Why We Built a New “Old” Farmhouse

What do you think of when you hear the word “Farmhouse”? I think of a home on a farm with a garden, a clothesline and some animals.  Families gathering in the kitchen or your neighbor coming over for coffee and a slice of pie. Sitting on the front porch shelling beans from the garden and listening to music in the evening while you’re rocking away. I think of a much simpler lifestyle. That’s home to me and this is why we built a new “old” farmhouse.

A little history about the American Farmhouse….

Back in the day, American Farmhouses had a straightforward construction designed to function amidst a working farm in a rural setting. They had a simple rectangular floor plan, usually built with local materials, and included a dominant centrally-located fireplace for cooking and heating. (Source: Wikipedia)

I think of going out to my cousin Mary and Bruno’s farm when I was a little girl. They had cows, chickens and the prettiest white Farmhouse. We had all of our family reunions there. I remember sitting on their front porch just catching up with my hillbilly cousins. If you guessed that I am from West Virginia, then you are right lol.

Why we chose to…..

purchase our 10 acres back in 2015. We wanted to raise cows/chickens, have a bigger garden, allow our dogs to run in wide open spaces, to have more property and basically live a more simple life. We also wanted a Farmhouse, but more of a custom one. The home had to feel and look like it had been in a while.

Is the Farmhouse movement just a fad or is it here to stay? We didn’t decide to build a Farmhouse so we could follow the new craze. We actually designed our plans according to how it would fit our family. Our kids were 19 and 21 back when we were building. This is our third home my husband and I have built together. We wanted a new home that was more wide open so we could all fit in the kitchen and hang out. Being able to sit on our front porch in the evenings and talk about our day was really important. It needed to have a fireplace so we could have roaring fires in the winter. The Farmhouse also needed to be big and functional enough for our next stage in life. Married kids with children. Yes, we are in our empty nester stage and currently have a one-year old granddaughter.

Our New “Old” Farmhouse

In our new Farmhouse we built, our front porch is big enough to hold a swing at one end and look like Cracker Barrel if we wanted to add that many rocking chairs LOL. We love sitting outside and fortunately, we are able to do so at least 9-10 months out of the year.

We wanted a house with simple clean lines. A metal roof was a must. To sit and listen to the rain is just so peaceful. I actually wanted to cook inside my fireplace in the house. Unfortunately, when they built the fireplace, there was no room to put an iron arm where I could swing pots. I’m still working on other ways I can do it. I have an old black wood burning stove that I would love to turn into a working one. Maybe do some outdoor cooking on it. I’ll see if I can make that happen.

Our taste is more Classic/Colonial/Primitive Farmhouse. It had to be a new home just because it’s hard to find property with old Farmhouses on them that are in good condition in our area. Bill and I also wanted to custom design it. You can certainly find house plans online but that is just something we wanted to do. We pulled the permit as owner-builder so we could take our time and give those extra personal touches.

Our style has…..

pops of vintage all over it. We want it to look like an old Farmhouse down to the creaking of our hardwood floors. I’ve also been able to find some really cool vintage looking items both online and in local shops. I have a lot of our house building supplies in my Amazon Shop HERE. I’ve made it really easy and broke everything down by category for you. When you come over, we want it to feel “like home should feel like” and help our guests reflect on yesteryear.

Our Completion

Our new Farmhouse was completed in the Summer of 2021. We decided to get our CO ( Certificate of Occupancy) in October 2019. That gave us just enough to do what the county requires so we could move in and finish the work in our timeframe because we knew it wouldn’t be quick ha. Check with your local municipality on their guidelines as each county is different. So from start to finish, it took us close to six months to build our home. We lived in our camper and we do not have a mortgage. Not saying any of that to brag. I’m also not going to sugar coat it and tell you it was a piece of cake. It was tough. There were struggles. Building is not for the faint of heart. However, building your own home has gratification that comes with it. When you set your mind to something, that makes all the struggles become challenges and I mean that in a good way.

The exterior of our home is nothing fancy. We’re very simple and the appearance of our new home reflects that in the way we designed it. We used board and batten, cedar shakes, painted shake shingles along with stone on the chimney and skirting, That’s the extent of our fanciness! Here’s to front porch sittin’ and reminiscing of the days gone by!

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So, How About You…..

Are you building a new Farmhouse? Do you have a dream to live a simpler lifestyle? Or are you renovating right now? If you are intrigued or in the planning stages or just want to do what Bill and I did, then go check out our Home Building page.

I am actually working on a new E-Book Bundle to help others do the same thing. We kind of feel like we started a trend from back when we did what we did. I see so many people buying land and living tiny while they build. I love it though! Seriously, who wants to be strapped down to a mortgage? Bill and I have the “we do whatever it takes” mentality. How bad do you want something? When we were building, we’d do enough to get an inspection and then save some more money and do the next inspection. We just knew that we didn’t want a mortgage, especially at the stage we are in our life.

I can’t wait to share this book with you. You can join the WAITLIST BELOW so you can be the first to find out when it releases. I’ve been saving all my scrap pieces of papers, notes, mess-ups, hacks, tips…you name it. I want to help others have a smooth process by knowing some things that we have learned over the years while building our homes. So, go check it out – Tips on How to Build a New Home (or Renovate one) – From a Homeowner’s View and make sure you sign up for the waitlist.

Follow Us on our journey over on my INSTAGRAM PAGE – @lhsimpleliving. If you scroll down to the beginning (bless your heart if you do), you’ll find all my building photos and videos. Today, I’m sharing all about our new home, how I love cooking in our kitchen and ways to keep a simple home. I’d love to connect with you!

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