Our First Snow of the 2013 Winter Season

 We've been hunkered down here at The Farmhouse since it

snowed last Friday...Although we're definitely getting a

little stir crazy we've stayed busy working on the house.

My sweetie has spent many hours with a headlamp on

checking on the temperature inside the pump house

(see image below). It froze three nights in a row. We now know

that we need to re-do the pump house to better insulate

our water pump from the well. In addition to insulation

we hope to side it with galvanized metal, add a little deck

& outdoor shower & tub.

A few images around the house...

I love our long driveway covered in snow. 

Some garden art frosted with snow...

A little Charlie Brown Christmas tree in the back yard...

The pump house that needs a little love...

The sun finally coming out through the trees...

Taking a walk with my sweeties...

Saying hello to our neighbors...

 We continued on to walk to the Post Office & local store about a mile down the highway...

 The snow is gorgeous, but we're ready for it to melt away & get back to "normal" conditions here in the foothills.

25 Days of Christmas

The Farmhouse is in a bit of chaos at the moment.

The kitchen is gutted down to the studs, the sub-floors are exposed, most of the cabinets are pulled out & a two-burner stove & toaster oven serve as our stove. The living room is standing in as a storage room for our jackets, because we have no closets. Our clothes are in piles with no closets & our awesome King sized bed is sitting on the floor in our bedroom until we have time to build the closet & a bed frame. My craft room / office is piled high filling every square inch of space with all of my rental items & everything else crafty that I own.

And I could go on & on...

But, it's the holiday season & I love decorating. So,

the one thing I can still do is to make lovely little vignettes

& capture their images. I will be posting an image a day

until Christmas via Instagram & Facebook

under the #25daysofxmas.

Below are the images from the past week...

Cheers ~ Erica

Sharing on...

Amaze Me Monday

Rain on a Tin Roof

So Much Better with Age

Commona-My House

Averie Lane

Maison de Pax

Happy Thanksgiving

I am so grateful to have a beautiful home

in which I can follow my dreams

with my husband who happens to be my best friend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cheers ~ Erica

follow along on

Instagram & Facebook

Midweek Inspiration...gratitude

We are grateful for being able to spend each day at

The Farmhouse!

Whether we're cutting down trees & loading firewood,

clearing the property for our new propane tank or

gutting our kitchen...

We feel blessed to be able to work on the place we now call home.

What are you grateful for?

Sunday Still Lifes...Thanksgiving Inspiration

I truly love Thanksgiving. I love that it is one of the

few holidays that isn't centered around giving gifts,

but instead giving thanks. It is all about

coming together to celebrate gratitude,

the season's bounty & community.

This year we'll actually be spending it at

The Farmhouse, with just the two of us & our animals. Our kitchen

is gutted right now, with a two-burner electric burner,

toaster oven & microwave.  Our gorgeous Viking is sitting

in the garage waiting to be hooked up.  So we'll see

what we end up with this year.

Some images from Thanksgiving at my parents last year...

They have a gutted kitchen as well this year,

so won't be able to host dinner again.

Sweet little Sammy girl's dirty paw prints from our

annual hike out to my parents last year.

We are so very grateful to be starting

our new life & creating our dreams up at

The Farmhouse.

What are you grateful for this year?

Five Faves for Friday...Dumpster Diving Picks

We are working on a lot of not-so-sexy projects

at The Farmhouse right now (like getting our new propane tank,

fixing our water pressure with a 2600 gallon water holding tank &

clearing & chopping oak trees for firewood)

since we moved in full time.

That being said, I haven't had time to work on fun projects like taking photos of new rental items, fixing up my office / craft room or painting & fixing up some of the items I've collected.

Here is a little selection of things I've found in dumpsters, on the side of streets & from construction sites.

~ tons of shutters in all sizes in both white & pink ~

great for showcasing table numbers, family photos or messages

~ a fabulous ornate wicker chair with green chippy paint ~

needs to be repainted, maybe a bright green or turquoise, but probably just clean white

~ awesome wine boxes of all shapes & sizes ~

perfect for displaying flowers, appetizers or a cake

~ amazing wooden french doors with double paned windows ~

What more can I say!?! We're excited to find a spot for these...maybe the barn

~ another galvanized watering can ~

needs a little repair - or not - could be perfect as is with a gorgeous bouquet

What have you scored lately?

Cheers ~ Erica

We've Moved!!

Well it was a long journey, but we made it. We bought

The Farmhouse 2 years ago & thought we could renovate it on

the weekends in a couple years. As most of you probably know,

things tend to take twice as long as you think they might.

We also found that working on projects on weekends

(even long weekends) wasn't as productive as we would have liked.

We spent a lot of time setting up & breaking down projects

instead of actually completing them.

So we packed up our "beach cottage" rental & moved out

after being there 9 years. Let me tell you...that is a lot

of time for someone like me to collect & pack away

a ton of vintage goodies.

We spent 2 days packing & re-packing our 20' U-Haul

(after already bringing about 10 truckloads up previously).

We were feeling good on the first day

like we had a ton of space. 

By the end of the 2nd day it was like we were working on

a puzzle to get all of our items to fit in the U-Haul. We filled

every square inch of that U-Haul. When we finally

pulled in to our driveway at The Farmhouse we were so elated!

In order to get the U-Haul back without paying for another

extra day we had to just unload everything into the driveway.

A bit of a mess, but it was a happy mess.

We are so excited to start working on our house & all the

projects that we've dreaming about. We have a ton of good things

coming for 2014, so stay tuned for our new adventures.

Midweek Inspiration...Follow Your Heart

Sunday Still Lifes...Packing up the "beach cottage"

Well it's bitter sweet...

We're starting to pack up our little "beach cottage" rental

for the BIG move to The Farmhouse.

I can't believe it's been almost nine years since we moved

into our little shingled shack. It definitely doesn't seem to fit

on the street anymore with all of the houses around us

being remodeled & doubled in size. It seems that the house

and us have run our course on Ash Street.

That being said, we're going to miss this place.

So many amazing memories...

all the improvements that we made

our gorgeous garden beds that we built

and provided us so much nourishment over the years

bringing little Buckaroo and Samantha Sue into our home

(our adopted cat and dog)

and

all the great parties with family and friends. 

A picture journey through our beach cottage"

Cheers to CHANGE!!!