OUR FARMHOUSE TOUR.

For the past year, literally every week, I have thought “I really need to blog a tour of our farmhouse.” Each week I have pushed it back on my To Do list because… well… life happens.  Mothering consumes my every energy and between running my photography business and my Young Living essential oils business, I get way too tired to tackle taking photos of my own house.  Plus taking photos of the house requires it to be clean long enough to take the photos. And that’s a whole other ordeal…

But alas… Bara Faith napped long enough for me to accomplish all of the above.

This farmhouse was definitely a “fixer upper” project to make it more our style. It all started one day last year by binge watching “Fixer Upper” and my inner Joanna Gaines jumped on Trulia to see if there were any old farmhouses for sale in the area.  Turns out there was, and my heart skipped a beat, and the next day we had an appointment to check it out.

“I’m just not feeling it,” Stephen said when he first walked through the house.  “Doesn’t seem our style.”

“Just trust me,” I told his inner Chip Gaines. “I have a vision (Insert here layover blueprint drawings popping up on your screen). Take away all these bold bright paint colors, and I’m going to go all white and clean. Rip out this old bathroom vanity and take down these cabinets to hang new lighting sconces and a new mirror to open up this space more. A chandelier here in this room, a chandelier there in that room, picture… farmhouse meets glam.  I totally see it, don’t you?”

Slowly it grew on him, and he trusted me.  And we put in an offer, thinking there was no way we would get it, and if we did, if we were crazy to be moving RIGHT BEFORE adopting our baby coming soon on the way. But as much as wanted it, we put it in God’s hands and surrendered it in prayer… and then He gave it back to us on Valentine’s Day when we found out they accepted our offer.  Like, wait, whaaaaat?

All in the span of a month last April, I had a new but old home to renovate, a big move from one house to another, and a newborn to care for. Life was… a whirlwind.  Were we crazy to move and become parents all at the same time?  Yes, absolutely every bit of crazy.

Then just as we were feeling settled, Hurricane Matthew hit us hard in October, and I thought I was about to lose this new but old home of my dreams. Though this house had survived 65 years of hurricanes before, Matthew really worried us as it approached closer and stronger on the radar. The day before the hurricane hit, I took the essential oils I had in my home and went around and anointed every window and doorway and prayed Psalm 91 as a prayer of protection around this home. And while neighbors homes had trees fall through their roofs, the two huge 250 year old oak trees that fell in our backyard fell only inches away from touching our home, not leaving one scratch on our home itself.  Our water well pump system was another story and had to be repaired and repiped… but that’s another story.

But this past year, this home has been everything we have prayed for it to be.  A community home. We wanted this to be a home that served others in love, and with each event we’ve hosted, it has been so fulfilling seeing so much love swirl around this new but old farmhouse of ours.

Are you ready to see our fixer upper? (Ok, I couldn’t resist saying that like my girl Joanna.)

Welcome to our 1951 Farmhome!

Each week I’m going to post different rooms inside and show some before and afters, so stay tuned.  First, join me for a walk around the property! Welcome guests!

The previous owners did not use their front door, and there was no driving path to do so. So one day Stephen and I got out there with a land tiller and created this dirt path so we could welcome our guests through the front door instead of the back kitchen door.

I mean, I couldn’t resist this front door mat I found at Hobby Lobby!

This screen door from Lowes was something I added on.  And I painted all the shutters black.  They were previously green as you’ll see in the before photo at the end of this post. I also love the old school door bell!

Enjoying some coffee on my front porch.  The rockers are from Lowes and the side table is from World Market.

My little Rhett is never far from my side!

I never thought  would ever get so into gardening.  That was always my mom’s thing and I did not grow up with the green thumb she had.  But something changed with this house, and now I have a new pride in getting my hands dirty out there to bring color and life to the outside of this home.

Butterflies were a symbolic thing between my dad and I before he passed away.  So it’s always so special to see them fluttering around my garden.

It’s that time of year when the Azaleas are starting to bloom and I of course love that they are pink!

I love all the hanging spanish moss in the trees! And I love this old wooden swing set that came with the house that our baby girl can grow up using with her friends!

Representing this amazing country we live in and the American style farmhouse. The rusty ladder was something that was used as a movie prop in the TV movie with Julia Roberts’ brother Eric that was filmed at this house in the 90s.

This vintage bird cage was another movie prop left with the house that I love to display.

One of my favorite things about this house, it came with two huge lemon trees in our backyard! We love using fresh lemons in our cooking!

I gotta admit, the squirrels eat more from here than the birds do.  Good thing I like squirrels!

Behind this flag and bucket there used to be a cute children’s play fort.  But unfortunately, when the two 250 year old oak trees uprooted and came crashing down during Hurricane Matthew, the play fort got crushed by the trees.  As sad as I was to see it go, because I envisioned our daughter playing on it growing up, better the play fort than our house.  And now I have plenty of room for my future chicken coop!

These pentas have survived everything, including the hurricane, and my forgetfulness in keeping up watering the flowers. Best low maintenance flowers ever!

My current chickens until we can add on a chicken coop and have some real life cluckers around the yard!

Our home’s mission verse.

My ever faithful watch dog! We added the cafe lights and painted the previous green porch to black.

Now to show you below how far it has all come, here’s what the front of the house used to look like when we bought it! It doesn’t even feel like the same house to me! Lots of primary colors everywhere inside and out.  Some of the main updates I did were painting all the shutters black, adding a screen door, adding some rocking chairs, and lots of landscaping! Can y’all believe the difference from the photos above? Good thing Stephen trusted my vision for it all!  ha!

So that’s a little tour around the property!  Y’all come back next week as I start to show you the inside room by room!