Turns out that yesterday was the four-year anniversary of a huge and unexpected change in my life plans. Stumbling upon this property when and how I did–and then the fact that I was actually able to cut through the red tape and purchase it– that will go down as maybe the biggest lottery-wining moment in my life story.
I have a tradition of repeating my first victory lap (with champagne, obv) in early March every year, but since I just happened to realize it had been four years to the day of the first time I saw (and took pictures) of this property yesterday, I decided to snap some pics from the same places… then and now:
2012: The first time I ever saw this house. I think I snapped this right before I pulled out of the driveway, decided to call the number on the for-sale sign, and realized the house was up for auction that very day…
2016: Really, not much has changed from this perspective, other than those arborvitae(?) on the side of the house are getting huge. Well, and there’s a big pine tree missing, but it was out of frame in that first pic.
2012: View of the barns (and just a little bit of the rubble pile off to the right…)
2016: A lot less rubble, a lot more fences, so many upgrades to the little barn, and, of course, all the animals…
2012: The view from the back of the little barn…
2016: In this area things have actually gotten worse over the last four years. A just-barely started chicken run and a ton of weeds (but also some fun grasses my mom planted out there.) It’s on my list to clean this up this year.
2012: This one, however?
2016: Way, way better.
2012: And the big barn…
2016: Looks basically exactly the same from the outside (although 2017 will be the year for maintenance work on this beast.) It’s really the inside that’s become a treasure trove of tractors and old barn wood and all kinds of other fun things.
(Other things that could probably use some serious organization sooner rather than later… maybe sometime this summer.)
I’m so glad I took a chance to check this place out (and then took a bigger chance actually trying to buy it) four years ago. It definitely has been an unexpected adventure.
9 Responses
Congratulations, Kit. What a nice lookback and celebration of a truly life changing moment. Good for you for taking the moment to savour it.
It’s been 4 years! Wow! You’re an amazing, talented woman, Kit. Tip my proverbial hat to you! Love following along on your journey.
I love the stone foundation on the little barn. All the barns are amazing really. You’ve done a ton of work on the property – it’s great to see your vision as the farm evolves.
Hi
Hard working lady 🙂
Some great work carried by you. Loved all your designs.
Hope you could come with some more great ideas.
Great week ahead.
Shantanu sinha
Nice!
Its so fun to see before and after pics!
Do I remember correctly you saying that the big barn was getting a new roof? How are metal roofs supposed to be maintained?
When you re-sided the small barn, any reason you went with siding instead of metal?
We have a 30ish yr old barn we need to do a lot of work on this summer up near TC.
Not a new roof, but it’s starting to rust so it needs a little patching and to be repainted. For the smaller barn I went with shingles for a few reasons: one of them is that it’s significantly cheaper and I was being forced to re-roof the barn by the bank at a point where I hadn’t budgeted for it. But also, the roof on that barn has a lot of sag and a metal roof wouldn’t install correctly on it at all. I’d have had to basically take the entire top off and re-do it structurally. That may happen in another 10-15 years, but not right now! Metal roofs are great for the investment if you’re going to do them right though. Best of luck with your barn!
http://jlmissouri.com/2013/10/02/the-new-pvc-chicken-tractor-row-crop-cultivator/
Saw this and thought it was a great idea for getting the chickens to help with the chores every now and then.
It’s kinda funny to me that you bought this house four years ago. To me, it’s been just over a week, maybe two, because I’ve been binge-reading your blog like that. You’ve done SO MUCH, it’s incredible.
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