Have you ever stumbled upon someone's Instagram page full of photos of their perfectly decorated farmhouse & thought "I literally live in a shoe."
I do this daily. I also have to remind myself that everything I have in my home is mostly used & re-purposed or restored by myself & on pinched pennies. It's getting there but then I have to ask myself - Do I ever want to be finished? No. Definitely not.
While I love the outcome of a good project whether it be someone's from Instagram land or my own - what I never see documented enough is the process! Oh boy, do I love the process of it all. The nitty gritty. The sanding & dusty air. The smell of freshly cut lumber. The stained rags. The humming of a fan. The drying process of glue, paint, & stain. That last touch up. The best? Before a single filter hits that photo. That's what I love!
We see all these gorgeous photos of these farm houses, & the decor, & clean wood shops, but what about the process of it all? Or the chaos within a wood shop or craft room. By the way - no one should enter my craft room for awhile. Not until I have shelves & more organization happening. You know it's bad when you're avoiding your own mess!
I'm going to keep it real with you though. My house is old. It's got farmhouse vibes & all original wood work. And when I say "farmhouse vibes" I mean it's a farmhouse in the middle of town built in 1916. While there's been lots of updates...It also has what we call the "Michigan Basement." This usually means it's a cold crawl space or a dark -sometimes creepy- damp basement that smells like moth balls.
The good news is - I have awesome bright lights, windows, no moth balls, & I haven't located any insects...yet. Bonus! It's warm enough to work through the winter. I actually spend a lot of time down there with my projects & hope to add to my collection of wood working tools this year.
I was excited to purchase a ton of old windows from a barn for just $10 last fall but haven't had the time to restore any until now. Today I dug out a couple that were in the best shape & one even has most of the glass panes, which was nice to see. I'll have to do a post about how to restore old barn windows. I haven't been able to locate a good website that documents the process well - especially for some that aren't in the best shape. I've got a few that need a little TLC on the corners.
I think a lot of people see photos of these old windows hung beautifully in others' homes & spend a lot of money on one for their own. Have you seen how much these go for? $50+ for a rotting piece of wood with a couple of glass panes. Chaos!
The problem? When it's time to restore & hang...they either don't have the time or they don't know what they're doing. That was the situation the gal I bought my stash from found herself in. She had all these plans but didn't know how to go about getting it done & found that she didn't have the time. Hopefully those of you who have a little time & want to learn, you'll find my blog to be helpful.
Stay tuned! This is going to be a fun project & I can't wait to show you the process!