A room with a view

Wow!  I can't get enough of this view from our living room window.

For the Glory of God

This is our barn, all 6000 square feet of it. It's more than twice the size of our house! Our plan is to use it for the glory of God. Simply put, we have not plan. It belongs to Him.

The newest section of the barn. Complete with basketball court.

The old section of the barn.

Horse stalls, those doors may just become our coffee bar.

Some really cool old barn wood in the old section of the barn.

Our prayer is simply this: Use it for Your Glory God.

More progress

Before

Well, everything in the living room is mostly done.  These pictures show the living room with the seller's furniture and Americana decor.




We need to update the blinds and someday soon we will be add a wood burning stove, but for now we have an electric fireplace.



We just got the new furniture delivered.  It is so much better than the old stuff!

Kitchen Cabinet Extreme Makeover

Restoring and refinishing old kitchen cabinets can be one of the most time consuming and tedious home remodeling projects, but the rewards are fantastic!  It is so cool to see an old kitchen be made new again (and at a much cheaper price).  These cabinets were pretty outdated.  We did a lot of sanding, priming and added some trim.  It is a work in progress because we hope to add some glass shelves in the open cabinets and some LED lighting as well. I will add a final photo when it is all finished.  Each little change makes them look a whole lot better

I did learn that one of the keys to a smooth finish is the following tedious process: Remove the doors (be sure to number them), remove the hardware, clean/strip the old grease off the cabinets (Crud Cutter works well), sand, clean, prime, sand, clean, prime, sand, clean, paint, sand, clean, and paint.

Lessons learned: use an oil based primer for the first coat to seal in the oils of the old wood.  We got a bit of yellowing in our primer.  Don’t use a clear coat but simply use a satin finish because the clear coat can yellow as well. You can cover scratches later with a fresh coat of touch up paint.

More photos to come after we have everything completed.

Whew!  We paint, paint, and more paint!

...And we haven't even started working on the doors yet!



Ok, so day #7 into the renovation, we decided we don't like the blue on the bottom of the cabinets.  Now we are going to try the same aqua that we used in the back of the top cabinets.  If that doesn't work, it's back to white.

Meanwhile, we are working on the faux barnwood planks that will go in the area between the cabinets.  I hope they turn out!

Hard at work

The backsplash before...

Adding the faux barnwood

Last piece!

Viola!

It is finished!!!

(Well, mostly)

Side by side comparison.

Chickens?

Yes, chickens!  I've been doing a little research on what chickens will fit best in our chicken coop and our lifestyle.  I LOVE the Silkies.  Ok, so they aren't the best egg producers but they are affectionate, silly looking little chickens. I think we need a few of them.  I know one of them will be named Pearl.  I have special plans for Pearl.  The rest of the ladies, well they will probably be Sussex and various Bantam chickens.  Their names are already picked out (at least some of them)....Gretchen, Beatrice and Mabel.  IF we have a rooster (to the chagrin of our neighbors), he will be known as Henry.

Isn't Pearl (to be) simply adorable? She just needs a little necklace to complete her attire.  :-)

Future home of "The Ladies"

Fun with Mason jars

Tonight's project...A fun little centerpiece with tea lights with some sand in Mason jars sitting an old wire basket. It looks kind of cool sitting on my coffee table.