older sister at her mother-in-law's house in Lititz, PA. If you don't know where Lititz is, it's right in beautiful Lancaster County. Honestly, if I had to move out of Bucks County, you could find me in Lancaster. I really love the charm and old-world feel. Anyway, Mrs. W. (the mom-in-law) has lived in the same house her entire life, with the exception of only six years. It's a lovely old farmhouse that has undergone several renovations. One such renovation occurred in the seventies, and transformed the house into one with wood paneling and shag carpet. In the nineties, however, the W's started making some changes to update the look, while trying to preserve the good bones of the farmhouse. This wasn't easy, since the previous renovation had gotten rid of the great deep-silled windows and some of the other important historical pieces. That brings us to three years ago, when Mrs. W. decided she had enough with the small, enclosed rooms and decided she would knock down some walls to form what is now her gorgeous kitchen. This is where my kitchen envy comes in. Just take a look for yourselves:

The house has high ceilings- I don't know, maybe 10 feet high- which just adds to the spaciousness of the kitchen. I couldn't get enough of the stove area, the hood above it and the mantle/shelf mounted to the hood. And the backsplash is beautiful as well.

There are soooo many cabinets, so there's plenty of room to store all your dinnerware, your neighbor's dinnerware, their friend's china and a small child. Also, check out the double wall ovens! {Swoon} I have no need for double ovens since I try my hardest to never have to bake anything, but it's still swoon-worthy as far as nice kitchens go.

On the opposite wall of the work area and across the kitchen, there are these gorgeous built-ins. They honesetly look like big, beautiful pieces of furniture.

Here's a glimpse of the entire length of the kitchen, including the 10 foot-ish island in the middle.

You may wonder why I would take a picture of the sink, but did you happen to notice that it's copper??!! So cool!

The entry has a copper-paneling ceiling which was fabulous, as well. I had to stop taking pictures because I feared that the W family might think I was crazy and I didn't want to be the cause of any issues between my sister and their in-laws. That would not be good.

On a side note, check out these adorable cupcakes that my sister's sister-in-law made for the baby shower. She made chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing and vanilla cupcakes with white chocolate icing, both of which were delicious. The cupcake toppers came from here and were the perfect addition since they were going with a safari-theme.

Too cute!

Have you ever wanted to take pictures of other people's houses, or am I the only strange one?

It's been over a week since we've blogged! It seriously felt like forever (okay, being slightly dramatic, but it did seem really long). Since we're totally still rookie bloggers (still in the first year) we're kind of noticing that the trend is to do a little old recap post, so here it goes… RHBC Style…

Monica's 2011 Blogging Favs
(click on the title to link to that post)
#1 Farmhouse Table Remix
Don't you love how that title makes me sound all"gangsta?" That's right… I'm a gangsta that makes DIY farm tables. Baha!

So, not only is this project the one that gets the most use in our household, it also took the cake for our most popular post of the year. Over 14,000 people have peeked at the hub's handiwork… Of course this now has given him bragging rights, so I needed an amazing project in 2012 to put him in his place! If you haven't checked out this post, I highly recommend it… it sorta makes you think you just might be able to accomplish any DIY project out there!

#2- The Year of the Pallet
Obviously, pallets made a huge impact on 2011 DIY projects. Everyone was coming up with amazing ways to use them. My very favorite way we used them was building pallet walls.

#3- Painting the Perfect Stripe
This post is a perfectionist's dream come true. The crisp straight lines make my heart skip a beat. (again, slightly dramatic…sorry!)

I do love the direction they started taking my family room in. It's sort of lacking any personality… just has a lot of toys and broken accessories and lamps (because we play ball in there all the time). I do hope to work on this room early in 2012.

#4- More Stripes
I was pretty thrilled to finally try out painting on fabric. Since we can't sew, I was thrilled to find something else I could do with fabric.

#5- Foyer Wallpaper
The very first thing I tackled when we moved into our house last November was the foyer. The funny thing is that no one actually comes in our front door… Honestly, if you ever come visit, just come on in through the garage door. We're tight right?
It took me forever to find just the right wallpaper, but I am soooo happy with what I chose. It makes a bold statement and it's totally me.

#6- Paint Chip Artwork
This is one of the most popular projects from 2011 and I was pretty happy with how it turned out, but… I'm about to take it out of my bathroom and re-do the room. I'm so darn fickle. I'll put it up somewhere, but for now it's taking a break. This project has become my 9 yr old's favorite craft to do lately. If she can do it, I definitely think you should try!

#7- Make a Hideous Dresser Awesome and then Give it to a 2 Year Old.
Jess and I LOVED our Anthro knockoff SO much. Seriously, it was a labor of love and it still makes me laugh that my 2 year old has it in his room.

#8- I HEART yellow
I really do love yellow. Whenever I'm thinking of an accent color I'm always like,"Oooh yellow!" and then I remember it's not cool to use the same color in every single room of your house. I am glad that I went with it for my buffet that it became quite famous as the"challenge in the room" on our first Nate Show episode. Ha!

To be completely honest, the buffet still smells like dead people (I got it at a barn sale) but I love it and I just don't ever open the doors!
#9 Under Pressure Dining Room Nothing like a little pressure to get a renovation moving along. My dining room still isn't accessorized, but it was ready just in the nick of time for my fabulous family (all 36 of them) for Thanksgiving.

#10- Discovering I enjoy being in Small Crates and taking Self-Photos
2 ways I expanded my horizons this year… Apparently I enjoy spending time with my knees up near my ears while being crammed into a small crate, and I take oodles of cheesy self-pics for our blog. I never could have imagined how much 2011 would grow me as a person. HA!

Honestly though, being on The Nate Show has been one of the coolest experiences ever. We thought one visit was amazing, a second a dream come true, and a third just rocked our world and made us so amazingly thankful for the opportunities we've had. So, thanks Nate, we REALLY appreciate it.

#11- Did you really think I'd actually post 11 things? Don't you know I procrastinate and wanted to be in bed like an hour ago??? In true Monica style, I'm ending this at 10 things, because well I don't feel like coming up with a # 11 and because all the other bloggers did 11, so 10 makes this way more original right?

Looking back over our blog for the last 10 months has been pretty cool. We've done some super-fun projects and I'm just beyond thankful that Jess and I can do this together and that you come and read what we have to share each and every day. Thank you. Really, I don't get touchy feely, but we appreciate our readers so much. Ok, that's all. Mushy moment over.
Tomorrow Jess is recapping her 2011 year and then Wednesday I'm letting you know what's to come in 2012… and I'm crossing my fingers that Eric and Kev don't read that post because they might freak out if they know how many things we have planned!
So, welcome to 2012…