We now own an investment property "and a half" if you count the renter we have in our basement. ;)
My parents came down on the 18th. My mom and I went to Target to pick up cleaning supplies then came home and constructed our 'Game Plan' for the next morning. Our goal was to be out. the door. by 8am.
On Saturday morning we were fresh-faced and excited. We swung through the Starbucks drive-through so I could treat my mom to some coffee as a 'thanks-in-advance-for-helping-us-with-this-ridiculous-project' and you'll never believe what happened. THE CAR IN FRONT OF US PAID FOR OUR COFFEE! We pulled up to the window and the lady read the wrong order, but then corrected herself saying, "Oh never mind, the car in front of you paid for your order this morning." My heart stopped and I literally almost cried with happiness over some silly free coffee. By the time we pulled forward, the car in front of us was long gone and I had no way of signaling our happiness and gratitude via dramatic waving from my driver's seat. It was an awesome start to our morning. The short time that followed was filled with planning and a little silent reflecting on all the blessings God has given us...my mom and I were in my car HEADED TO OUR FARM. Is this even real life?! How a cup of free Starbucks was capable of causing me to pause and be thankful, I'm not sure...and it's a little ridiculous. But thanks whoever was in the car in front of us at 8:13am on Saturday, October 19th, and thanks be to God for His provision, allowing us to buy our dream acreage, even during a drought year!
My parents had never seen the inside of the farmhouse in person before, but they had visited the property earlier this summer. Sadly, Josh had to go to work blowing out irrigation systems before the first hard freeze, and I'm not sure he knew what 'we Keil's' were capable of. ;)
Day 1: We emptied kitchen cupboards, bathroom cupboards, closets in every room and the hallway, moved furniture (what was left is being sent to Leftovers!), Shop-Vacced every wall, window, floor, cleaned fixtures, hauled junk to the dumpster, burn pile, and the "treasures" to my car. We spent some time outside picking up garbage and junk around the property. We rolled up the remnant carpet in the upstairs bedrooms and tossed it out the windows. We tore up the carpet on the upstairs landing and down the stairs...and THEN Josh got there. #keilfaminaction
I'm pretty proud of everything we accomplished! Josh finished ripping up the carpet downstairs while my dad spent most of his time on the ground ripping up tack strips (bless his heart). Turns out my dad can tear anything apart...it's the handy-man fixing part he's not a master at. ;)
We were all exhausted by 6:30. And all of our feet hurt. It was a 'we're just ordering a pizza' kind of night and I think we were all in bed by 10:30pm! And here's the reason we fell in love with this place...
Day 2: Our goal was to be out the door by 9am. We hit Starbucks on the way out of town again and worked on our strategy during our 15-minute drive to the acreage (have I mentioned its PERFECT location?!) We rescued my old, beautiful doors from the barn and wiped them down. We brought a bird-poop-covered dining room table up from the barn and wiped that down with an AMAZING mixture of dish soap, vinegar, and baking soda...the thing looks like NEW! We pulled out all of our appliances to wipe and vacuumed behind them. We pulled the refrigerator apart and I wiped down the inside (with our special cleaning concoction) while my mom wiped down all the shelves. I Shop Vacced cupboards, we wiped down four cute wooden chairs the seller left for us, and my mom wiped down the washer. We carried 100 Mason jars up from the basement and my dad was helpful carrying other junk up from the basement and to the dumpster. Then he spent most of the day walking around, observing the house, and making really great discoveries for how we can replace trim, hide ugly things with some leftover paneling we found, and replacing some stained ceiling tiles with new ones. Josh weed whacked around most of the trees at the front of the property and down the lane...he also did some weed whacking around the house...which in itself made the place look 1,000 times better!
I'll post pictures of all of this once we get a little farther along. ;)
Josh's friend Tommy stopped by to take a look at our washer and dryer and run some 'diagnostic testing' on our appliances. :) The washer passed and once the dryer got cleaned out, it passed inspection too. They hauled them outside, tore them apart, figured something out, and then brought them back in. All I know is that I've been washing rags while I'm out there and they both work great now!
Our friends Ben and Tom stopped out for a couple hours, which I was thrilled about. These two are true farm boys, and can accomplish more in an hour of their time (if they're not distracted with climbing windmills) than most humans can accomplish in an entire afternoon. They hauled our giant pile of carpet down to the burn pile and started work on cleaning up junk and brush around our little shed.
I'm not sure I'll ever get tired of snapping pictures during every sunset...they're pretty every night!
Day's 3 - 7: Josh and his brother spent a lot of time at the farm last week setting some mouse traps (yes there WAS a mouse problem, but I think our cleaning frenzy did a good job of taking care of most of that...he's only caught two!), filling cracks in the foundation, and more endless weed whacking. Josh also found a pocked door hidden in the walls in the living room! Jamie and I came out and did a pretty decent job of emptying the corn crib and barn of junk and sorting everything into 'Keep,' 'Burn,' 'Dumpster,' and 'Scrap Metal.' The four of us worked together to move a big metal gas tank and a metal fed bin (excuse my lack of farm-girl terminology...I don't care what that thing is called, I just know it's ugly and needs to go) to our scrap metal pile...I'm thrilled both of those large things are out of sight for possible tenants driving by with interest.
Day 8: Josh and I woke up on Saturday tired, but excited to get to our farm and start working more on the inside of the farmhouse. Josh continued weed whacking and I started puttying cracks in the first bedroom upstairs. Josh joined me, and we finished that bedroom together. Because it was a nice day and apparently we have a hard time working inside, we went outside to keep working on cleaning the outbuildings and sorting the junk. ;)
I also wanted the barn to be cleaned and arranged in certain spots so it would be ready for pictures that night...Here's another one from our farm photo shoot...I'm IN LOVE with these pictures!!!
Day 9: We got a late start since we went to late church...but we were in serious need of some sleep...so it's whatever. We have to ease into this 'farm life' thing...it's a lot of hard work! :) Josh and I filled the cracks in the second bedroom upstairs, finished the hallway and the stair way, and also filled cracks in what I'm calling 'The Parlor'...it's the front room on the main level and is quickly becoming my favorite room. It's right off the front entrance, but it has that secret pocket door, a stained glass window, and another pretty door separating it from the foyer entrance. It could be a bedroom, a play room, an office, or... a 'Parlor.' :) I can hardly wait to get my hands on a can of gray paint so I can go. to town. Josh sanded the putty in the first bedroom upstairs and we couldn't stand being inside any more. Josh moved some logs, I kept compiling and organizing my 'wood-that-would-be-good-for-crafting-a-Pinterest-sign pile' and we called it quits when it got too dark to see in the barn. ;)
It might not seem like much, but brace yourselves for when I post the before and after pictures. The process is slightly less enjoyable because we're working with a strict deadline in order to get the place rented in time for turnover...but I think so far we're doing a decent job of balancing the duties in our 'real life' with the work we have left to accomplish out at the farm. Certain things have had to be cut out and some of our time and energy has had to be redirected, but our priorities are straight where it counts...we keep telling ourselves 'we'll have time for that after January 1st.' :)
If you feel like painting...or chopping down a tree...or burning a GIANT pile of crap...or raking out a barn...lemme know. I can hook. you. uuuuup. ;)
MmB
:o( I want to help.
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