Our 100 year old farmhouse has had several additions to it over the years from evidence seen in the attic and a from few pictures we’ve received from previous owners and tenants. The most recent one being a bedroom added over the bath and laundry room that is also not original to the ‘ol farmhouse.
Originally, there was a window over the stairwell which helped illuminate the upstairs landing as well as the stairwell. With the addition of the bedroom, the window was removed for the obvious reason of privacy for the occupant in the bedroom.
I might’ve been OK with it except that what I saw every time I went upstairs (which is several times a day because all the bedrooms are up there as well as my sewing and craft space) well, it drove me nuts because it literally looked like a window had been removed and boarded up on one side.
I tried making it tolerable by adding a pretty hand-painted indoor barn quilt that was given to me by a friend. It certainly helped but it still drove me nuts. (Short drive, I know. And, hush up those of you who know me, ha!)
After CountryBoy demoed the well-house…
I saw the window from the front of it leaning against a tree and got the brilliant idea of putting a window back where there was originally a window.
Now, in true Dream Valley Farmstead fashion, we reuse whatever we can on whatever we’re working on so I went to work on cleaning up the well-house window…
The whole well-house had been swallowed up by a red trumpet vine so there were bits of roots of the vine stuck to the window. I simply sanded the window down a bit, washed it then handed it off.
Poor CountryBoy, as usual, had to figure out how to turn my vision into reality. He pondered it briefly then went to work…
He made quick work of the demo and set about determining where to cut into the paneling on the bedroom side…
(Please ignore the discoloration of the walls. We have done nothing to this room short of removing the closet where the head of the bed is and building a bed frame and headboard. It’s on the to-do list one day!)
After some careful measuring and cutting we now had a hole in the wall and, a big mess on the floors. Too late to change my mind now!
Before long the window was installed and the mess cleaned up…
I really like how it turned out even though it may seem kinda strange to be able to look into a bedroom from another room. (See my sewing machine in the picture on the right?) Since the décor of this room is our ‘ode to Florida’ and all things beachy my plan is to add working shutters in the bedroom. They will be left open to allow the light to come through but can be closed when we have guests. Meanwhile, until we actually tackle this room, my plan is to hang a quilt over the window if we have guests.
The stair side of the window still is not finished. I need to get a piece of drywall next time we’re in town…
The drywall installation will be up to me as CountryBoy would prefer to have nothing to do with drywall if at all possible. I don’t blame him, really, as I’m not a big fan either but it’s the cheapest solution to finishing this project and finally, finishing this wall. As you can see from the stains on the wall, I’ve done nothing to this wall either, short of removing a shelf that was over the window-less window and partially removing a wallpaper border.
I will be thrilled to have this wall finished one day but I am really enjoying the daylight that is helping lighten up my sewing and craft space as well as the stairway. Yay!
Now for some rambling…
I have the day off so along with plans to write a blog post I decided to whip up a couple of things in the kitchen. First up, was a batch of oil-pulling discs.
My mouth and gums have been bothering me lately, as in feeling raw, so I decided to do something about it. If you’ve never heard of oil-pulling then I suggest you Google it as there are much better sources out there than can explain the benefits of it far better than I could ever attempt to do so.
Anyhoo, it’s very simple to make some ready-to-use oil pulling discs by simply melting some coconut oil, letting it cool a bit and then dropping just less than a tablespoonful into the silicon candy molds. I chose to add about ten drops of Thieves essential oil to the cooled coconut oil since the clove in this Thieves blend is beneficial for oral care.
These silicon candy molds are awesome! I popped out the discs and will store them in the fridge just to be sure the coconut oil doesn’t melt. Using one a day this batch will last a little over three weeks.
I also decided I wanted to have a hot chocolate mix on hand. Some days and/or nights just beg for a cuppa hot cocoa! Since I don’t like all the ingredients added to store-bought mixes I knew I needed to make my own so I checked Pinterest (what did we ever do before Google and Pinterest?!) and found a dairy-free hot chocolate mix recipe.
Why dairy free? Well, I don’t have any powdered milk on hand nor do I usually keep it in my pantry. We also like our hot chocolate made with whole milk rather than water so I didn’t see the need in having powdered milk already in the mix. Thankfully, I found a recipe that didn’t call for powdered milk and I had all the ingredients in my pantry.
I did substitute some white chocolate instead of the whole chocolate chips the recipe called for. I also mixed all of it in my food processor, white chocolate and all, to make for a smooth and powdery mix. I can’t wait to taste it as it smells so yummy!
Living 30 minutes from anywhere (as my brother likes to say!) it’s important to me to keep a well-stocked pantry. I have spent the last several years learning what items are handy to have on hand and what, for us, makes a well-stocked pantry. And, I’m not talking about having a pantry or freezer full of boxed or man-made foods (which really isn’t food but don’t get me going on that…) It’s things like flours, sugars, home-canned veggies, coffee, tea, unsweetened cocoa, baking goods, yeast, etc. It’s a good feeling being able to make things, even on a whim, because of my well-stocked pantry. Yay!
And, in other news, my first column was published the week of Thanksgiving…
Now that the stress and learning curve of my first article is done I’m excited to write some more. I’ve had quite a few compliments to the point where I literally felt my cheeks turning red. In fact, they’re turning red as I type this. Mercy! I guess that’s what happens when a shy girl that would rather be behind the scenes and definitely behind the camera is now in the spotlight. As I often say around here, YIKES!
Dream Valley Farmstead 