Homemaking

After 18 months living in our van, we decided to use our energy for more than traveling and vanlife, as fabulous as it often was. We wanted to root somewhere and cultivate a sustainable corner of hospitality. Why not Lafayette? We both like the size, vibe, proximity to family - and we had a unique house to return to.
First we had to wait out a tense rental situation. Then we had to fix up that 1800s house, now that we actually plan to make it our home.

We had a roomful of broken floor to rip out, repair and replace. The concrete underneath was uneven and had to be ground down, patched, shimmed...then we bought higher quality flooring to lay on top. Happily, a family took the reusable pieces of the old floor, through craigslist.

The rest of the house's original wood floors needed repair. Phillip (with guidance from my dad and uncle) spent two weeks on his hands and knees and you'll have to see it in person to understand why. The floors still have plenty of "character," including old scorch marks and repaired knots, they're going to last (maybe another 200 years?!).

There's too much more to tell, so I'll let the finished pictures do the rest. Next spring we look forward to working in surprising ways on the yard.
In the meantime our goal is to share this big house - anyone need a guest room or weekend getaway house in Lafayette?