House Cleaning
After visiting the farm once it dropped within our price range, and thinking through whether or not we could both make it work financially as well as whether we were willing to put all of the work into a property that had been neglected for some time, we finally decided to make the plunge. So we had to sell our 1-acre lot and suburban house, our home for 8 years. So – stuff. Lots of it. We cleaned out, fixed up little things that would improve the showing of the house (funny how it takes certain motivation to get that stuff done), and put it on the market. Many open houses and nerve-wracking weeks later, we received an offer that would work.
Farm House Preparation
The usual back and forth ensued, and closing dates were set. March to get the farm, and April to close out our old house. One month to clean, paint, sand floors, remove the miscellany left, and get systems working. Installing a new steam system was high on the list, as the farm house – built in 1821 – has no central air. Paint color choices, finding the right contractors for remodeling, and getting the upgraded in-law suite project going proceeded apace, with hectic weeks of back and forth between work, the farm, and our old place.
But the excitement was high and transformation quick. As our painters stripped wallpaper we found original plaster; as we removed layers of curtains the light in the house shone brightly. We prepared one of the barns for the chickens, and assessed what equipment we’d need right away.
Two weekends of moving behind us – one on our own and one with movers – we had arrived. It was now our farm. Despite the enormous amount of work ahead of us, we were thrilled to have made it happen.