1900 Farmhouse Remodel Year 2 Review & Video

We’re sharing what we accomplished in year two of our DIY farmhouse remodel, the tasks that may not be pretty but help lay the foundation for the fun finishing stuff (finally!) to come.

We’re bringing you another report and video recorded in the partially finished new master bedroom (which we thought would be super cool but is just echoey – sorry!) to review the progress we’ve made over the past two years on our century-old farmhouse.

We’ve done a lot, but it’s not really the pretty stuff you all like to see. And of course we still have a lot to do.

We talk about what we’ve learned through this DIY process, and more of the pros and cons of being your own contractor.

Farmhouse Remodel Progress Year 2 Video

NOTE: Like mentioned, the sound is pretty rough in the unfinished space but it’s most jarring at first – you do get used to it, promise!

Farmhouse Fixer Year 1 Recap

Here’s a quick recap of what we accomplished in year one, the biggest of which was the foundation.

That was the major accomplishment that year, though we also were able to remove the vinyl siding which allowed our foundation-builder to restore the original siding and add nice wide moldings.

We added a new beautiful centered front door and redid the porch siding ourselves – in time to host a small wedding in the open living-dining room the beginning of December.

Here are some links for more on these year one happenings:

• Our New Farmhouse Fixer & The Before Tour
• Brian’s tip to removing vinyl siding on You Tube
• Landscape Machinery 101, Boulders, & Updates
• Farmhouse Wedding
• Farmhouse Fixer Year 1 Review + Video

Biggest Regret So Far?

The biggest thing we regret: raising the ceiling in the bedroom.

So far, the cons have far outweighed the pros of saying yes to this on a whim. Mostly the extra cost that’s been incurred for electrical, windows, and finish materials.

We also share more in the video about the pros and cons of being your own contractor.

Farmhouse Remodel Progress Year 2

1. The outside trim was completed in March on the addition and we primed it over the summer. You can see in the photo above the extra windows we added after raising the bedroom ceiling.

2. Year two has been mostly dealing with the other foundational things this house needed:

• electrical
• plumbing
• heating and cooling updates
• insulation

Plus, these are all a part of our permits which take TIME to pass for us.

Here’s an update we did at the end of last summer that includes a video:

• Podcast Ep.61: Summer Farmhouse Recap, Garden & Cool Things (+ Video!)

3. The other big thing we did was demo-ing the kitchen and working with engineering for the okay to remove a load-bearing wall and replace it with a large beam.

4. Oh, and trying to strip the old doors we found – go here to see how that turned out.

In other words, nothing really fun to take pictures of!

But we’re confident that year three will be the year of the pretty – wood covered walls to mimic the original shiplap in places we weren’t able to salvage them, wood floors, salvaged doors (now that we made the doors big enough!), trim and hopefully usable bathrooms and kitchen.

Speaking of the bathroom, it will involve turning this vintage dresser into a vanity:

I found it on Facebook Marketplace and it fits perfectly in our space!

It’s actually better made than the previous dresser we turned into a vanity.

Plus I’ve got plans for a paint treatment for the damaged top that should make it even more unique.

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(NOTE: This was originally episode 68 in our former podcast. It’s been rewritten as an update with the video content.)