Let the Land Clearing and Renovations Begin!

A bulldozer spent days clearing several acres of land to prepare for the spring planting of our vineyard. Many trees were cut down and piles of brush burned for weeks!

A water storage system and deer fencing will follow, but for now we are getting a clearer view of our beautiful heritage oaks.


We will also begin renovations on the house in the next few months.  Building permit is in and new windows have arrived.   I am excited to begin the transition from little red barn house to rustic european farmhouse complete with stucco exterior, new roof, windows and a terrace.

The existing house has a horrible deck around part of it that will be torn down and entrances in front and rear will be relocated to make better use of the existing floor plan.  It sits on top of a hill and with more land clearing in the fall will have even better views of the foothills and vineyards below.

We will be traveling to France in July to shop for pieces to use in the renovation and for use in future development on the property.  So excited about this trip!!

I am now on instagram at  #europeanfarmhousecharm and will begin posting photos on our progress.




 Cheers!!

Little barnhouse update and some country inspiration

The past six weeks have flown by and while most of the work is currently happening inside this little place the one major thing we're doing to the exterior is giving it a big dose of barn red paint!   We are in the process of painting now and I just love it!  I couldn't wait to share-even though we're not finished yet.

  

The deck on the left will also be rebuilt and modified. It has a cat walk on one side of the house that neither of us like so it will be removed.

I  bought a few lights for the exterior from Barn Light Electric. The galvanized look is perfect against the red.

 

 

 And on the inside....

The interior was gutted several weeks ago and bundles of white oak hardwood for the floors have been acclimating nicely in the living area.    The two large windows were just installed. This room had small windows which didn't take advantage of the beautiful views outside.

The post and beam construction will be interesting to work with in this long narrow space. The post here is off center and most of the beams were painted with several layers of enamel paint :(. 

We hired a contractor to rebuild the stairs- they were quite narrow and a bit steep. We haven't decided on the type of railing just yet.

I am so happy the demo portion  is done in here.  Now on to some interior kitchen inspiration!
 

First, I tested a new grey based stain on some sample pieces of the hardwood floor. I really like the muted tone, it's very grey brown. Love it!

Since we also gutted  the space in the tiny kitchen, I've been gathering photos which really capture the look and feel I would like to achieve.  A simple understated country feel is the goal as in the photos here....

image via pinterest

image via pinterest

image via pinterest

And while the days spent here are always busy busy, the evenings are for enjoying the local wine, the warm summer weather, and more beautiful views!

Cheers and happy summer to you :)!!

It's Official,Our Own Little Barnhouse in the Country!

We closed escrow a few weeks ago on our country property!  While this little barn house is in need of a serious makeover, the 21.5 acres it sits on is in a quaint little valley surrounded by family owned vineyards.

And I'm sharing the first "before" photo
I can't wait to tear down that street light thing :)

This will be our "family compound".  A place for our family to hang out on weekends and holidays.
We plan to renovate this little house and eventually build a European style farmhouse on the other
side of the property. We also have young adult children who enjoy wine as much as we do so we plan to plant a small family vineyard and try some wine making of our own. Why not...when in Rome right?

We have our own little country lane that leads to a large vineyard behind our property. Our dogs love it as much as we do!

We are surrounded by beautiful, picturesque vines.

We have huge heritage oaks...

and many manzanita groves.

 

The majority of the property remains undeveloped, so we have a lot of work to do here. 

While we'll have to call in some professionals to trim and cut many of the tall oaks around the property, Tom and our son tackled some of the branches around the house to improve the views.

And while I've been gathering inspiration for the barn house makeover, Tom has been shopping for one of these!

He bought an older tractor like this one- and OMG was this a serious mission! 

We hope to have many happy adventures here and look forward to sharing this big project with you.

Take Care and thanks for reading me.