By Popular Demand...

I hear you. I hear you all loud and clear. The demand for pictures of my beloved Freeman House has been the dominating subject in the comments of this blog for quite awhile. "Where are pictures? GIVE ME PICTURES!" several of you have suggested. Then reminded. Then demanded. [Smiling]

So I've hesitated. I've procrastinated. I've debated. I mean, when I say my life is messy and thrilling, I mean it. If you kind, kind people only knew just how messy and thrilling it's been!

... and well, how messy and thrilling Freeman House herself is. But without further ado, I give you... well... I give you the house I've always wanted. The house that gobbles up all my free time and all my money. The ultimate fixer-upper. My pride and joy. My great white whale. I give you Freeman House:

Um... purty, ain't she?
The house was built in the 1880s. She's 38 feet tall from the original pine floors to the highest point in the second floor. And actually, the home sits five feet off the ground in parts, so when you stand on the grass and look up to that peak, you're gazing up a good 43-45 feet or so. I love how the oversized rattan chairs on the porch look like doll house furniture. And those are some big chairs!

When I bought her, she'd been abandoned for nearly 20 years. Prior to that, she had served as the beloved home of Miss Freeman. Prior to that, she'd been divided into 3 living spaces. When I signed on the dotted line, she still had 3 downstairs bathrooms, 3 kitchens and 3 front doors. But she still had all her originals: original woodwork, chimney(s), windows, doors and floors.

After demolition to a large part of the back of the house, Freeman House has 11 rooms downstairs and will have 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a sitting room upstairs. Eventually. If I inherit gobs of money. If the Prize Patrol shows up.

For now, the kitchen is the major project. I haven't mentioned it often, but I own a small baking business called henrybella's. I really wanted to get the commercial kitchen installed in time for summer fruit tarts and jam season and the pecan harvest. Doesn't look as though I'll make it. But I'm pushing. Oh how I'm pushing ahead...

Tomorrow the lights go up. Don't laugh. Currently only two rooms have overhead lighting. I have dozens of lamps, but come nightfall it gets really dark in this old place. The past few weeks I've found the most gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous lighting fixtures, ceiling fans, sconces and chandeliers. They ate my lunch for sure, but they're period fixtures and will fit in beautifully with the restoration. They all go up tomorrow. I can't wait. Next week, we'll have a light show.

In the meantime, I have a list a mile long. It's longer than Santa's naughty list. It's loong. Storm clean up has been moved to the top, though. Early Thursday, Maebelline (the cat) and I huddled in the bathroom I showed you earlier this week while the wind coughed and raged. The roof leaked. Shingles flew. And I have cottonwood branches - BIG ones - down all over the place. One is lodged on the roof. I'm so thankful it didn't crash through! Anyhow, I took one step outside yesterday and froze. "Thanks, God, for the free firewood," I said. Then I cried a little.

Oh, this house. There you have her. From one angle anyway. I'll be getting you more shots as time and the weather allow. But for now, I must be off. I have some electrical do-dad thingy to find before tomorrow. That and Advil. Hope there's a sale on Advil!

Have a happy, peaceful, and fun weekend! Love to you all - Brin

By the way, 85% of all proceeds of my Etsy shop go toward the restoration of this historic home. The other 15% goes to an organization that's reaching out and mentoring troubled teenagers in this area. A big, huge thanks to all of you who've shopped and supported the Freeman House Shop. Thanks to you, the house will be bright and shining tomorrow night! I couldn't be more grateful if I tried!