Cob Jockey

We are moved. My horse and I are (basically) sharing an address for the first time ever.

This was taken from my bathroom window.

It has been a heck of a month. Every bit of free time I had was spent getting my old (and, it's truly old) house ready to be sold. Since we are asking finished home prices for it, I couldn't have any frayed edges showing that might make a buyer think it needed work. 

Absolutely unbelievable amounts of mulch. I was so tired.

But it paid off. This is my baby. Every bit of it completely transformed over the last nine years since I paid $80,000 for a long empty 3300 sqft house that looked like a haunted house from the outside.

As soon as the last task was checked off the list hours before listing photos were taken, I felt myself start to come back to life. I started seeing my horse again. Really seeing him. Brushing him. Doing more than just a quick hoof pick and cleaning his stall. I haven't swung a leg over since the endurance ride, but I can feel myself wanting that again.

I also started seeing - omg where did these weeds come from?! lol

And doing other farm maintenance chores I'd ignored like dragging and watering for the first time in a month. My fellow co-op members totally understood when I said that some things would fall by the wayside for all of June, and even picked me up when I needed it - I only had 11 feeding shifts in June (should be 14-17), and they occasionally also did my stall. This is the power of the co-op: everyone pulls their weight as much as they can all the time, but when one of us needs picked up, we've got her back. I am eternally grateful for these wonderful people.

Tractor driving skills test: made it!

But as hard as selling the old house is, there's no doubt in my mind that moving out here is the right call. For one - my neurotic special needs child Meatloaf is the happiest and most relaxed I've ever seen her.

She hasn't slept this hard this often in the four years I've owned her. It's incredible.

I didn't realize how anxious she was living in the city until we moved out to the farm, and instead of asking to go out every half hour to investigate something she heard outside, she's now sleeping. A lot. And only asks to go out once or twice a day, if that.

Our new backyard. No fence needed, because Meatloaf thinks she's the only dog on earth out here.

They are, of course, also getting a lot of exercise. To get to the barn, I have to walk from the back end of the farm property to the middle of it, which is about a quarter mile walk. I could drive, and I probably will when the weather is bad, but how could I say no to this commute?

The dogs absolutely love this walk

For another, it just feels right. I grew up on a farm, and it feels like coming home. It is home.

I almost didn't think this day would ever come, but the laundry room is finally (99%) done. Still a couple very little things to do, but they are largely things too small to be noticed in the 'after' pictures. So here you go!

 [Reminder that Blogger photos are slightly grainy when viewed via RSS, so if you're reading this in Feedly or something, you may want to click through to my actual post to see all that sweet, sweet laundry room goodness in high-def]

The Sheila Maid drying rack might be the best possible saddle pad drying rack ever. Out of the way and almost out of sight up near the ceiling! And period-appropriate for this house, which is always cool.

It's especially awesome if you remember the way I used to dry my saddle pads in this room just a few months ago:

Speaking of saddle pads, they have an official home now, in a cabinet I specifically bought sized for them:

My GC's guys broke a couple tiles that have to be regrouted, hence the green spacers still up. Sigh.

One of my favorite details in the room ended up being the shelves, which caught me by surprise. I made them out of scrap wood, an eco-friendly zero VOC stain, and Victorian-era reproduction brackets that I spray painted a soft gold. They immediately made the room feel so much less modern despite nearly every other finish being relatively modern:

Yes the color IS accurate here, Austen helped me figure out how to edit them in Lightroom

Color not quite accurate here, but you can see the brackets well here

The wall color is the same color my husband used in his project house, SW Dreamy White. It is, surprisingly, classified as a white, but it reads pink in most lights and beige in others. I'm kinda lukewarm on it against the cabinets, but I couldn't think of anything else I liked better, so it'll do for now. It looks absolutely stunning above the backsplash, at the very least:

My architecture school roommate said I went "full 1930s Art Deco Miami" and I dunno but I'm here for that

I was as obsessed with planning the workflow in here as my husband was when we laid out the kitchen, and I'm happy to report that it all flows so nicely. It's amazing to be able to turn around from taking the lint out of the dryer (without having to bend over!) and pull a trash can out and throw it in there. It's a little thing, but we plan to live here forever, so that's also kind of a big thing, you know?

Take the lint out...

Put it in the trash can (to the left of the sink)

I ended up making a last minute decision to sub out the butcher block countertops I wrote about in my design post for IKEA's faux marble ones. They're not going to fool anyone that they're real stone close up, but they look good from a distance, are extremely durable, and they're subtle in a way that allows the wood shelves above them to be the visual star of the show. Someday when I run out of reasons to spend money on this house (ha) I'll probably upgrade them, but they're fine for now.

Obviously painting this trim is on my list yet to do...

I can't end this tour without a close-up of the handles. They and their matching round knob pulls are so heavy in the hand and gorgeous to look at. Definitely one of my favorite little details.

Color extremely accurate here, take that, Samsung!

 

So that's that! Over four months after demo began, we FINALLY have it all put back together. And not a moment too soon - I really lose my mind the more clutter I have around my office, and there was a ton of it throughout this project. It's so therapeutic to put "everything in its place" again.

I pulled together a source list if anyone wants it:

Floor - Home Depot

Wall Color - Sherwin Williams Cashmere

Cabinet Color - Sherwin Williams Emerald Urethane

Chandelier - Overstock

Sink - IKEA

Countertops - IKEA

Cabinet carcasses - IKEA

Cabinet doors - Semihandmade

Cabinet pulls - Lowe's

Cabinet knobs - Lowe's

Sheila Maid Drying Rack - Sheila Maid

Backsplash tile - Lowe's 

Backsplash grout - Floor and Decor

Plans for washer/dryer base - Ana White

Shelf brackets (link to seller's entire Etsy shelf bracket section) - WePeddleMetal on Etsy

I have lots of horse stuff to catch you all up on, but first, a laundry room update.

In June, IKEA opened its first delivery slots since March. I hemmed and hawed about taking one, because they were out of one of the cabinets I needed, but in the end I decided to take it minus that cabinet, because I had no idea when that cabinet would be back in stock, I had no idea how quickly those slots would go, and I figured it would be easier to track down one single missing cabinet than continue to play chicken with IKEA on the whole order.

That was early June. The first available delivery slot was....August 5th. Deep breath, we're in a pandemic.

The good news? 1. My delivery got delivered, 2. On time, 3. Without missing any parts, and 4. My missing cabinet came into stock at the Indianapolis location the same week, so I drove up to retrieve it. If I hadn't taken that delivery slot, it would likely have been October before I got cabinets, no joke.

And now we're here:

It feels SO GOOD to have actual storage in here again. And it feels amazing to be able to see, touch and feel the final layout.

The washer/dryer platform will get pushed back by a few inches, but otherwise, this is it. Hank's crate is behind the W/D

So far, functionally, it's exact as I envisioned it. Right down to Hank's food fitting perfectly in one of the pull-out drawers and our cleaning supplies working great on the slide out rack.

This picture is somewhat misleading, since in the final version, the dog food bin won't be on wheels and there will be a drawer above it, but it still fits perfectly

Next up, I've had to finally get over my fear of using my barnmate's industrial paint sprayer. Spraying cabinets with a temperamental-but-powerful paint sprayer has proven to be quite challenging, but I'm getting there. As of today, they're primed:

Next up, spraying them the same greenish teal as the W/D platform. Which still does not photograph even close to real life no matter what.

My garage is currently overrun with painting crap

We are SO CLOSE to the end! This week I hope to get the shelf boards stained, then this weekend I'm going to tile the backsplash, so that our contractor can come back and hang the shelves next week. (Am I capable of hanging shelves myself? Yes. Do I want to hang shelves in solid crumbly 130 year old brick walls covered in drywall and tile? Hell no.) Somewhere in there a plumber is coming to install the faucet and plumbing too, the toe kicks and a few pieces of trim have to get installed, and I have to paint the outside door trim. But after that...it's done!

The laundry room wall, formerly exterior, is to the left if you're standing where I am in this photo.

So. Much. Beige. Even the wall behind it used to be This Surface is Probably Dirty Beige until we primed it...years ago...and never painted it...

Even the electrical panel was This Surface is Probably Dirty beige (yes, this has been replaced).

This is the end of day two after the ladder had been lowered several times, but imagine this same setup up near the ceiling in this space! It was so scary.

Knowing the former owner, this is likely Great Dane damage. It's too high off the floor to be her 32 cats. There are places in my house where I would skimcoat this clearly not in great condition wall before painting it, but the shitty back utility staircase is not one of those places #pickyourbattles

Bye beige

Sherwin Williams Sky High tinted to 75%. With the lights off, it reads blue, and with the lights on, it reads white.

Me questioning my life choices while drinking

Yes the color is still not represented correctly. I've given up. That's a slide out rack in between with detergent on it.

I only had two of the types of bulbs I needed, which I put on the ends, so you'll just have to use your imagination to imagine it all lit up for now

An angle you will never see it from, because I'm standing where cabinets will be

The day we toured it with a realtor five years ago. These two are original to the house and when we bought it they were hanging off the gas lines that once fed the flames that would be where the vertical bulbs are now. They have a matching little brother on the stairs.

It even throws pretty prism rainbows on the wall at night, swoon

Haaaaaaaate

Despite wanting to get it over with as fast as possible, I took my time because I rushed the 7 ceilings upstairs (also just before the floors got done) and I kick myself to this day every time I look up at them. Happy to report I can't find fault with this one.

Me at 3pm on Sunday, less than half done, realizing today is going to suck