Then and Now | From The Beginning Of Our Prairie Farmhouse Build

Before Our Prairie Farmhouse there was just the prairie. As far as you could see it was blue sky, wind and waving prairie grass.

Soon we were picking the spot for the house and mapping out roughly in our minds where fences, barns, a chicken coop and a garden spot would be. Soon after Chris was driving the first fence post of many to get our property lines fenced off. 

We started the build by hiring a contractor to rough in what we call the little house. After the contractor was finished with the outside of the house we got to work finishing the inside. Chris took the inside from framing to finished, doing the plumbing, electrical, insulation, wood plank walls, wood trim, installation of light fixtures, and hardware of all kinds. Phew! Makes me tired to think about it all. I was a supporting character in the project, but I did help a lot with insulating, hanging shiplap, and painting literally everything.

After getting moved into the little house we continued to take on project after project working towards completing our homestead. Chris built a well house, shop, barn and chicken coop. Then the time finally came where we could add the main farmhouse.

This time we contracted the build, turn key. It was a relief not to have to worry with finishing the house ourselves, but it was also a bit stressful making sure things were getting done the way we wanted. That may sound bad, but if you've never contracted a new house build, let me tell you it can be a bit difficult to get everyone on the same page to see your vision. All in all we had a good builder and our house turned out well, but when it came to design choices it felt like a battle every step of the way. I recommend having in writing, with pictures, your ideas of materials and you want things to look in your house. I actually had both from the beginning and I still had to stay on top of every detail. 

Finally Our Prairie Farmhouse was complete! We could turn our focus more to landscaping and establishing the outside of our house with a yard, driveway, fence and all the shrubbery and flowers.

We even did a little landscaping by the outhouse chicken coop that Chris had built. The yard slopes in that area so we added pea gravel and river rock along some larger stepping stones leading down the slope to the coop. I'm hoping, this spring to finish up this area making it look a bit more established with plants. (See the video here)

I do have a honeysuckle bush at one corner of the pen and a tiny little wisteria that I am hoping will take off and grow along the right side of the pen this year.

I actually asked Chris to build the coop to look like an outhouse and I think he did such a good job! Reuben the Roo thinks so, too!

After putting down a sod yard and the grass took off and got established we decided to create a brick walkway from the circle driveway to the front door. 

It is a cement walkway with thin brick added to the top and finished just like regular brick. You can see step by step how it was made in this video (Here)

Every colonial farmhouse needs a picket fence, right?! Lol. Chris cut out every picket and post and built the fence, himself. I just told him what I would like it to look like and he figured out how to make it. You can also see a video about the fence (Here)

Thank you for stopping by and allowing me to share the story of how Our Prairie Farmhouse came to be. Looking back at where we started to where we are now, it all just seems unimaginable. And we're not finished yet. There are always more projects to be done.

Lots of love,

Tammie,

xoxo