"Old Laird Nestlen had a BARN, E-I-E-I-O"

Redwoodshire is very lucky to have a very cool old barn.  Just one of the things that we love about this place.  Having previously lived in the city, without a garage and a very small yard- we were so excited to not only get a garage to cars and storage, but to also get this beautiful old barn.  Little did we know how much we would need a barn.   Since we burn wood for heat during the winter, we use the upper part of the barn to store our wood.  The lower level of the barn houses our lawn tractor, canoe and other various things that need to be organized.  I vow that our barn is not going to become a junk collector or storage house!  The barn is very old and does need some repairs to the wood.  We bought a 1 gallon can of a form of red paint last summer in order to paint the piece of wood that the gutter was attached to.  No only does the paint serve to make the barn look great, it also protects and preserves the wood from further weather damage.  Last Saturday we decided to get as far as we could with our sole can of paint.  Lady genevieve even got involved and helped paint- and thankfully only a little bit of paint actually landed on the stone foundation!

We started with the Northern side of the barn because it is in the best shape and does not need much in way of repairs.  This is also the view of the barn we see every time we come down the driveway on our way to the garage.

And there you have it!  One can of paint got us this far.  This week I went back to Lowes and picked up a 5 gallon bucket of this same red paint- which is a much better deal than buying it by the gallon.  Doesn't it look sharp?!  Though I kind of like the look of the faded and weathered wood and would be content not painting the barn- I think it looks wonderful painted (or partially so).  The new paint contrasts with the stone foundation- making it stand out and look awesome.  Soon we'll need to hang my Barn Star on this side of the barn.  We'll see how much painting we can get done this weekend!

Another amazing Craigslist purchase- antique hutch & pantry cabinet

I am always on the lookout for furniture that we want on Craigslist.com.  And sure enough, in 2 weeks, I found some more great deals on things that were exactly what we had wanted for our dining room and kitchen.  Our dining room renovation is the next big project we will do on the house.  We're projecting that maybe it will happen this winter.  In the mean time, I have kept my eyes open for  furniture for that room.  It actually started with looking for a bookshelf for lady genevieve's big girl room.  In the last couple on months, little lord Alastair was added to our family.  This means many changes for lady genevieve.  She will move into a big girl bed, in her new big girl room- making space for little lord Alastair in the crib.  Last week, I found a little cabinet with inset doors that seemed like a great place to store books and toys for lady genevieve's new big girl bedroom.  Once I brought it home, and it happened to fit perfectly in the space we had hoped to find a pantry for our kitchen- the Laird persuaded me to let the kitchen be it's new home.  And so we have a new little pantry in the kitchen.  Though it is not an antique, it is of similar style to the that primitive cabinet primitive cabinet we re-finished earlier this year.

This past weekend, I found my favorite piece so far!  This antique hutch listed on craigslist.com caught my eye, so I contacted to seller right away.  The price had been even reduced, prior to my discovery 

The seller needed to make space in her cozy little dining room, so she sold this to me for a mere $225 (dropped from $275)!  It's absolutely gorgeous and unique.  I can hardly believe we got so lucky.   Having been to various antique shops, this price was clearly a steal! Open shelving.  An amazing original lock & key.  Heavy duty drawer pulls.  Great detail in the woodwork.  This hutch will be quite a motivator and encouragement for the laird and I to get that dining room renovated!