Beautiful Farmhouse Home Tour

Oh friends do we ever have a treat in store for you today!! Are you on Instagram yet? If not, we HIGHLY recommend it! You see, Facebook is so wonky these days. Are we right? Sometimes you see things, sometimes you don’t. But on Instagram you get to see everything! And that is where we met our new friend Wendy from the blog Life on the Shady Grove. And not only did we fall in love with her absolutely beautiful home but we have been so blessed by her incredibly warm and welcoming spirit.

So, without further ado, let us introduce you to Wendy and try not to drool too much as you take the tour of her gorgeous farmhouse inspired home.

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Welcome to our Life on the Shady Grove…come on in and visit for awhile and I will tell you all about our “pretend” old, white farmhouse.

We purchased our home in 2010 as a foreclosure. The Lord knew the desires of our heart and He blessed us in ways that we could not have imagined. Every time I pull in the driveway, or walk in the front door, I thank Him all over again!

The right side of the house was always a little dark at night so we added this cute barn light over the front bedroom. I love the way it lights up the window box at night and it gives some farmhouse charm too. We also removed the shutters and changed the muntins on the windows to reflect a true farmhouse style. We chose Sherwin Williams “Roman Column” for the exterior color because it was a nice, soft, warm white.

This home was not always white, it was green and brown actually, but my dream is to live in a white farmhouse. So, we can began the process of transforming this foreclosure into the custom built home of our dreams. The hubs didn’t quite catch the vision at first but night after night of brainwashing as he slept, finally worked. We have made a few trips to Europe and I fell in love with all the beautiful window boxes! Since I can’t afford a vacation home there, I brought the window boxes here!

I used the shutters we removed when we painted the house and made the LARGE sign that hangs on our front porch. The hub’s reaction: “that is BIG!” I say go big or go home ….am I right? I also added lots of pops of red to the exterior because it is my favorite color….well, besides white of course.

This is our five pound guard dog, Andy. His bark is way worse than his bite but I wouldn’t take a chance if I were you!

We replaced our front doors when we painted the house because we really wanted a stained finish and our old ones were painted. Ok, the truth is….I tried to strip the paint off the old door and it was an epic DIY failure. So… we HAD to buy new doors. Best failure I ever had.

So this is what you see when you walk through the front doors…did I mention that I love red and white? We knocked down some walls and added some beaded board to the ceilings. Everyone always asks about the floors! That project took me a month on my hands and knees but I am so happy with the results.

Because the house was sitting empty for so long, the hardwood floors were not in the best condition. I tried to “fix” them myself but only made things worse. Then it hit me: I love painted floors like all the cottages in Europe, here is my chance! Three coats of Annie Sloan Old White Paint, two coats of Annie Sloan Floor Lacquer, a little distressing and we were good to go! And the great news is, the more scuffed or “distressed” they get, the better! (At least that’s what I tell myself.)

As you walk in the front doors and look to the right you will see the open stairs that lead to the “terrace level” or what we used to call “the basement”. That is where two of my teenage boy’s bedrooms (you don’t want to see!), a bathroom, game room, and a full apartment are located. That will be a tour for another day…after they move out and I take over!

We have very few walls in our home so I wanted to take advantage of this one. We added two wood beam shelves that house my kid’s senior pictures along with little trinkets that represent their personalities. It is a challenge to dust up there so I use my leaf blower (ha). The very tall ladder to the left holds many of my Nana’s beautiful quilts. The door to the right is my teenage daughter’s room and I can’t let you in there either!

When you come in the front doors you will find our dining room to the left. This table can accommodate ten but since our family is already at nine, and growing rapidly, we may have to come up with another option. I have always wanted a family gallery wall and this is literally the only wall I had available. Several people have asked about how I arranged all the pictures…to be honest, I just started hammering and then it was done.

This is the very first piece of furniture my hubby and I bought together…27 years ago! It has made it’s home in bedrooms, hallways, kitchens, family rooms and now it has a home, front and center, in our dining room. I gave it a facelift last year with some chalk paint …after all, most of us need a little “help” as we age.

Here is our formal dining room. I say that with smirk on my face because NOTHING we do is formal! With five teenage/adult kids and five dogs, everything is loud, fun, and a little dysfunctional.

The sewing basket belonged to my precious Nana who passed away last year. She was a master quilter, professional seamstress, and beautiful southern belle. The doilies are some of her handmade treasures.

Instead of traditional napkins, try using vintage dishcloths, handkerchiefs and other other fun linens. I just tied mine up with red and white kitchen twine for kicks.

This is the view from the dining room into the kitchen. I bring this sweet little bench over to the dining room table for extra seating when we have everyone over.

I use this desk to set up seasonal vignettes. I always try to find some “clever” quote for the chalkboard but I’m the only one around here that actually reads it. I use the cute baby scale to store vintage linens.

Here is our great room. With a large family, we needed to full size sofas and extra chairs. Of course they are slip covered….remember, five kids, five dogs!

The fireplace is one our most “accidentally” successful DIY projects! The hubs and I were antique shopping and I had mentioned I wanted to do something above the fireplace one day. We ran across these old shutters and some old tongue and groove boards… within an hour we were transforming! I love the way it turned out. Wish all of our projects worked that way!

If you can’t tell, I’m kind of a symmetrical person. I tried to be all “loosey goosey” and “free spirited” but I just can’t. I had this 5×5 foot ottoman built so it would line up centered on both sofas. I absolutely love the sign above the media hutch…a constant reminder of His love and grace.

I collect old jars and bottles that I display in the small cubbies around the television. My favorite is this bottle of “healing oil”…that stuff has been in there since 1929!

Here is our breakfast room off the kitchen. I love the symmetry of this room and the view out to the pasture where the sheep live.

We have a great little screened porch off the breakfast room. I really consider this my hubby’s room because he would live out here if he could. I have to admit, there is nothing better than a cool evening swinging on the bed and listening to the wind chimes sing.

This is our keeping room off the kitchen. We added a large built in pantry along one wall to hide all our junk! The stone around the fireplace was really ugly (like orange colored fake rock ugly) so we had it sprayed the same color as the walls and now it is one of my favorite features! Paint is the cheapest and biggest “bang for your buck”! Great for immediate gratification people like me.

This cute little desk is a recent purchase. You are not going to believe what I paid for it…$100!!! Didn’t have to do a thing to it and it is one of my favorite pieces!

Here is our kitchen. When we moved in, it had walls, brown cabinets and brown granite. It was actually beautiful but not for a “light” loving girl like myself. We painted the cabinets, the tile backsplash and added a cute little farmhouse table as our island. One day I will replace the granite…when the budget allows.

Last year, we decided to use some of the wasted space in our basement and create an apartment for people who may need a place to live. We moved some of our kitchen cabinets down to that kitchen and of course we HAD to replace them with something. Why not something beautiful? We had this large hutch built to look like a piece of stand alone furniture instead of standard kitchen cabinets. I painted it with a mixture of Annie Sloan paint colors and finished with a dark wax to antique it.

Here is our master bedroom. It is not a huge room but we had to make a little place to “get away” from all the other people in our house. We love to just turn on some Netflix and pretend we are empty nesters. Fun little facts: the painting of the little girl was over my crib when I was a baby and the garden painting was done by my mom. I used to play with the cute antique lamp at my Nana’s house when I was a little girl.

These are my grandpups! Aren’t they they cutest? They spend most days at “Grammy Daycare” and I love it!

Here is my crew! They make Life on the Shady Grove the best life I could ask for! My Heavenly Father has poured out blessings so full that I can’t hold them all. Our life is far from perfect but it is the perfect life for me.

Thanks for visiting the Shady Grove…y’all come back anytime!

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Be sure to visit Wendy over at Life on the Shady Grove AND follow along with her on Instagram too!