I'm a farmer's wife

or at least a farmer's-wife-in-progress.

We did finally close on the new house and farm on Thursday. Over the weekend we began the renovation process. French doors have been ordered, "guys" have been called, lists have been made.

On Sunday we got started with wallpaper removal. We have one upstairs bedroom, the entire upper and downstairs hallway and stairwell, the dining room, 3 bathrooms, and the kitchen to scrape clean. As of today, Henry's room has been done, and part of the upstairs hall and stairway has been done--only 12 thousand more hours of work to go! It's not terribly difficult work, just very time-consuming.

After all of the wallpaper comes down, we'll have the drywall "guy" make any needed repairs (there will be a lot) to the walls and ceilings. Many of the walls and ceilings in the house have cracks that need to be repaired, and it's enough that it would be a huge mess and a pain and not enough of a money-saver for us to do ourselves. We'll most likely need several of the ceilings re-textured as well.

(Oh, and we'll probably have some light fixtures moved/changed/added before we get the drywall done.)

Then, after the drywall is done, we can have the bedroom carpet replaced. Then we can move in, we think.

Other items that need attention as well (preferably before we move in):

back sliding glass doors replaced with French doors

French doors added to front living room

HVAC system addressed--may need one or both blowers replaced

front door threshold repaired/replaced

fireplace and chimney cleaned

locks changed!

garage door openers replaced

Wow, that looks overwhelming when it's all typed out! If we ever accomplish all of those things, we can get started on the "want to" list of things that we can do after we move in.

So I know you're so entertained already. Wanna see pictures inside the house? I know that's what you're here for.

Henry's room before

First ya gotta peel the outer decorative layer off, then wet down the backing and glue, then scrape scrape scrape!

Here's what you're left with: walls that need a little more TLC.

Some examples of what we need "touched up."

We think the mold may be old--the roof is relatively new, but the previous owners probably waited a bit too long to have it replaced.

Henry helped by keeping himself (mostly) occupied in Baby Sister's room.

He insisted I take a photo of the TV.

Here's a sneak peek of what's to come:

Next up, the hall and stairwell!

The downstairs bathroom

The kitchen (which will likely be the last room to be renovated) has THREE layers of wallpaper. Looking forward to that!