The main farm house is a hard working gal, and she needed a little updating before taking care of another generation of active kids and farm family. I am very excited at the prospect of raising my children in the house that I have so many wonderful childhood memories in. Also after having spent my years of my life in this house I could see ways that the flow and layout of the house could be improved. Putting all this together leads to a major farm house remodel.
Let me take you on a journey through our project so far.
My main goal of the remodel of the farm house was to gain better visibility of the farm yard from the main parts of the house. In the previous floor plan the master bedroom had the best view of the yard. My goal is to make this space my kitchen, the heart of the house.
As in many 100 year old farm houses there are many small which cut up the house and my goal create as much as an open floor plan as possible. I also am excited to bring back into view some of the original woodwork.
There are many features that I plan on keeping like this wonderful picture window that faces the road and monitors the coming and goings on the farm. It will now be located in the living room of the house.
The previous living room was located on the north side of the house (the yard is to the south).This is an addition my parents added to the original farm house in 1987, when I was 7 years old. I remember my mom hanging the wall paper on the new walls and staining the woodwork. I am moving the living room it to the southeast side of the house so it can view both the farmyard and road. Where the living room was previously will become the master bedroom.
The kitchen in the farm house was behind the load baring wall cutting off it's view of the yard. When in the kitchen you would have to walk around the wall to the round top window by the entry or into the dinning room to see what was going on in the yard. The farm is becoming busier by the year and I need to be able to get my work done in the house and monitor what is happening on the farm all at the same time. This area is to become the master bath, powder room, and kitchen pantry.
The first day in 2016 we started the remodel project. After removing my parents belongings from the main floor of the farmhouse and packing them into a spare bedroom at my house we started pulling up caret and taking paneling off walls to reveal the 100 year old plaster walls and wood floors. I enjoy uncovering these forgotten pieces of years gone by.
The kids came over for the beginning of demolition and helped remove some plaster, using some unusual tools. The kids are excited at the prospect of living on the farm and making the farmhouse our new home.
For about a week my dad and I worked had on removing all the lath and plaster and 1950's version of sheet rock from the main floor. With the number of walls that would be removed/relocated and the new electrical updating of the house everything had to go. It was a lot of work.
Within the first few days of the construction crew starting work and walls being removed to the bathroom and bedroom, the beginning of my dream of having full visibility of the farmyard can start to be seen.
As many of you know remodeling is a very messy undertaking. I can not count how many times I have swept the floor or how many trash cans of plaster I have removed from the house. My parents decided to say living in the house utilizing the top and bottom floor. We set up a kitchen in the basement and a living room in one of the bedroom's upstairs. It is important for someone to be on the farm with the animals. My mother did leave go with my sisters who are also setting up new houses in the Kansas/Missouri area. All three of us sister are in the process of setting up new home at this time.
It was an exciting day to see the large 8 foot patio door being installed in the dinning room. Talk about a wall of windows. My dream is to add a covered porch outside this door so we can continue to enjoy meals outside on beautiful days.
Putting new windows into my kitchen.
One difficulty with doing a big remodel project in Minnesota in the middle of winter is the cold. As demolition took place we tried to leave as much insulation in place as long as possible to keep some of the warmth in the house. The plan is to put polyurethane insulation throughout the main floor to make a nice snug house for years to come.
Opening up the floor plan to the south, towards the farmyard. 63foot wall of windows making monitoring of the farmyard easy from the main living areas on the house.
After the construction crew had taken down many walls and put up a few new ones it was time for the pluming and electrical work. This took a little time but it is important to have it done right. A focus was put on making sure the house was equipped with the technology needed see it years into the future. We currently have a surveillance system we use during calving to monitor the cows that are about to calve. This surveillance is a key aspect to safety of the cows and calves during this busy time on the farm. Wiring was installed to make sure that the system functions to it's best ability and can be viewed throughout the house and remotely. 
The new master bedroom where the living room use to be.
The bright sunlight coming in through the windows in my new kitchen/dinning room. As I sit here today the Sheetrock instillation is complete and the tape and texture crew is at work. Plans are that I could be painting the walls next week. It is amazing the transformation a house can go through in a months time. We have one more month until the first calves are expected to be born on the farm so we need to keep working on the house getting her ready for all the business farm life brings. This journey of transition has been stressful at time but oh so exciting and I know that there is a bright future in front of us on VerLan farm.
