Recap 2025
June 2025 part 1

In June we still had no electricity no hot water and no kitchen in the house, cooked on our camping stove, like during the last couple of years. When we got the wood fire cooking stove, the kitchen-witch, we first had to wait for the chimney sweaper to clean th chimneys and to explain the chimney system to us. He told us where we can try to make a new hole for the stove smoke-tube. What sounded very easy and quickly done took us in the end loooots of time and even more nerves. But (in today's post we are not there yet...)
Befor all of this we removed the old cracked and moldy looking plaster from the chimney. The idea was to remove the old and put up new plaster, but when we saw the nice red brickwall underneath, we changed plan to fully remove the plaster and reveil the bricks. This was a hell lot of insane dusty work. But it was worth the hours stuck in the white suits, under the fat masks and behind the plastic 'dustwall'.
The month of June was also full with garden work. We prepared the weedgrass covered patches in front of the house to grow some veggies. Also we built a little greenhouse with old windows we found in the barn and a neighbour came with the tractor to plow the big batch for our potatoes, karrots and onions.
Picture 6 shows our power suply by then 🤩 a small solar panel to charge all the tools.

By then we went to our neighbours home or to the public washing saloon in town to make laundry.
To have a propper shower sometimes we went to the public sauna in the swimming hall in town, until (by mid june) we had the sauna fixed and ready to use. We used the so called 'summer sauna', a woodfire heated sauna in the barn-building. Next to the sauna stove we have a ~80liter metal pot over another fire place to heat water. and thats how we showered (sauna with bucketshower).


11 pictures in this post 🤩

#finland #lapland #polarcircle #movingabroad #auswandern #slowliving #farmlife #renovating #offgid #growingfood

#renovating our 1904 house in #utrecht has started in earnest

Architect: urbanizer.nl
Contractor: frankwouterse.nl

You can’t make this shit up!
Literally taped a wall plug into some exposed wires to hook up a wall mounted fan.

#mexico #electric #renovating

I'm in the process of #renovating and restyling my place, rugs, paint, #decoration etc.

I purchased a set of posters from #Etsy to frame them and hang them in my man's cave where I already have others from topics of my interest or special occasions like concerts signed posters and such.

But this time I wanted to do something different; have portraits or drawings of people I consider revolutionized the world, especially around my area so I've got these:

#IsaacNewton #AdaLovelace #AlanTuring

✨ From an outdoor covered porch to no floor to bare studs to bright windows, it’s amazing to look around and see how far this old house #renovation has come.

What was once just a vision is now really feeling "real" and taking shape. We needed a third bedroom and second bathroom and with the walls framed and light pouring in, we are telling our part of the story of this old #house. Each board, old and new, have a chapter.

There’s something deeply special about building our family’s place inside this 105-year-old #Appalachian bungalow.

Sure, at first glance, we are #renovating but we are also making sure to honor #history of place and location while creating new memories for the generations ahead. Every nail, every wire, every beam feels like a bridge between the past and our future. It is incredibly and deeply moving. I didn't think I would feel this way about "someone else's house" other than my #ancestors ... But I do.

Here’s to old bones, new dreams, and the little mountain spot we get to call home. Yep, I am getting misty eyes. 🏡💛🌲

#Appalachia #MountainLife #OldHouse #Family
🌸🌼 Spot the Impostors!
Some of these flowers are soaking up the rain…
…and some are just pretending. 😉

With late in the season for annuals and not sure which perennials I want to plant, I bought some realistic faux bunches of flowers. Interestingly, these faux ones have already survived heavy downpours and didn't get destroyed.

Can you guess which blooms are real and which are faux?

#Flowers #Garden #Renovating #Appalachia #MountainLife #AppalachianMountainBungalow #Porch #BlueRidgeMountains
🚿🧽🧼100+ year old walls will not be covered up in modern drywall on my watch. These beautiful wood shingles will be seen and loved.

#Cleaning #Scrubbing #Renovating #Appalachia #MountainLife #AppalachianMountainBungalow #Porch #Window #BlueRidgeMountains

I was watching a #YouTube video yesterday tracing an #American couple #renovating an old rural #school they had purchased & now live in.

In one video she decided to #explore the large plot of ground around the school.

She went to the local #library & took out a #MetalDetector!

Libraries lending out metal detectors! What a brilliant idea ‘coz they aren’t cheap.

https://youtu.be/2cLTE4JLoCQ?si=VvAeS58QfaWXKrWz

What’s it like to live in a SCHOOL? (Heat bills, problems... Ghosts??)

YouTube

This afternoon, with only light rain falling, I excavated the sinking corner of an old shed and got a hydraulic jack under it to bring it up to level.

But the base is rotted so I'll need to cut away the punky wood and put in something treated. Then I can build up a foundation with better drainage.

#renovating #homeOwnership #garden