Little Women Farmhouse

I'm fairly sure everyone else refers to our farmhouse as the "Rooster on the Barn Farmhouse." But I'm referring to it as the Little Women Farmhouse. The outbuildings were originally what drew me to our farmhouse (there are eight of them!). I didn't particularly care for the exterior of our farmhouse, though I loved that it was white with black shutters. The interior was smaller than I hoped for, but I loved that much of the original character remained. In the end, however, I realized the house was perfect for our family. Before we bought the farm, it was always in the same family. There was originally a log cabin on the property, and the farmhouse was built in 1931. The previous owner, Joseph Buchtman, moved to the farm in the 1970s with his wife and five of their seven children (two were grown already). I figured if a couple and five children could live in this home, certainly we could! Plus, the front of this home is an addition, so they lived in the home for several years when it was even smaller!

The barn is my absolute favorite kind of barn... white with a round roof! If you look at the first picture, you can see that the previous owners put a rooster design in the shingles! It's a unique feature to the farm. The garage and workshop are connected. The workshop was on the property first, and then the three car garage was added on. The workshop was built in 1925 and the barn was built in 1935, with the lean-to being a 1983 addition. The barn is the perfect size for our small hobby farm. The workshop is an amazing answer to prayer, and I am excited that Ben will have this space as he is a gifted handyman. The three car garage is a special bonus as it wasn't a need for us, but it sure will be nice to have! Also, speaking of bonuses... the paved driveway is incredible!

I knew when we had a farm that I really wanted to raise chickens. A couple months ago, Ben and I were looking at chicken coops online, and he was discussing perhaps building it then while he had the time. We are glad he didn't, because this house came with a chicken coop and a small chick starter house next door! I love the chippy white paint on the building and the farm door. The poultry building was built in 1920, so it predates the farmhouse!

There is a small utility shed, and this is the newest outbuilding on the property, built in 1985. Beside it is a grapevine.

The wood shed and corn crib is the oldest building on the property. It was built in 1910. We may turn this into a playhouse for the girls :)

And here is the building that sold me on the house: the summer kitchen. I find summer kitchens fascinating because of their history. They were built on old properties so that women could cook in the summer without overheating their house (back in the days of no air conditioner). This summer kitchen hasn't been used as one in its recent years... it was used as more of a shed, though it did have two freezers. I am planning to use this building as a homeschool room for the girls. It is directly behind the house. It will be nice to have a space just for our schooling, and I feel very thankful that the Lord blessed us with this little space. We need to do a little work to it before it is ready, but it should be ready by fall! And yes, this will be called Little Women Schoolhouse :)

There are so many trees on this property! Ben counted 82!! We will take some down, but I love that there are an abundance of mature trees. There are also shrubs, flowers, fruit trees, a grape vine, and raspberry bushes. What a joy to buy an old property in the spring and watch as everything buds and blooms!

When you walk inside the house, there is a small entryway and then the laundry room. The bathroom is also right off the entryway. This bathroom is the only one in the house. This is very typical of old farmhouses, and we expected to find a house with just one bathroom, but we do hope by time our four daughters are teenagers that we will be able to add a second bathroom :)

The kitchen is the next room. It is dated but in good shape and thankfully fairly neutral. I plan to paint the cabinets white and buy new hardware, but for now, that will be the extent of the renovations. We would like to do a bigger renovation down the road, but we want to live in the house for a while to get a good idea of how we want to best use the space. When we first bought the space, I really wanted to add on at some point, but after being in it several times, I'd really like to use the space we have. It's a bit "cozy" by American standards, but it's actually plenty of space for all of our needs. We are refinishing the hardwood floors throughout the house, though, which is why we haven't moved in yet, so this kitchen will have pretty new (old) floors soon!

There is an old wood stove in the kitchen. I love the character of it and am glad they left it. I really wanted a wood stove! We think we will move it to the other side of the chimney at some point so that it sits in the living room and not the kitchen, but for now, here it sits.

The living room and dining room are off the kitchen. We are refinishing the hardwood floors in this space too. 

The master bedroom is off the living room, and by "master," I mean a small bedroom with a small closet and no attached bathroom. Hello, old farmhouse :) 

The beautiful wooden stairs are off the dining room (and check out the huge picture window with a serene view of the backyard). Some day, I'd really love to open up the staircase and add a banister, but I have to convince my husband of that still ;) 

Upstairs, there is a big front landing room. Because it's so large, we will use it as a bedroom for two of the girls. Thankfully there are hardwood floors under these ugly laminate peal and stick floors. The closets were built in by the previous owner, and they are a great hideaway for the girls. 

I really love the old doors and trim.

This is a small bedroom that we will use as a playroom for now and possibly renovate into a bathroom down the road.

The other bedroom upstairs is a good size, and we will put the other two girls in here.

Since closing, we have been over to the property every day, and we feel increasingly thankful to the Lord for providing us with this home. It really is perfect for us. 

We had a sleepover the night that we closed on it, and it was a lot of fun! (Except Violet didn't sleep well.) We look forward to making many more memories in this house!

There are some "wish list" items I didn't get, but there are far more that I did get! Check out this list! All praise to God!

✅ Old white 2-story farmhouse

✅ Old barn

✅ 5 acres

✅ Chicken coop

✅ Workshop

✅ Old trim/doors

✅ On a quiet backroad

✅ Wood-burning stove

✅ 3- Bedroom

✅ Homeschool room

✅ Fruit trees, grapevines, flower garden

✅ Original Hardwood floors

✅ Kitchen sink window

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