A week ago today, we became the owners of a 42-acre farm and this small, funky farmhouse.
I realize this announcement is completely out of left field, so let me share the back story:
Even though we've lived in our current house for a mere five years (and put untold hours into building it, decorating it, and most recently, landscaping it), my husband and I have come to the realization that
this lovely log home of 2,200 sq. ft. is too big for our family of three.
Don't get me wrong, this is a wonderful house and it seemed like everything we wanted when we built it in 2007: 3 bedrooms, 2-1/2 baths, a dramatic living and dining area, kitchen, office, loft, separate laundry room, wrap-around porch, etc.
But when you boil it down, I've become a very practical person the older I've gotten. And apparently I've become radically more practical in the last year or so because I now loathe the fact that out out of 2-1/2 baths in the home, we mainly use just one:
the master bathroom.
Since both of our families and most of our friends are local,
the guest bedroom, which is one of my favorite rooms in the house, goes unused 99 percent of the time.
The Cath Kidston-inspired
loft? So pretty to look at, but rarely do I go up there when I can just as easily lay on the couch or on my bed to read.
The gorgeous 10-foot deep wrap-around porch, which totals an additional 1,000 sq. ft., is a pain in my you-know-what to keep relatively clean and free of
delightful presents from the chickens. And confession: we've never really used the porch all the much.
Such first-world problems I have! :)
The other side of our situation is that we pined for more land on which to keep animals and garden. To many folks, the acre-plus we have is a ton of space, but for homesteading and animal husbandry, it's not nearly enough.
So, when an old family farm--only three-quarters a mile down the road from our current house--came on the market earlier in the fall for a very reasonable price, we found ourselves considering a big change: downsize on house and upsize significantly on land.
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| The farm house in color |
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| A view into the far back pasture and the 20+ acres of woods beyond |
We mulled this possibility over for several days, and my emotions alternated among:
-feeling totally loco for considering a move from such a new house (that I literally
just finished landscaping!)
-recognizing how joyful and at peace being on the farm made me feel, especially when I walked across the nearly 20 acres of rolling pastures
-experiencing unexpected sadness at the idea of leaving this too-big house
-delighting at the idea of re-doing the dated mish-mash of a farmhouse and making it a cozy, bright, cohesive, and happy abode
-wrestling with, and mostly resisting, the idea of change in general
-realizing that this could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I'd regret passing by
So, we took the leap, made an offer, and the sellers accepted it.
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| An old well house in the side yard |
Over the next 6-9 months (fingers crossed), we'll fix up the modest, but perfectly-sized-for-us farmhouse, and then say goodbye to this log house we have called home for five years.
We're already in the midst of working on the farmhouse, and the DIY renovation will be documented here on the blog.
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| An 1800s homestead on the property - the previous family used it many years ago as a tobacco pack barn |
I will end this post with a shot of the pastures that lie behind the house. They remain my favorite part of this beautiful place so far.
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| "She needs wide open spaces..." |
