When we moved into the farmhouse, the upstairs consisted of one bedroom and an open loft area.

The whole upstairs is in a plus-sign shape, so there was the potential for three smaller "rooms".

We needed one more bedroom to give the girls each their own rooms, so we will finally build a wall in the next few weeks to give Harlee some privacy. We also added a bathroom, so the girls could have their own bathroom up there.

The leftover loft space became our farmhouse playroom.

And now....the moment you've all been waiting for...the Room Reveal for our Farmhouse Playroom.

To be quite honest, this room has already evolved a bit since we moved in last July. 

We had originally planned to have the Barbies and doll clothes housed upstairs, but with the older two girls having bedrooms up there and our three-year-old downstairs, that setup just didn't make sense anymore.

So we moved the Barbie house downstairs to Mattie's bedroom and made the playroom a little more functional for the preteens.

For nine years at the old house, we tried to carve out a place for the girls to relax that was "their own".

First, we had a nursery in one bedroom and a playroom in the other.

When we brought Baby #2 home, the playroom got changed into a "big girl bedroom" for Baby #1 and the toys stayed in there.

We put the girls together eventually and moved the playroom to where the nursery had originally been.

When Baby #3 came home, the playroom became a nursery/playroom combo.

Before we moved out here to the farmhouse, we even tried to put all three girls in one room to sleep and have the toys and desks in the other.

It just never worked out quite like we had pictured.

Until now.

The farmhouse playroom is all I had ever hoped for.

It sits opposite the new bathroom, with the older girls' bedrooms on either side.

When Harlee's wall is complete and the new bathroom has a door, I will do a walk-through of the whole upstairs.

Can't wait to share it with you SOON!

Happy Sunny Saturday from the Farmhouse, friends!

❤️🏡❤️

The kitchen.

The "heart of the home".

Often the central location of what's going on in our house, our kitchen can quickly turn into the catch all.

In the old house, we had a peninsula that we had built-in to house the dishwasher we added a few years after we moved in.

Besides meal prep and clean-up messes, you would often find lunch boxes thrown down after school, bills dropped on the counter, and various other items that would find their way to the flat surfaces of the kitchen.

This peninsula quickly became a hot spot for everything that was in our arms when we walked through the door. 

It was a huge, flat space and it naturally seemed to attract clutter.

When we bought the farmhouse, I really wanted to try and avoid having a hot spot area like this.  

The dining room table definitely has the potential to become this "hot spot", but by keeping seasonal decorations on there, the problem has been fairly minimal.  Surprisingly.

And by being intentional with our kitchen counter spaces, we've avoided a lot of that "hot spot clutter".

The yellow cabinet holds a few cookbooks and my Ninja blender that I use most every day.

It also houses the plates and bowls we use most often.  I moved them down there so they were more accessible for the girls.

We have onions and potatoes on the bottom shelf (and sitting over to the side if they won't fit inside!)

Bread and veggies go on top!

Sidenote: Glittery hand sanitizing gel in the hands of a toddler WILL take the paint off of the top of a Target clearance cabinet like this one.  Or so we've heard.  

Originally, the farmhouse kitchen was an eat-in kitchen.

It had a small space for a table where the sink is now and the stove and sink were on the whole other side of the room.

The refrigerator was where the coffee bar is now and there was a little peninsula jutting out into the room where our refrigerator sits.

The kitchen also had a tile floor that had been added right over the beautiful hardwood floors that the previous owner refinished.

One of my favorite things to do early in the morning before the sun comes up is to get my coffee and my Bible and go sit in the living room to talk to Jesus. 

I don't turn any lights on in the kitchen, but just enjoy the ambiance of the white lights and all the various items that have been placed on top of the cabinets for a specific reason.

If you look closely, you can see silhouette cut-out of the girls' profiles,

a clay bowl that says "Hemple, Missouri" on it that reminds me of a very special family,

a navy blue spool that I purchased the very first time I went antiquing with my mother-in-law, 

a "Welcome to the Farmhouse" sign that my mom bought me the very first week we lived here,

a can that has a poppy on it that I bought on a trip to Oklahoma with my mom & sisters-in-law,

​and many other small sentimental items that bring joy to my heart.

I really love Amazon.

We have had a Prime account for several years and use it for everything from coffee to toilet paper, books to home decor, music to movies.

Some day, I will talk to you about the joys of Amazon's "Subscribe & Save" program and my new-found love for Audible.

Some day, I will talk to you about how amazing the Amazon app is and the fact that I have a dream to sell a children's book I wrote on Amazon someday.

Amazon has a host of items that fit my taste...and my budget.

As you've probably seen in some of my other posts, I love signs and wall-hangings to fill the walls of the farmhouse.

Amazon has a nice selection of high-quality signs.

I have tried to be very intentional with the items I bring into the farmhouse, since we moved in last July.

One of the things I try to think about when I purchase items is the functional purpose that they could serve in our home.

These containers are perfect for organizing AND looking adorable.

A nice warm throw is always a good item to have lying over a chair, reading available for snuggling up with a good book.  I also love the natural pop of color that this wreath brings.

Seek out items that bring joy to your heart and make your home feel peace and calming to you.

Be responsible in your spending and intentional in what you allow into your home.

And enjoy the process!

Happy Friday from the Farmhouse, friends!

​❤️?❤️

January 9th marked our six-month anniversary of our "first night sleeping at the farmhouse".

Six months.

In some ways, it feels like that was ages ago...and in some ways, it feels like yesterday.

Over the snow days (and ice day and really cold wind-chill day) that we had off of school last week, I really reminisced about our time here at the farmhouse so far.

I started looking through some of my old blog posts and Instagram photos.

One of my most favorite memories for the rest of my life will be from 9:00 at night on the first Saturday night that we slept here.

Our minister and his wife came out and prayed over the farmhouse.  You can read about it in my blog post from that day...Bless this Mess.

Since that warm July night,
we have enjoyed family movie nights cuddled in the living room,
mornings on the front porch reading our books,
pick-up games of basketball out to the north of the house,
friends over to BBQ,
softball practice out in the yard,
and for Thanksgiving we hosted our first TWO family dinners out here.

We experienced our first farmhouse Christmas with the girls.

We have painted and decorated,
Added an upstairs bathroom,
Tore down a barn,
Added a chicken coop,
Purged belongings,
Purchased furniture.

It has been quite the journey and I know we are nowhere near "finished".

Hello there and welcome to Week 2 of the Farmhouse654 Christmas Countdown!

Last week, we focused on getting organized before we begin our journey to a peaceful holiday season with our families! 

We divided our home into eight zones and worked all week through the deep-cleaning process for Zone 1. 

At the farmhouse, this was my Living Room & Entryway.

I started the week by decluttering any shelves and drawers in the living room...I went through our DVDs and purged anything we don't watch, cleaned out a few drawers that had acquired some junk, and minimized a few decorations on the flat surfaces.

After a crazy week of parent-teacher conferences and the first slumber party in the farmhouse, I used my Friday off school to finish up Zone 1 by deep-cleaning from floor to ceiling...dusting, cleaning the windows, and making the floors shine.

If you didn't get to join us for the Week 1 challenge, just try to squeeze both of the first two weeks in this week!

Our week 2 challenge is to think about our giving.

You can print my Week 2 Planning Printable here.  

This week, we are focusing on the friends and family members we would like to give gifts to this year.

We want to be intentional with our giving!

This year for the girls, we are going to do four main gifts...

1. Something they want,
2. Something they need,
3. Something to wear, and 
4. Something to read.

We're also going to buy a few "family experiences"...zoo passes, a Royals game, and gift cards to some of our favorite restaurants.

Thanks to this list, coupled with the fact that we had a Christmas sinking fund (using CapitalOne 360 that I talked about in my blog post a few weeks ago), I am almost finished Christmas shopping.

This week, make a list of who you need to buy for, any gifts you might have already, and ideas of what you would like to purchase or make over the next several weeks.

The second part of our challenge this week is about how we can give to others during this season.  

Mr. Farmhouse and I do this in a few different ways that I've outlined on the Week 2 Challenge printable.   

Start thinking about how you can give back!

Finally, we are starting work in Zone 2 this week!

My Zone 2 is my Kitchen & Mud Room!  These two rooms will be a bit more challenging than the Living Room was!  I still haven't felt "settled" in the Mud Room since we moved into the farmhouse three months ago.  I'm hoping to change that feeling over the next week by breaking the process up into manageable tasks and tackle those two rooms!

I hope and pray that you are already feeling a little more peaceful about the upcoming holiday season! 

Let's not get bogged down with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season!

Let's take a moment and enjoy the process of getting us to this special time of year!

Happy New Week, friends! 

Much love to you and yours from the farmhouse!

​❤️🏡❤️

If you're just catching up with the Farmhouse654 Christmas Countdown, feel free to join the Facebook group HERE and print out the Planning Calendar and Week 1 Checklist HERE. ​

Christmas Countdown Blog Posts
Week 1