Beginning Homemaking

My husband and I started to realized that after both our kids moved out of the house we were tired of maintaining the large four bedroom three floor home we had been living in. So,we put it on the market and purchase a smaller 2 bedroom home with one bath, a great yard, in an older neighborhood with more mature trees and better dirt.

In our early conversations we fine tuned that fact that each of us didn't want to work so damn hard to keep up with the lifestyle we had created. We both wanted a simpler life that had less of a carbon footprint. For me living in the new neighborhood with a newly built house was unknowingly impressing on me the idea that keeping up was getting expensive and hard.


Now mind you I am not the person that sticks with things very well and I dread the idea of starting all over again. God knows I have done that WAY to many times in the past and as such I can become quite the bitch when it comes to lots and lots of physical labor ( moving). Even still, both me and my husband knew we would be better off starting over in our "prime" .

So we set off moving and downsizing our large home to a small home and began the process of refining our skills and desires (at least on paper in in my mind). The move took us about 6 weeks ( we were to cheap to spring for movers) and a whole lot physical labor..... ugg. We held an estate sale, sold off many of our precious keepsakes and thinned down to just the basics. I'll add that before we began this whole adventure, the idea went a lot smoother in my head then how it actually did in real life. When the actual moment came to fruition I was seriously having second thoughts. I kept thinking , Oh my god we are slipping back into pre married life, I thought, how could we have worked so hard to get to where we where only to let this all go. I though a lot about what our neighbors and family where thinking and I started to feel sorry for myself, like this was happening "too" me and I was just the pawn... What the hell..I seriously had to go through both withdrawals and detox to let my previous life go and start this one.

Once moved, I'd drive by my old house and think about what I would be doing at this time if I were there and what my neighbors might be thinking about us now. Months passed and I started to feel a lot more comfortable in our "older" home. I realized that I do like the feeling of not working for my life, but living a full life that include the work I loved to do. I became really comfortable maneuvering around my kitchen and loved the idea that our older house had cold storage, a root cellar, a huge garden shed and workshop and that it dated back to 1893 in it's farming roots.

So we tilled up our back yard and I am beginning with Garlic and Onions ( it is September) so they can harvest over winter and see what comes up. My hope it to have storage of these items so that I can use them through the year. I am making about 80% of all the meals we eat. The other 20% of the time we eat out. I have stopped buying prepared meals, with the exception of the occasional pizza. I am buying clean food that I know is either locally grown, made with as few un-natural things as possible. I am making my own salsa and pickles to start with and more will come as time moves forward.

The idea we stated with and still are working to achieve is to make a more sustainable home/life that produces most of our own food and to recycle all we can. These are our beginning goals. As I know myself these goals will grow but I wanted a place to put down my thoughts/ recipes and reflect back on what worked and what didn't work so I can improve on and keep finding my happy place.

1880's Reproduction industrial cart

Reproduction 1880's Industrial Cart

We were approached to build a reproduction of an 1880's Industrial Cart that a client had seen at a large hardware retailer, that had a very hefty price tag.  I had already built a very cool harvest table out of some old sawmill lumber for them, and they wanted to compliment that project. 

This cart is built from douglas fir, with a douglas fir flooring top, two heavy drawers, it is 5 feet long, 34 inches high, and 20 inches deep.  All of the hardware is new production, but I stripped it all down from a bright and shiny look, and gave it a rusty patina (through a very simple household chemical process). All the hardware is finished in a matte lacquer, and the entire project is sealed with a catalyzed medium rubbed effect laquer.

Here are some photos of it under construction.

Here is the final project in our store Legendary Antiques:

This unique piece of furniture could be used as a dry sink, sofa table, kitchen island or entertainment center. Custom pieces like this one can be handcrafted in any design, size, or color you may desire, just ask for details.

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