Priority: Closet. First Foxcroft Farm Before and After

Priorities.

 

Priorities are determined by action. You can state your priorities but what you actually do demonstrates your true priority.

Sometimes priorities are straightforward, as in “make time for friends and family”. Sometimes they can surprise you, as when you move to a new farm. After getting the animals settled, the first priority was kitchen. Then, a place to sit to eat, then a place to sleep, etc…

Once the basics are addressed, then comes the real tell on the priorities. “What are you going to first?” I was asked before we moved in. “I think the front door. I want a door that will allow more light into the front hallway.” Now, I wasn’t wrong, exactly. One of the first things I did was to paint the front door one of my tried-and-true blues, and polish the pretty brass knocker and handle plate. But it is still the same door, just fresher makeup.

As it turned out my priority settled on the closet. Strange to be a first priority, as almost no one will see the closet. But, after Eldest and Youngest who are here with us for the time being had bedrooms set up it was time to create a bedroom for Huz and me, which required emptying the room of boxes, most of which were destined for the closet. And, although I very much liked the square footage in the closet, I found it to be uninspired in its current state. So, Youngest and I embarked upon a closet “up-do” before I filled it, knowing that once it was filled it would become a very low priority.

It made sense to start there for another reason. The ceilings are all covered in textured plaster. We have waves, and flower shapes and random textures too, in all but two rooms of the house. So, the closet was a good place to experiment with how to remove it, (acquiring strong shoulders) and what kind of mess it makes (lots).

But, this is “the fun stuff” for me, getting dirty and creative, making a mess, and then making it shine.

I decided what I wanted to create was a bright, inviting and comfortable little room, where I could see the clothes to choose from and then see what I have chosen. This is a huge upgrade for a woman who lived a large portion of her adult life without a full length mirror!

The most interesting feature of the closet is the skylight. So, after I decided to highlight that feature, the room designed itself.

Original closet, before.

During the character building phase.

Current Situation as seen from design-challenged bathroom

One small room down, lots of rooms to- STOP. Don't get overwhelmed. 

 

 Looking up.

 

 

As it does, finishing one space means the adjacent space looks tired,

and our master bath is a real re-doozy!

So, for now, I have done the necessary –removed the bathroom carpeting, and am experimenting with removing the wallpaper. There is a LOT of wallpaper in Foxcroft,. I have removed legions of wallpaper in the past (Bluebells had rooms with 8 layers), but I got a fancy-schmancy steamer for this project, and will get the chance to master its usage. I’m not a master yet.

I guess it has become a priority.

 

 

 

 

 

Cowfeathers Farm to Foxcroft Farm

 We are in.

We are tired.

We are adapting.

We are grateful.

We are now owners of Foxcroft Farm.

Moving was an experience! And what blessings! It reminds me of our wedding. Tod and I had the most incredible wedding, because the entire production was pulled together by loving contributions. Everything from the venue to the cake and even my wedding dress were supplied by the generosity and creativity of our friends and family. Every detail became special because each was a gift in itself.

This move was the same. It began with my sister(E) and her husband(D), who have lived in this area for 20 years giving us a socially distant place to stay in the Covid era and the enormous patience and talent of D, who is an excellent Realtor! He counseled us through the search process, showed us this gorgeous area and E &D introduced us to the cideries, wineries, hiking trails, bold streams, great restaurants, and mountain vistas that have us sold on this next adventure. Friends and family packed boxes, provided the semi, loaded the semi, drove the semi, loaded the tractors, drove the tractors, and unloaded the things. And, as you can see, much talent was involved in those gifts. 

Without them, I'm not sure this would have all happened, but I am SURE it would have been much more difficult, expensive and upsetting. 

Even the new owners of Cowfeathers have become friends, generously giving us extra time to move out of the farm, relocating all the stuff, the machinery and 19 animals. The sellers of Foxcroft, too were understanding and kind, allowing us to move in animals and things before closing, with just an agreement and a small deposit.  

When we moved to Cowfeathers, we came from Bexley, an area in the city of Columbus. It was a local move, mostly done by us in the minivan, with a big press at the end when we hired Two Men and a Truck to move the big furniture and the piano. It was easy and fairly painless, super exciting to be starting the new adventure in such a picturesque spot of beauty. We did not use a semi. 

So, I did not know how poorly equipped our 200 year old driveway was to accommodate a 54' trailer with truck. This is where the ingenuity and talent started showing up! When friends- and farmers, Dave and DJ showed up with the semi, they had to build little bridges to get it around our driveway curves as they drop off precipitously. We had to hook up my boss truck to pull the semi at one stage, but this seemed unalarming to Dave and DJ. This was just a preview of what it took to drive the rig out of the driveway! 

Dinner break with the loading party.

Moving is chaos!!

Even mostly empty, and with only the island for furnishing, Cowfeathers is a beauty in the sunset. 

I'm back to overwhelmed all over by this photo!!

But this is what it looked like behind the mess.

Ryan was our loader. He was a champ and placed every single box, chair and mirror, dresser, table and bed- which is a lot, in the puzzle of loading a trailer. His experience won out, and we have not unpacked any casualties of the move! Another friend with talent.

This is Dave and DJ making little "bridges" for the semi to drive on, as the Cowfeathers driveway was neither wide enough nor straight enough to avert disaster- but for the can-do attitude of these two treasures. 

We arrived at Foxcroft with the last load of horses thoroughly exhausted. The next morning we had an easy closing on the property, followed by a day of organizing what was here in preparation for the arrival of the semi. The tractors pulled in late afternoon with DJ at the helm, having spent a few hours behind an accident on 81. The semi arrived not long after and we were witness to another master class in piloting a semi as Dave, wife Laura and DJ got the rig through the gates at Foxcroft. After parking the big thing, they said had the cab not been a day cab, or had the trailer been a drop deck, we would have had to come up with a different moving plan. 

Having heard to expect remnants of Hurricane Laura the next day- unloading day, Dave had me show him where the septic tank was buried so he could avoid it with the truck and backed it right up to the porch. 

This photo was taken at 10:54. With the unloading crews arriving at 11:00. And, by the time they started unloading, the rain had stopped! Also, since this photo it has rained a lot, and Youngest and I have unclogged the gutters so water no longer falls right onto the porch. 

At 11 am, 5 young men from the UVA Crew team arrived as my Rent-A-Rower unloading crew. Also, I asked a neighbor and new friend, who has a long history with the Foxcroft Farm if they could come up with some help. At 11 am, we had 14 unloaders! Eldest and I were traffic cops, Huz and Youngest were removing the pieces of the "puzzle" inside the semi and handing it to an unloader.  In about 2 hours the entire semi was empty and my wonderful sister and husband had arrived with lunch. 

Hurricane Laura had passed, but Laura, the hurricane stayed another night to help unload the kitchen. She and my sister, E, and Eldest were tireless in unpacking boxes marked "Kitchen" and "Pantry". The boys went to pick up barbeque from the best joint in town, and that night we sat at an actual table, with chairs and real plates. Dinner party at Foxcroft! 

We are in.

We are still tired.

We are constantly learning.

We are forever grateful.