The Temporary Farm House

The price of this weekend was five new extra-large bruises, one broken UHaul truck, and a brand new place to live. If you’re wondering what the hell happened to the old place, believe me, about six 0’clock yesterday I was asking the same question. You know, the old house with the master bathroom that had a heated tile floor, swimming-pool sized tub, and fireplace?

Yeah, definitely a far cry from this.

DSC_0301

Those are pink plastic tiles, by the way.

Since I’m only renting this house for six months while I build a new place, the pink tiles are gonna stay. The rest of the house isn’t half bad, in fact, the kitchen kind of reminds me of the Memorial House kitchen, pre-renovation.

DSC_0297

Which, actually, now that I think about how many cubic feet of mouse droppings I found in the Memorial kitchen, it probably explains why I staunchly refuse to put anything I cook with in the those cabinets.

Just through the kitchen is the living room.

DSC_0316

It’s actually not a bad size or layout, but it was a little musty since the house had been sitting empty.

DSC_0318

Luckily I have plenty of experience with stinky houses, so I walked into this one armed and ready for battle.

DSC_0309

Actually, the first thing I usually do to a house is tear out the carpet (right after any pink plastic tiles) so basically this entire weekend has been an exercise in self-control and not demolishing things.

So far so good. I did put a coat of paint (matched to Benjamin Moore Moonlight White) on most of the walls thought. Say what you will about VOCs, they’re the next best thing to sawdust to freshening up a room. Speaking of which… why hasn’t anyone come up with a sawdust scented candle yet? You know, for those of us who can no longer use the miter saw in the middle of the living room. Am I seriously the only market for that?

Okay, enough about my personality quirks, this house has plenty of its own for us to talk about, like this walk-through closet for example. Not as awesome as one with shelving made out of gas pipe, granted, but you’ve got to give it points for creativity.

DSC_0332

I’m using one room as my bedroom and one as an office so I can walk through my clothes and pretend I’m going to Narnia every time I need to look something up on the computer.

There’s one other small bedroom I’m using for storage, a basement with a built in work-bench that haven’t managed to get one light working in, and a two car garage (with another workbench!!!) in addition to the awesome outbuildings that really sold the place for me.

What I’ve decided to do for the next six months is use this space as the “proving grounds” for the style and furniture I’d like to have in the new place. Already I’ve got plans to refinish a couple of old end tables, build a new coffee table, and create at least two new huge pieces of wall art.

It won’t be long until the sawdust is flying.

13 Responses

  1. At least the bathroom looks clean 🙂 Are there hardwoods under that carpet? Totally cool closet!! I wonder if that was a bedroom at one time?

    1. Hey Kevin, you totally god spammed… I would love to build a post and beam or timberframe structure, BUT I’ll probably go with stick framing for this one because I have a very short timeframe for getting it built. It will be 10-12 weeks max, which is utter insanity.

  2. Our pink plastic tile was pale, not hot and orange-y like yours. However, it was paired with red shag carpet to really raise the style quotient. I’m with Kelly C. – at least it looks clean!

  3. Please ask Aslan to come visit! The tiles…speechless. Looks nice & clean though! Looking forward to your new projects.

  4. I am a lurker and love your blog. Just thought I would comment to let you know they do make saw dust scented candles… Mandles and hotwicks both make them 🙂

  5. You weren’t kidding about that pink bathroom! Plastic tiles? I’ve never even heard of that!
    Have fun getting settled into your new place! But resist the urge to start tearing everything apart and starting from scratch!

Comments are closed.

I'm not interested in a mediocre life. I'm here to kick ass or die.

(formerly DIYdiva.net)