Transforming the exterior of your home from frumpy to fabulous farmhouse is not an expensive undertaking, however it is labor intensive! When we bought this 1900 farmhouse in August, you could say it was ‘farm fresh’. The previous owner had owned the property since 1966! The outside was maintained, but was definitely a ‘drive by’. There was not a single thing about this that would make anyone turn their heads and notice this house while driving by…..hence a ‘drive by’.

Having a ‘drive by’ house is not what you want when you are planning to sell. I immediately saw the potential in this house’s exterior and knew I could turn this exterior into a freaking fabulous farmhouse!!

If you missed out on how we found this property……you need to check out this post…..it was not even for sale!

You should also check out the entire property in our first ever video walk through in its ‘pre-demolition state’.

Drive by Disaster

I had lovingly coined this house the ‘big white blob’. The grass was grown right up to the house without a stitch of landscaping. If you know me at all, this drives me crazy! The exterior of a house should be warm and make you want to walk in…not run away. This frumpy farmhouse was covered in cob webs, mildew, disgusting spiders and was screaming to be power washed in the worst way….and that was just the beginning.

Here are a few closer pictures of the outside of the house that I took when I was making a plan for landscaping.

What did I identify that needed to be done that was simple yet would have a dramatic effect?

• Power wash exterior
• Paint the gorgeous historic trim that was blending in
• Dig out sod
• Sketch a landscape plan and purchase plants
• Replace the lattice
• Refinish the decks
• Replace the front door
• Prune the backyard trees (that are almost touching the ground)
• Plant plants
• Mulch

Simple, right??

Power Wash & Pruning- FREE (cost of water only ;))

When we closed on this house, it was mid August so it was HOT! What better job than to power wash a 2700 square foot 2 story house? 🙂 Tim got the outside of the house washed over the course of a couple afternoons/evenings. The kids may have been showered here and there in the process as well, but it’s all in good fun. Just by power washing, the house already looks brighter and happier.

The amount of pruning that needed to be done was going to require a new tool—I bought a chainsaw. (insert arm flex bicep emoji here…LOL)

The great part about pruning is that it gives your backyard an instant facelift. The yard appears well kept and often larger. My rule of thumb is: if you have to duck to walk or mow under your branches, they need to be pruned. Well, I had so many branches to prune, I went out and bought that electric chainsaw. I went with electric because it is not a tool we use often so it was not worth it to me to fuss with gas/oil mixing to maintain it. And guess what…it cut like a hot knife through butter. Only downfall….. I about took out my husband. For a couple branches, he held my ladder because it wasn’t super sturdy….definitely not OSHA approved ladder placements so….a big branch got him right across the face. Just a big scrape—no excessive bleeding occurred nor was he knocked out. Lucky for him, there is always a nurse on duty. 😉

Painting the GORGEOUS Historic Farmhouse Trim- $30

As Nicole Curtis would say, this 1900 farmhouse was screaming, ‘make me pretty again’! The trim on this house is the by far the best of any of the houses we have owned. I wanted it to make a statement so I chose to paint it ‘rocky coast’ gray. Looking at this beastly farmhouse, I knew it would take me a while. Painting along the sides against the house and in each groove was going to be intricate work. When I saw the difference it made after painting this first window, I was determined and committed.

Each single window took me about 30-45 minutes and the double wide ones took between 45-60 minutes. I cannot even tell you how many windows there are, but at one point it seemed like I would never finish. I would literally run there for an evening and get two windows painted before coming home to help get the kids to bed, but I kept going.

Some of the trim was not super cooperative or easy to get at. I used a two story ladder for all of the upper windows that I could not stand on the first floor roof.

We pulled a creative ladder maneuver to get one window done. Tim stood on the two story ladder while I climbed up the wooden one that served as cleats to paint that upper window. Not OSHA approved people!

Little by little I finally got it done. It took many, many hours, but had a dramatic impact. We no longer owned a ‘big white blob’.

Landscape Planning  & Execution- $250

So although drawing is not my talent, I LOVE sketching landscape plans. I have redone all of our landscape, multiple neighbors, as well as friends and coworkers. Do we ever charge for helping others? Nope. Most of the people we have helped are either overwhelmed, ill, or simply do not know the difference between a weed and a plant. We are teaching our children  that you need to make time to help others and I hope they grow up with a servant heart.

This landscape was going to definitely need some height. When you have a two story huge house, you don’t want to plant ground level plants. The house will over power them and look ridiculous. Landscape is such an art, and I love it.

When I am creating my landscape areas, I think about the following items:

• Am I dealing with sun, partial sun, or shade?
• What is the max height I want for plants
• Color scheme to compliment the house
• Choose low maintenance perennials
• Have a variety of plants so that something is always in bloom
• Anchor the landscape with a ‘staple plant’ such as an ornamental tree
• Include a variety of textures
• Create symmetry without a pattern

So what are my go to plants??

• Tall and medium beach grasses (I often split off my own)
• Weeping cherry tree
• Hostas
• Daylillies
• Coralbells
• Spikey looking plant (cannot think of what they are called!!)
• Bleeding heart rose bush
• Potted mums for porches in the fall
• Hanging baskets (annuals)

These are all super low maintenance plants that will get bigger and better year after year!

Many of you are thinking….yikes! Is it that complicated? To me, it is not. I LOVE it and so do our kids!

1. Go to a local nursery with your sketched plan and have all the kids pull a cart. LOL.
2. Drive two cars there–one to haul all 6 kids and one to haul the plants!

   

3. Have all the kids help you unload the truck providing direction as to where they go.

4. Start arranging them according to your sketch!

5. Spade edge the shape of the landscape you would like and give your husband the shovel. 😀

6. Bring enough shovels for the big kids, assign one to the hose (and take turns), and one to scoop miracle

grow. It might take a little longer, but they love doing it and it is great for them to learn.

They love to shop for plants, dig the holes, scoop a cup of miracle grow, fill the hole half full with water, plant the plant, and stomp the dirt. They are also experts in spreading mulch. They helped us with all of it and we were done in no time!

Are you stuck with your landscape? Not sure what is a plant or a weed?

If you subscribe to this blog, send me a picture of your landscape that you cannot stand and I will design a new space for you….FREE!

Farmhouse Porches- $40

This farmhouse has 2 porches! The front porch is a great size and it also has a small side porch. Both porches were quite weathered and had broken pieces of lattice around the bottom. Well, if you were paying any attention in the previous section, you will have noticed that we replaced the broken lattice with vertical boards painted white and a ‘deck in a day’ super thick exterior paint in a charcoal gray color to match the trim.

The exterior white paint that we used was a severely dented 5 gallon bucket of paint. It was so severe, it was marked down to $5!!!!!!!!!!!! SCORE!!!! The porch ‘deck in a day’ paint was $35 for the gallon. One gallon covered both porches! Woot woot!

Fabulous Farmhouse Front Door $5

The front door to this house in the picture above is a standard steel door. It is honestly pretty bland and does nothing for the curb appeal. Well, about one year ago, I found an original 1901 farmhouse door in fantastic condition for $5. Yes! $5! It has been sitting in our garage waiting for us to install it in the perfect place.  Cue this farmhouse. It was built around 1900 so is pretty close to what may have actually been there.

Best part of this door, it installed in about 30 minutes! That folks is a record.

 

So not including all of our labor hours (which is free)….what is our grand total??         

                                    $325.00

Here is our freaking fabulous farmhouse exterior reveal!

PIN IT!!