I live in a 170 year old farmhouse on a working farm. A genuine farmhouse kitchen in real life is slightly different from the farmhouse decor on Pinterest. One of my promises on my blog is to always be real-to show you how it really is single momming during spring planting, with six kids and a puppy, and not having a lot of money to buy the perfect farmhouse decor.
I’ve been working on updating my kitchen. I have carpet in my eating area from 1987 y’all. We have had a lot of changes in here in the 15 years we’ve been married and I’m finally in a place to learn how to DIY on my own to make even more!
This post contains affiliate links, which help me keep my kids stocked with books and food, all at no cost to you!
This wall has been blank since Christmas when we hang our advent calendars there, until Brielle, my 11 year old took two signs off the porch and threw them up on the nails. I started kind of thinking about what I wanted and decided I love the current trend of a collage. I don’t think I’m done yet, but here’s what we’ve got so far.
Here’s what my kitchen looked like in 2008! I have changed it so much over the past 10 years, even I can’t believe it!
One of my besties gave me this sign and it’s just perfect.
I made this sign because homeschooled hobbits live around here. I’ve been thinking of inexpensively selling some of the prints I make. Let me know how that interests you!
The frame is from Goodwill. I took the cardboard off the back and wrapped it in regular 11×17 typing paper and taped the print on there.
My 9 year old drew and colored this for me last year. He followed a tutorial from Art for Kids Hub, which we adore!
The white frame is from Goodwill. I spray painted it white, and my impatience and mistakes made for some perfect distressing and crackling. Here at Yellow Barn Farms, I don’t even have to try to achieve the cheap chic look-that is just how I roll 🙂 I get that worn, farmhouse look accidentally.
The Farm Fresh sign is from Target’s Dollar Spot. I got the bird sign at Michaels on clearance with a couple of smaller matching ones. I didn’t even plan for it to be in the kitchen, so it’s especially crazy how it matches so well. The phone on the wall belonged to The Handsome Husband’s grandma. She was a rural telephone operator in the 40s and 50s. My diva dog dish is actually an old fashioned hors d’oeuvres server from Goodwill. The color is Tropical Heat by Behr. All the paint in my house is Behr. It’s my absolute favorite.
We bought the nook benches at Oak Express and long ago outgrew the table. This one was a Craigslist find on which The Handsome Husband put high gloss bar epoxy resin so it would hold up better to the constant beating our furniture takes. I love it. It looks like glass and the children have to try really hard to scratch it.
It doesn’t take a lot more time to thrift some of your ornamentation or furnishing and update your decor with inexpensive and quick little changes. I’d love to hear how you save money when you decorate!
Warning…wordy comment to follow! 🙂
We recently ripped off 51 year old wallpaper from the upstairs hallway in our 100+ year old farm house. Thankfully it came off really easily! There was a lot of spackling to do before we could finally paint, but a friend helped me, and kept me on task, and it’s finally finished! We did spend some money for new carpet (again, 50+ years old!) but elbow grease and patience did most of the work! Now that I’m trying to decorate, I headed up to the attic to see what I could find. An old transom window will soon hang in the hallway, with hooks added for a few dollars, to make a fun and somewhat trendy place to hang coats and my purse. I use an old milk can from my parents’ farm as a plant stand in the bathroom, etc. It’s so much fun to make it look nice and not spend a fortune! Old window frames make nice picture frames too! I framed some reprints of old aerial view of our farm in an old window frame from the attic.
That sounds adorable!! I love using vintage in decor.