The little yellow farmhouse of my dreams

I have been having a lot of dreams lately, and several of them have been about the old farm house I grew up in.  It is almost haunting for this to be in my dreams because I feel the way about this house that Miranda Lambert feels about the house in her song, "The house that built me."  She sings, "If I could just come in, I swear I'll leave... Won't take nothing but a memory... From the house that built me."  

I feel like so much of who I am was "built" in that house.  So many memories, so many different stages of life.  Sometimes I wish that my dad still owned the house and that I could have gotten married there beneath the gorgeous weeping willow tree that hung like a canopy over the driveway.  I would love to fix up the house, which is over 100 years old now, and would love to own the 5 beautiful acres, graced with enormous oak trees.  It is typical that the houses I like now have so many similar characteristics as my house growing up.

I think this house somewhat explains who I am.  It is not extravagant in any way and explains why I love simplicity, antiques, character, and why I steer away from "keeping up with the Jones's."  Fortunately, I grew up more modestly and am happy to have the 2nd hand couch, 3rd generation bedroom suite, used car, and borrowed desk that I currently use today.  I have not one piece of furniture in my house that I purchased new and I am kinda proud of that!

Here is a photo tour of my farm house (and yes, at the time I was embarrassed of it b/c all of my friends lived in nice houses in nice neighborhoods.  Looking back, I was the lucky one :)  I actually had an awesome yard!

This is a view from the driveway out into the right, front part of the property.

I'm so glad I have this picture of my favorite tree in the world!  My weeping cherry tree...in bloom!  This is basically a picture from halfway down the driveway looking towards the road.

This is the picture taken before my parents bought the house, before the fencing went in.  It is a view of the left front pasture.  There is the weeping willow tree again.  You can see the huge magnolia tree on the right side of the driveway...there was one of the left too.  The driveway was also lined with crepe myrtle trees.  You can see the large oak tree...imagine 2 more surrounding the house (which you can kinda see here) View from the back deck looking out on the left side of the yard.  That is Erin with Kibble and Cody with Goldie in the background.  Below is our tool shed.  Mom always planted beautiful iris and tulips everywhere.  On the side of the shed you can see the garden :)

This is looking straight down the center of the backyard.  We had an old tobacco barn already on the property.  Dad built the part behind the tin-roofed structure.  Those were the horse stalls.

 Here is our very humble bathroom (there was only one bathroom by the way).  I covered my mom's face, not because she isn't beautiful but because she probably wouldn't want this shown to the world!  Note the rough-wood sink vanity!  Yes, these are like pieces of wood from an old barn...stuff would fall between the slats!!  Also note the "curtain" we used as a door until we got a door!!!!!!  Can you even believe it???

 Ok, I was and still am obsessed with cats!  His name was Duncan.  Anyway, this is a shot of the living room...you can see the old wood stove in the background.  We never did use it...the chimney was too old and a fire hazard.

 Here is a terrible, but the only shot I have of my old bedroom.  It measured 7' 7'' by 11' 1''.  The short side was long enough only to fit the length of the bed!!  It was pretty much like living in a closet...the switch to turn my light on and off wasn't even in the actual room...I had to go to the kitchen for that.  This actually used to be the old kitchen of the original house.  The floors were slanted because it was an addition.  The awesome part to this room was that it was the warmest room during the drafty winters :)

Finally, the kitchen.  I can't remember what it looked like when we first moved in, but mom painted the cabinets white and yellow.  The walls were originally PINK!  Lol...gotta love old houses!







In conclusion, this house got the job done!  I would love to have something like it one day to fix up.  I definitely want the same type of land and privacy from neighbors.  Looking back, I wouldn't have changed a thing :)