Old House Renovation.

I promise, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth! What I have been doing is moving a zillion animals, children, and boxes from here to kingdom come. And by kingdom come, I mean about 1.5 miles down the road from our old farm. But Lawdy - who knew that moving 1.5 miles from one farm to another could cause such complete and devestating destruction!It's old house renovation, friends.(Don't mind me while I go and curl up in fetal position and cry for a few moments before we continue). I have been so anxious to share these 'before' photographs with you, but seeing as there is currently no internet access at the new farm, our online time has been limited to a few hours tucked away in a coffee shop - thanks to my Mother's helper who is spending a few hours with my littles so that I can come up for air. Mothers need helpers, man. Lots and lots of helpers.Where do we start, now that we've got some uninterrupted time together, and I've got a full 16 ounce London Fog sitting by my side? How about a zillion pictures? Yes. Let's do that.Want to see what we pulled out? How's this trash pile for ya:Pretty, huh? Vertical blinds, pink carpet, 80's curtains, seriously awesome stuff. I was super thankful for my Dad who used to pull and install carpet for years - he came in the first night we could get into the house and worked like a mad man to get it all pulled up for us.Part of what was revealed was this subfloor in the addition to the original house that was added in the 70's. I actually really like this floor. So instead of doing something right away, we just decided to paint it a fresh color and leave it be for a bit until we could settle on a permanent solution. It's old, rustic, and dirty. My favorite! Want to see it painted?!Don't worry - I'll share that a bit further down. But first, here's a shot from the living room down the stairs/into the dining room. This room is ah-mazing. It has six, gigantic bay windows that look out over the river and the mountains. See?And, of course, never far from my view is my 'helper'.Here's another peek from before. We painted the walls first in 'Revere Pewter' - my very favorite subtle grey color that my friend Angela recommended and that will soon cover every single wall in the house because it's radical. And the after! And during. I'm in looooove. I'm pretty sure my entire family thinks I'm off my rocker, but I love the rusticness of it. It totally fits us.It looks extra dirty in these pictures because, well, it was. I  haven't swept it in a few days and we've been dragging in boxes through the mud and snow. It's terrible and never ending. Which is why I haven't put any effort into cleaning the floors...yet.When we ripped up the pink carpet in the dining room and bedrooms, we found this glorious HARD WOOD FLOOR. Hard wood floor, my friends. In wonderful condition. It needs to be refinished, but it's glorious. (Picture me singing here: GLOOORIOUSSSS!).I made Stu put in my dining room light pronto. The brass ceiling fan was staring at me, taunting me, screaming at me to fix it. The rest of the dining room? Well... I'll get there.We also found this little man under the carpet. I'm taking it as a good sign.What next... how about the ONE bathroom in the house? Oh ya... you'll love this guys.I know, right? HA! Teeny tiny. But hey, less toilets for me to clean! So that's something.And it's got a pink tub. So Georgia pretty much thinks it's the best thing in the world.The dining room floor proved to be a bit of a bigger challenge. It's raised up about 4" from the original floor because of how many layers of flooring there have been installed over the years. But after we ripped out the faux oak island, we found a hole in the ground that went all the way to the original flooring - wood planks that run the length of the room and the ceiling of the root cellar that sit underneath the kitchen. What's that? You're wondering if I'm going to rip out 4" of flooring and reveal the wood planks and then paint them and have the most rustic, glorious farm floor in the history of the world? You bet I am. It's going to be awesome. If you're me. If you're you, it may not be. But I'm slowly realizing you can't design a house for anyone but your family.My gigantic, awesome white table replaced the faux oak island. I'm in love with this table.Not so in love with everything else in the kitchen. Yet.I do love the fact that we finally got the espresso machine hooked back up. Thank you, Jesus!New farm sink is being delivered as we speak. The countertops are going to be covered in copper sheeting. The lower cabinets will be detailed and painted. And all of the upper cabinets will be removed for open shelving.The long side of the table will be covered with a curtain to hid my kitchen goodies from the rest of the world (See the fabric sitting on top? It's handmade hemp fabric from France and I got it for a steal on eBay!). And outside? Well that's another post. But the animals (for the most part) and here and loving their new, protected digs. I'll share more on that experience soon...Ooh - and before I forget, baby #4 is growing and is totally awesome. I took the first belly picture of this pregnancy to show you. Under my pig apron, yo.Also, I'm now so exhausted from posting all this that I can no longer continue. My London Fog has run dry and there is still much work to be done! I'm happy to at least be sharing a bit of our life here so far with you - I cannot wait to share more! I'll make sure to take lots and lots of after pictures as we slowly begin to transform this old house into our home. Unless I die of exhaustion. In which case I won't be able to share much. But I'll make Stuart vow to upload the photographs for me, so as not to leave you hanging. Pray for me! And Amen.