Fun Times and Hard Work

From the beginning to present, we have worked our tails off!  Whether it be picking up rocks, cutting down trees, building fences, etc., its been hard work but oh so rewarding.  Here are a handful of pictures of us working and goofing off.

 

Some of this tin will be my backsplash in my new kitchen

 

This is the potting shed demolition

 

 

 

 

The Barn Raising

Any good horse person knows that you build your horse barn BEFORE you ever build your house!  We began the barn building process in March of 2013.  We used a barn building business to basically frame it up and put the roof on.  Rawson did the rest.  Chancey and I helped some but he basically designed the inside and finished it himself.  And what an amazing job he did.  The pictures basically speak for themselves.  We had built a couple of run-in sheds for the horses to get in out of the rain and snow so they were protected from the elements until the actual barn was built.  We disassembled our round pen and made 5 stalls using the panels in order to lock each horse up to feed them safely.

                                     

                                     

                                     

The Well House (dedicated to my first horse Pecos)

The old well house had also seen its better days.  It was in need of new siding and a new roof. As we wanted our future barn and well house to match, I decided to use the well house to experiment with my colors.  A friend's husband is a builder and he painted a house a gorgeous red - Sundried Tomato.  I knew immediately that was the color I wanted for my barn and well house.  We put new siding on and a new shingled roof.  I wanted a metal roof but since the horses could get cut on the corners, I opted for a whitish grey shingle.  It turned out beautiful.  As an added touch, I placed the sign that was on my dad and mom's little barn - "PECOS."  Pecos was the first horse I got when I was 16.  I had so much fun on him.  I think of him whenever I see that sign.  He was 33 years old when he died and is buried at my parent's house.  I will never forget him - he was amazing!

 

The Old Gal

We never would have thought it would have taken over 3 years to sell our house but unfortunately it did.  We dropped the price over $100,000 just to get it sold.  As we were paying for two mortgages, we needed to get it sold and moved.  In August of 2011, a little over a year before our house sold, we decided to move to our property and live in the old trailer.  In its day, the trailer was lovely.  You could tell by the work that was done placing the trailer on the property 30 years ago and all the beautiful brickwork, etc., this was definitely a showplace in its day!  We had a lot of very nice things to work with.  Over time, the property had gotten into the hands of people who did not love it as the original owners did.  It had become a little run down and neglected.  So, we had the trailer cleaned by a cleaning service and it was move-in ready.  We placed a lot of our belongings in storage and brought just the necessary items such as beds, dressers, fridge, washer and dryer and clothing.  Prior to moving in, we repainted the trailer to update it somewhat and make it more appealing.  The kids who were 13 and 16 at the time, Chancey and Noah, had to share a room.  That was ok for a "little" while.  As there was a small "sunroom" on the front of the trailer, we moved Noah to the sunroom to give him a little privacy.  Also, the trailer had two decks off the back door with a large brick BBQ grill.  The grill at one time had a beautiful Mexican tile top with a sink and hot water heater.  Over the years, the grill had become in disrepair.  We could not decide if we wanted to repair the grill or tear it down.  After much thought, we decided it was not in a great location once we built our home and to just tear it down.  It took me two days to destroy the grill and haul the brick to the dump.  However, the main center of the grill was made of concrete block and was very unusual looking.  Therefore, I decided to keep that and decorate around it with flowers.  It turned out to be a gorgeous structure and conversation piece.  Also, there was already a very nice two car garage with workshop and attached shed.  All the buildings including the trailer were painted a light gray.  As we had decided to paint the well house and the barn red, we decided to paint the garage a blue/green called Woodlawn Juniper trimmed with white with Sundried Tomato accents.  This color theme will carry over to the new house as well.  Below are some pictures of the garage before and after.

BEFORE

 

 

AFTER

 

 

BBQ GRILL

 

 

 SPECIAL FEATURES

 

GARAGE