Century Farms One Year Anniversary!

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Wow! On December 22, 2022, we had our one year anniversary at Century Farms. We’ve only lived here for 9 months, since we worked on it for 3 months before moving in.

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On the day we bought our house, the realtor took pictures of our family in front of it.

Potential with a capital P!

Not long after these photos, my son was tearing those vines off of the railings! We tore into demolition for 10 days straight.

While the exterior looks somewhat the same, we know that inside the house is where most of the visible changes are. [I’m really looking forward to replacing the porch posts and railing with PVC that won’t ever need painted!]

In this video-monthly-one year update, I mention a few things that we completed in the past year and in the past month. Here’s a list of what we accomplished (including things that contractors and friends helped us with) in one year!

It’s very possible that I’ve forgotten something and will need to update this list!

House

• Replaced 25 windows
• New Front Door
• New Storm Door on back/ main door
• New Plumbing
• New Electric
• New Septic Line
• New mortar on rock part of the exterior
• Whole house pressure washed
• Foundation reinforcement
• Painted tin porch roof
• Crate container for storage
• Removed 2 large trees
• New mailbox
• Garden
• Dog kennel
• New bilco door

Kitchen

• Gutted kitchen
• Replaced a partial wall
• Painted walls
• New appliances
• Nearly new cabinetry
• New vinyl floor
• New light fixture

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Bathroom

• Major bathroom renovation upstairs including
• Demolition of old bathroom fixtures and walls
• Completely new footprint, plumbing, shower, toilet, vanity, stained doors, etc.
• New lighting, new medicine cabinet, flooring

Master Bedroom

• Walls painted
• Window trim sealed
• New carpet

Bedroom 1

• Touched up Wood floors
• Shiplap ceiling panels
• New lighting/ ceiling fan
• New mirror closet door

Bedroom 2

• Major bedroom remodel including a new roof, insulation, ceiling, lighting, new wall plaster, ceiling fan, flooring

Laundry Room

• New plumbing
• Laundry Tub
• Pass through from bathroom
• Vinyl flooring

Living Room

• Finished wood floors
• Hand Painted Tin Ceiling

Dining Room

• Finished wood floors
• Hand painted Tin Ceiling
• New light fixture

Piano Room

• Reinforced wall under the floor
• New subfloor
• New floor heat fixture
• New flooring (carpet and vinyl)
• Walls painted
• Hand Painted Tin Ceiling
• New light fixture

Craft Room

• New Woodhaven ceiling and lighting
• WallControl organizing system

I thought you would like to see a rough layout of our 1st and 2nd floors, like I mentioned in the video. The 1st floor is on the left, and the 2nd floor is on the right.

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During the time we were waiting to close on Century Farms, I spent a good deal of time planning out the upstairs renovation.

Below you can see the original layout of the upstairs bathroom and bedroom. The hallway was wasted space in my opinion. I must’ve made 50 revisions as I tried to best plan out a new layout. At first I was using what is now my craft room for the laundry room.

Before Renovation

After Renovation

Once I switched the laundry room to be opposite the attic stairs, everything started to work out better.

With the new layout, there are 2 options for moving from one side of the house to the other side. The red route is the main route, through the bathroom. If the bathroom is occupied, we can use the green route instead. The kids aren’t allowed to use the green route unless, and only if, the bathroom is occupied. (They also have to use the downstairs bathroom unless it is during the night.)

Google Maps took this aerial shot of our house and property sometime in the spring or summer when everything was nice and green– and after my garden was growing! You can easily see our large circle (or is it half a heart? half a raindrop?) driveway, and the Y shaped sidewalk.

While we have accomplished so very much in one year, we still have a lot left to do! Here is what still needs done:

Plans for Next Year/ the Future

House

• Heating/ mini-splits
• Replace Porch posts and railings
• Organize basement
• Clean attic better
• Continued pest control/ plugging holes, etc.
• More unforeseen things we haven’t found/ haven’t happened yet

Garage

• Organize/ shelving

Storage Crate

• Build shelving

Kitchen

• Finish Ceiling Panels
• More recessed Lighting
• Two more cabinets
• Install toekick trim at floor cabinets
• Sink Backsplash
• Renew Door and Window trim

Master Bedroom

• Finish Ceiling
• Install Light Fixture

Laundry Room

• Finish Ceiling
• Install Light Fixture

First Floor Bathroom

• New flooring
• Install vanity
• Install Medicine Cabinet
• New lighting

Mudroom

• Finish ceiling
• Finish walls
• Flooring
• Lighting

Exercise Room

• Finish Ceiling
• Paint Walls
• Flooring
• Lighting

School Room

• Finish Ceiling
• Paint Walls
• Lighting

Main Staircase to 2nd floor

• Replace Ceiling
• Finish and Paint Walls
• Lighting?
• Reinstall hand railing
• Finish wood stairs

Living Life

We’ve worked hard this past year, and we’ve also taken a little time for some fun. We’ve had lots of campfires and have enjoyed getting to know our neighbors. Because of the recommendation of one of them, my daughter received a Lyme’s diagnosis in April and help for it after 14 months of illnesses.

We took a trip across the country, and managed to finish all of our homeschool curriculum.

My thyroid problems threw us a curve ball, but hopefully that is all behind us.

Living out in the country on our 3 acres has been good for our family. Now my kids can squash bugs and care for more animals. The kids have grown more confident and are acquiring life skills that just aren’t available in the suburb– like climbing on top of hay bales and watching the farmers work their fields.

We have seen some of the best sunsets! (In the video I point out this view from the second floor– but it’s raining.) This is the view from the front porch.

When we stood in front of our new house, we had no idea of the beauty that lay in the opposite direction!

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