What on earth did we get ourselves into?

This view may or may not have had me in tears a few months ago.

In full disclosure, at seven months pregnant and having the awesome opportunity to renovate a building and try to keep up with everyday life, I was a little overwhelmed. We had talked for several months about when to start phase two of the renovation of The Market. We jumped in after the holidays with a plan for the financing - things were finally in motion.

And then - we had a medical emergency that rocked us to the core. We dutifully followed through and kept the faith. In the end, it all worked out, but not without some sleepless nights and extra anxiety.

And, then, the clouds started to separate and we were ready for decisions to be made. With great patience, Jeremy would bring me to the building and we would talk through each decision. I would leave thinking, "what on earth did we get ourselves into?" and cry just a little bit.

These emotions might have also been fueled by the fact that when you renovate an old building and start from the bottom up, you eventually move to the second floor. It is at that point that all of the dirt and debris from maybe a hundred years or so filters down into the finished space. So, let's add this up - we were packing and unpacking from shows and in between, cleaning up construction dust and chunks of plaster and concrete. Fun times!

One of the best parts of having The Market is staging and showing off some of our great finds. During this season of renovation, we weren't showing off much of anything!

But, like most things, this crazy, out of control season passed. Fast forward a few weeks and when the new electrical was installed on the second floor, I was so excited. We had turned a corner!

Granted, we still have a long way to go. We have picked out paint colors and have some of the "bones" of the space in place. I can clearly see having events in our space and getting to a place where we can stage. We have even picked up a few special pieces that we have in mind for the space and we can't wait to show them off!

Helping us keep the motivation going is the installation of the fence on the north, east and south sides of the property. We got this in place early enough in the growing season that we can begin to design and plant the east courtyard area.

Yay for progress!

The Progress Principle in action

 Years ago, I stumbled on a book called The Progress Principle by Teresa Amabile and Steve Kramer. It was a great book about motivation and maintaining focus. My most important take away was that making progress on important goals is one of the motivators for employees. Over the years, I have found this to be true in not only working with others, but also motivating myself.

We are pretty certain that renovating a historic building is an exercise of patience and faith. We have big dreams for this space and have been wrestling with when to start phase two of renovations on The Market and putting together all of the pieces to make the next steps happen. This waiting is a little discouraging and there are times when we think that just haven't done enough or are behind our self-imposed schedule.

This week Jeremy had the brilliant idea to use Google Earth to look up older images of the building before we started any work. Wow! What a difference!

This was just the motivator that I needed to remember how far we have come (focus on the progress) and an important reminder of the fun work ahead.

The first collage shows a before of the front landscape and the next two show off our work so far - tree and fence removal, new windows, and new doors! A transformation!

The side and the back of the house show off just how much was hidden by the trees that needed to be removed. Removing the door to no where and the fiberglass wall of the shower (not kidding!) and just priming the siding were a huge step forward.

So, today, we are celebrating the progress, thankful for how far this project has come. And, we are hopeful for a quick start to the next phase!

Kansas Barn Sale

 Our fall includes several favorite traditions, but none are as beloved as attending the Kansas Barn Sale.

A few years ago, we signed up as exhibitors and we have continued to count this show as one of our favorites. The setting is perfect, the people are happy, and the hospitality is unparalleled.

The Emma Creek Barn creates the perfect backdrop. We arrived early to finish the final set up and it was just a little magical with the lights on and the sky showing brilliant colors.

 Sunrises in Kansas are the best! The morning of the show, we had some great color and slow warm up to a beautiful fall day.

 We really enjoyed putting out some of our favorite vintage finds.

 The sign inventory was on point. Jeremy worked really hard in the months leading up to the show to have a great selection.

I loved this little collection - old books, pumpkins, positive vibes, and all things vintage.

We can't wait for next year's show!

Fall vintage show line up

 Our first Mini Market last weekend kicked off our fall show schedule. It was so much fun to pull items out of our storage locations, dust them off and begin putting everything together before we hit the road.

This weekend was School House Market Days in Saffordville, KS. We enjoyed chatting with some of our fellow vendors and hanging out in a very cool old schoolhouse!

Between the weather, the trees turning and more and more pumpkins and mums showing up, we are starting to think FALL!

Here are a few more places to catch up with us over the coming weeks:

September 23/24
Fabulous Finds on 99

Westmoreland, KS

October 1Kansas Barn Sale
Hesston, KS

October 8Old 54 Outdoor Market

Augusta, KS

Our first Mini Market!

Saturday was our first Mini Market at the new location. As you know, renovation is underway on our new building. We are so anxious to be in the new space and have items tucked into every storage space, including our dining room!

This weekend was a great chance for us to give a sneak peek at the new building - a sort of "before" snapshot - and to pull our items out of storage to see what we might have in inventory before our big fall show season.

Our first show of the fall is next weekend at the Schoolhouse Market Days in Saffordville, Kansas, just west of Emporia. After that, we have a sprint to the end of the calendar year that includes some of our favorite shows and major progress on the building. Fingers crossed, we will be finished with phase one of the renovation and in the building by Small Business Saturday at the end of November.

We are really looking forward to our next Mini Market to be held in conjunction with Fabulous Finds on Highway 99, September 23-24.

Alpaca MVPs

Prairie School Farms is about everything from alpaca farm visits to vintage, chippy furniture and unique home decor to hand painted signs and about a thousand other things in our dining room and tucked in storage until our building is renovated. No matter our adventures, the alpacas still are the MVP of our little farm.

 

One of our neighbors is a project leader for a local 4-H club. She had a small group of 4-H members who were working on fiber arts and they wanted to learn more about alpaca fiber.

 

She and the members were super gracious when our offer for a guided farm tour turned into a self-guided farm tour because Jeremy needed to be at the building to work with a contractor and Emily needed to be at work.

 

 From the tone of the sweet thank you card, I think the visit was still a success! We are hoping to see some of those alpaca selfies. We think Kobe was a camera hog.

Plant geek: coneflowers for days!

 When we first bought our house, the landscaping was virtually a blank slate. We were lucky enough to have established trees, but the rest of the place was taken back to almost nothing because of the reported overgrowth of the yard when the renovation started. We tackled the chance to plan what we would plant in the existing beds and where we might install additional flower beds.

One idea I really valued was incorporating plants native to Kansas. This ideas was part sentimental and mostly practical. I grew up in the country and we rarely watered our flowers and plants, let alone our lawn. If you were plant, in order to survive, you needed to be hardy.

I carried that same philosophy forward. We have little time to water plants frequently and it seems like a waste of money to constantly water.

I had this dream of planting the native flowers and Jeremy really wanted something that would add some color to the south side of the driveway. The answer - a mix of native plants that have morphed over the years. Remember, only the strong survive. More accurately, only the plants that were planted in a place with the right amount of sunlight and moisture survived. Gardener's error or luck plays a large part in the failure (or success) of anything we have done.

 The coneflowers this year have been spectacular! I am not sure we have had blooms in this deep purple color.

 A perk of these native plants is their ability to attract insects and birds. We usually have bees and butterflies surrounding this bed. On day last fall, I saw a small bird picking the seeds of out the center of blooms.

This summer, we have been overrun with iridescent insects. They are strangely beautiful and also unnerving because they like to dive bomb you when walking through the yard.

Other than the occasional weeding and thinning out of the beds, these native plants are low maintenance and offer a lot of beauty.

Prairie School Farms new home

This building has been in my heart since we first moved to this area. I have dreamed about it and wondered if there would ever be the chance that we could have a connection beyond the casual architectural crush.

Several weeks ago, we learned that it might be for sale. After some negotiation and a lot of planning, we are happy to announce that Prairie School Farms has a new home!

Located at the corner of Fifth and Main in Westmoreland, we have this historic gem - two stories with so much potential to hold all of our dreams.

We may or may not be channeling Chip and Joanna. I have used the term "shiplap" nearly 400 times. We have already started the cleaning and demo. Today included six truckloads of trees and branches - five of them by Jeremy alone. Any person with a strong desire to put on some work gloves and help with garden clean up is welcome.

The building was constructed in 1885 and was reportedly a blacksmith and livery shop. We have a copy of one of the original photos from when the livery was operational. The building has the initials GAR on the front and from our preliminary research it stands for the Grand Army of the Republic and was built for Civil War veterans who fought for the Union. The building must have originally been built as a lodge or chapter house for the veterans.

We are working on plans to make the ground level into a retail space.

The large double doors in the right of this photo are amazing. We are trying to find a way to have these recreated or preserved. We are planning to have a pergola on the side of the building with these doors leading out to the space.

The second floor has a large space for entertaining and a second portion that we will use as a B&B.

Wish us luck on the adventure ahead! We have some plans for renovation and big dreams for this space. Our little studio has already been sold, so we will be packing and moving very soon. Watch for a grand opening in Spring 2017!

I heart old barns

I heart old barns...and old houses...and apparently old churches and school houses, too.

Many of you know that we have a passion for antique and vintage everything. Give us something that is rustic, rusty, patina-ed, and chipped and we'll consider it well loved and find it a place to be enjoyed.

We have made a very fun and successful small business out of connecting people with vintage and repurposed items. To further support our obsession, you should know that we live in an late 1800's limestone school house and we bought a historic church. And, I have been known to pull over to the side of the road to take a picture of an old place that has character. I love making up stories about the history and the people who lived in or used the space.

For this old barn, I don't need to make up much of the story. It used to stand on my grandparent's place. My dad owns the property now.

This old red barn always had a commanding presence in the farm yard and was used until the quonset was built.

This photo was taken on the weekend of my grandparent's sale. Even then, we knew that the barn's days were numbered.

And, it did fall down. My husband took this photo this summer. We didn't want to see the barn go to waste, so my dad and husband put some effort into salvaging some of the wood.

From the pile, they pulled some of the best boards and worked to get some of the flooring recovered.

A work in progress. We'll be back to try to recover some more.

And, the load for the trip home. This wood is now being repurposed into signs, benches and table tops.

For those of you who enjoy a beautiful, old building, here are a few images to enjoy.

 This is a lovely old barn that used to sit on Highway 24. I took this photo shortly before it fell down.

 This limestone barn was on Flush Road near our house. It was pushed over by the owners. I loved it in the background of the purple carpet of blooms. I think the purple blooms were actually weeds, but still really lovely. This photo was taken in early spring.

This might be one of my favorite photos...taken in Morris County near a camp where some of my student leaders held a retreat one spring. This is exactly the kind of place that I adore for the history and at the same time it haunts me. Why was it abandoned? Who lived there? How did they live?

Vintage in the Valley - Marquette KS

We had the chance to sign up at the last minute for Vintage in the Valley in Marquette. We had heard great things about this show and had a free weekend. We took a chance in contacting the organizer and she had just had a cancellation! We were in luck.

So, we loaded up the truck and trailer - we are getting pretty good at this routine now. We stayed in Salina the night before and made the short drive to Marquette at the crack of dawn to set up.

We really enjoyed the show and as chance would have it, we were right next to box113 - the same great couple that we was next to us at The Red Barn Outdoor Market. Love, love, love Alison's stuff!

Catch us next week at the studio! We'll be open to celebrate the Westmoreland car show and BBQ.

The Red Barn Outdoor Market

 We had a great time as an exhibitor at The Red Barn Outdoor Market near Benton, Kansas.  It was a breezy, but beautiful day.

We arrived the night before for set up, but decided to not take our chances with the wind and possible thunderstorms.  We left our tent in the trailer and just set out our doors.  We thought we would be clever and "cover" our space with the doors, just in case it rained.  Thankfully, we had very little rain and no severe weather.

The morning was cool, but nice.  The sunrise made the most beautiful colors in the sky.  I love the picture in the top left - before everyone arrived and the field was full of tents and displays.

The crowd was really nice and we stayed busy all day. We also enjoyed some expert sign wrapping by my mom.  She also braved the lines at the food trucks to bring us some delicious lunch. We were so thankful for her help!

We have two more weekends of shows this month.  Needless to say, our suitcases and trailer are still packed!

I did want to show off these great cards made by box113.  We were lucky enough to be neighbors with them at the show.  Alison makes beautiful hand-lettered cards and they are packaged in the most tasteful and gift-worthy way.  She and her husband were awesome and I hope we get to see them at future shows.

Kansas Barn Sale Recap

 We are celebrating the end of a fantastic day at the Kansas Barn Sale.

The day began a little on the cold side.  I was confident that I had packed plenty of layers, but not confident that any of them actually went together.  Most of the day, my mom and husband had to answer my question - "Do I look normal?"  I asked a lot because as the day warmed up, I kept peeling off layers and I was constantly worried that in losing a layer, I began to look more uncoordinated.

We stayed overnight with friends who live about 30 miles away from Hesston.  Our morning began pretty early and we enjoyed a quick ride to the show.

As we started to unpack the truck, we were witness to a beautiful sunrise.  It was one of those mornings where it seemed like the sky was on a dimmer switch.

 We had a great view of the sunrise and before we knew it, it was show time!

There were so many people who attended the show!  The line to go through the gate was unbelievable.

 We had a lot of fun putting everything together.  We have been collecting things for this show for an entire year.

 My husband has been creating so many cool new signs.

 We had several things that we hoped would find good homes, including this great bench.  (Mission accomplished, though it did hitch a ride back home with us for a delivery.)

 The wine ring spheres were by far one of our most popular items.  I loved this because my dad  helped us put them together.

 We had little sections  - a display of sewing items and a display of cooking items.

 I was so happy that both of the big welcome signs went home with someone.

 I am a big fan of fall displays and those what we threw together with the wine ring spheres and pumpkins were some of my favorites.

 The chicken waters with the star designs drilled into them were some of my favorite.

I have to admit that there is this moment just before the show begins that I am in love with our display.  We have worked so hard and have things just how we want them...and then things get chaotic. My husband gets a huge kick out of watching my compulsion for resetting things.

When it was all said and done, we had a great day.  My favorite thing is reconnecting with some of our old friends.  We have so many great people who love junking and handmade items as much as us.

Preview of the Kansas Barn Sale

 We are preparing for our second time as an vendor at the Kansas Barn Sale near Hesston.

The weather forecast is perfect.  The site is incredible.  The shopping is spectacular and we meet the nicest people and reconnect with old friends.

Here are a few photos as a preview to Saturday's sale.

The barn is the centerpiece to the show and all around it you will find vendors with as much vintage, antique, handmade, unique and fall themed items as you can possibly see.

You will know you found the place when you see the old pickup at the edge of the drive.

 The barn looks especially magical at night.  If you have the chance, go to the Emma Creek Barn page to see the venue in action for weddings and other events.

 I do enjoy the rustic and western vibe.  Even the doors to the restrooms look cool.

Here is a preview of our space...first the bare bones structure pieces...

 We had a terrible time trying to make the slope in our space work.  We have a pretty steep rise from the front to the back and it made for a bit of a challenge to keep things level.

 Some doors waiting for signs.  I really need the two captains chairs with chippy paint to go to good homes.  I love them...it was a tough keep or sell decision.

 This is the ugly before the pretty.  We had to lay out a lot of things to get an idea of what we had packed.  So much good stuff!

 More foundation pieces...waiting for all of the smalls.

 I have been having a lot of fun with the wine barrel ring spheres, antlers and pumpkins.

 This might be my favorite arrangement with some hydrangeas from our yard.  The little basket with the plums label...another tough decision for keep or sell.

 Things are starting to come together!  More work tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn, but it truly is the best part - putting the finishing touches on everything.

  

This photo isn't from our booth, but I thought it was the perfect example of everything I love about this show - vintage, chippy, character and FALL!