Winterberry Farm Primitives

This blog is now devoted to gardening with native plants with a focus on those species native to the east coast of the United States. With an MS in Agricultural Science from the University of Delaware and my love of native plants, I hope to help folks see the beauty and necessity of using native plants in your garden instead of exotic plants. Did you know that our native song birds and native insects are disappearing as our local environments continue to change?
For those who come to this page to see my 'Winterberry Farm Primitives' blog can now be found at http://winterberryfarmprimitivesshopblog.blogspot.com/ where I will post new additions to my online antiques shop at http://www.winterberryfarmprimitives.com/ and discuss various subjects about primitive antiques.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

How things have changed here at Winterberry Farm Primitives in the last two years!

It has been an interesting and wonderful two years here at 'The Farm' and we have made some changes to our home and have added a new member to our family. My shop and business has continued to grow and I have met many new friends and colleagues in my travels. We were lucky enough to be asked to display our home in the 2013 A Primitive Place Magazine and Country Journal's (APP) Holiday Edition that shows some of the changes we have made in our home in the last 24 months. One amazing thing that happened last year was that we found a wall of 18th century wood paneling complete with the external wood door and surround from an 18th century home in New Hampshire. This paneling had been stored in a friend's barn for 20 years and when he let us see it, I knew we had to buy it for our home. We started on our project only a month before our photoshoot with APP back in October of 2012 and at the time, we had no idea that we were going to have such a fun and sometimes exasperating time getting these boards on the wall of our living room, the wood painted, and the room decorated for Christmas in time for our photo shoot the next month! When we first brought home the paneling (and it was in rough shape) and laid it out on the floor of the living room, we hadn't realized that it was full of rosehead nails and many, many holes where other nails had been removed during its removal from the house in New Hamphire. As you can see in the next few pictures, we had to figure out the correct placement of the wood on the wall. The door had been removed from the home in the 1990's during one of many renovations on the home and it looks like it was then used as part of a clubhouse. With its original hardware intact and its primitive look, we decided to use it 'as is' but paint it instead of trying to remove the name of the club and the original red paint. Since the door was originally red (imagine what the rest of the home must of looked like with that red color!) and I love early red paint, we decided to paint the entire wall in red paint. We used long lengths of 2x4's to hang the paneling and then we began to fit the puzzle pieces together on the wall. The long pieces were placed at the top of the wall with smaller pieces cut to fit at the bottom of the wall. Modern houses are built with taller walls than homes built in the 18th century, so we had to compromise on how we set up the wall. The door fit perfectly and as we started to nail the boards in place, I started to experiment with paint. Here is a picture of the wall after we finished hanging it and then painted it. This was in March of 2013..... This is a picture of the same wall in April 2013 after some tweeking and some additions. We have had a great time tweeking and changing things around and here is how it looked in December 2013... I changed the paint a bit and added some greens for Christmas so it is ever-changing which is what makes a home exciting and interesting...My next blog will talk about ways to use antique leather books when decorating to help make your home look not only early but comfortable!

2 comments:

  1. What a fun post! I love your wall and how you decorated it for Christmas. I enjoyed seeing your wonderful home in APP too. Wishing you many blessings in 2014. Lori

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    1. Thank you Lori! We are having such fun working on our home. Spring is coming and I will soon be outside so I am trying to get as much done inside our home now while it is still cold. Who knows! I may change things around one last time before springtime...LOL!

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