On any home, the porch is one of the hardest hit places by weather. Our 123 year old farmhouse is no different. So while the girls and I were attending an out-of-town baby shower, Michael decided he would start tackling some of its much needed repairs.
Before
In many of our previous posts we have discussed the sad truth about what poorly installed vinyl products have done to this once beautiful 1893 folk Victorian farmhouse. So, I won’t get into all those frustrating details today. I will attempt to calmly share the first stage of our porch restoration journey. As you can see from the before shots, we uncovered the original cedar lap siding with its coveted 4 inch reveal and remarkable detail, when we removed the cheap vinyl siding.
It was pretty beat up from years of neglect, followed by the cutting of holes for blown-in insulation, and the effects that years of moisture trapped by the vinyl caused (not to mention all the cracks and holes created by large nails used to hang the vinyl). I was not home to take shots of Michael as he restored the siding, but this corner best shows the jaw dropping contrast between the before and after. He did a wonderfully seamless job!
We have been informed that our budget does not afford us the ability to have both a contractor’s help and the true restoration this historic treasure deserves. So we are going to attempt to slowly but accurately restore our exterior ourselves. The monotonous process of carefully prying up each of the pieces from this small section that were too far gone and replacing them with new cedar planks, took 3 full days to complete. Yet the results are magical!
After
As I pulled up to the farmhouse and the product of Michael’s hard work came into view, that feeling of “going back in time” came over me. A time when quality and craftsmanship was a priority. A time when builders took pride in their profession and were accustomed to getting something done the right way, instead of the fastest or cheapest way. This was what the farmhouse was supposed to look like!
Even though our shabby little farmhouse is far from finished this small patch of restored siding on our front porch gives us hope. We hope that we can restore Bryarton Farm back to its original glory. Back to the way it looked when the White family first built the farmhouse in 1893. We want our girls and our generations to follow, to always come home to a place where not only was their heritage sown, but also to the place where the heritage of american pioneers is not forgotten.
Someday our little historic farm will once again be a beautiful place for family and friends to gather and share in life’s amazing legacy together…
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It looks amazing! Great job!!! I know you were so excited to drive up and see this huge step in the reno.
Yes, I admit a cried a little. We have had so many contractors turn down the job. I was beginning to think our farmhouse would look shabby forever! This little finished patch might not look like much to most people, but to this mommy it means hope! Maybe we can do this on our own…Thanks for your sweet support Felicia 😉
Love this blog, as always. I will follow until it is all done. The before and afters are amazing.
LOL, hope you realize that it may take 20 years for us to finish! Love your support Lori 😉
We have been in our 1890’s farmhouse, on 6 acres for almost a year now. We also have the vinyl siding, with wood siding underneath. (Not sure what type) I enjoyed reading your post, and knowing that someone else understands the tough issues bringing a farmhouse back to life involves. Oh, how I look forward to taking the vinyl off, and letting the house breath. (We threw out all the extra vinyl that was in the barn last summer.) 🙂
Christine, so wonderful to have a fellow historic farmhouse lover in the trenches with me! I am glad you are restoring your home back to its former glory and that you see value in preserving our nations rich history. Seeing so many forgotten farms crumbling in the fields hurts my heart. I wish I could save them all! So glad to have your input on this post! Hope to hear more from you and your restoration story…
I will keep you posted on our progress….the foundation is great, but our farmhouses joists are too far apart. Fixing that is the highest priority on the spring to do list. Everything is in working order, but it all needs to be touched. Made me giggle when you said 20 yrs, in post above. Fingers crossed and prayers, all will be finished sooner! HaHa…have a beautiful day!
The restored porch looks incredible–but even more importantly, you’ve restored and preserved the integrity of your beautiful historic home. I can only imagine the painstaking amount of work this must have taken.
We live in an 1880s home and our porch and siding need quite a bit of work as well. We are fortunate that our house still has the original (we think) clapboard siding on it, but the porch is starting to show some sighs of rot. We’d love to have the entire house scraped and repainted, but I’m not sure it’ll be in the budget for several years.
Wow Jamie, your home sounds beautiful. The late 1800s was a wonderful time for architecture! “they don’t build homes like they used to” 🙂 We are so glad to find another friend who can see that this saying is true. If you are committed to maintaining your historic home properly instead of cheaply covering up your real wood siding you will definitely add value to your home.
Once we get all of our original wood siding on the farmhouse restored, we plan to follow my grandfather’s home maintenance strategy. He painted and repaired one side of his home each spring. That way each side got some attention every four years and maintaing his exterior was not such a big project. What do you think of that idea? It would certainly cut down the cost too! Thank you for your interesting comment! We loved hearing a bit of your story. Here is a resource for historic home owners that we found super helpful: thecraftsmanblog.com
Hey, Sara Jo! 🙂 Great idea a side of the house each spring. Keeps from getting overwhelming. That was our plan, too.
Meant to say, “Hey”….oops! Happy Friday!
Hi Sara! I agree — they certainly don’t build houses like they used to.
Thanks so much for providing the link to the Craftsman blog. We’re huge fans of Scott Sidler — he is such a wealth of knowledge. We used his book “Old Windows Made Easy” when learning how to repair our old windows. We still have a lot to learn, but his advice is so, so helpful.
And yes, I like the idea of painting/restoring one side of the exterior each year. It makes a daunting task much more manageable. In our state, the construction code says that you only need a permit to paint your house IF you paint more than 25% in any 12-month period. So that’s another incentive to only do one side of the house at a time : )
That is so great that you know of Scott at thecraftsmanblog.com already! What we thought was crazy is that you said you had to have a permit to paint your exterior! I guess we take for granted to almost complete freedom we have to trash or restore our farmhouse. On the KS prairie they don’t much care what you do to your home. Unfortunately, that has led to some very bad decisions by home owners around here. I guess there are pros and cons to permits 😉 Happy Painting! P.S. LOVE that you chose to save and restore your historic windows!
WOW, what a great surprise to come home to! It looks amazing!!! You are so lucky to have such a charming porch to sit out on and enjoy.
~Des
Yes, I love how the siding is looking on the porch. Now we need to work on restoring the fretwork, posts, footings, and floor of this neglected little beauty. The work is just beginning, glad to have another friend along for the journey…