Touring

Remember all those posts I did about how amazing and wonderful our friends Rick and Toni's Wisconsin farm is?  Well, today Apartment Therapy's ReNest did a whole house tour!

Check it out!

farm tour

In addition to the treasure filled barn, there are three buildings on the farm, a house, a granary, and a studio. (the house and the granary are more than a 150 years old!) The buildings were not in such good shape and when they bought the property Rick and Toni began remodeling. Since they were doing most of the work themselves, they enlisted the help of family and friends, and most importantly Ryan, who, along with his wife Zoe, has a small firm in Minneapolis- Edit Design/Build Studio.
They turned the granary, which was being used as a house for rodents and birds, into a guest house.
They took off the roof, stripped the house down to bare stone walls and rebuilt the inside putting in a small kitchenette and living room heated by a wood stove downstairs,

And a bedroom upstairs. Ryan sited the bed in the dormer of the roof, giving whomever is lucky enough to sleep there panoramic views of the prairie as they wake up in the morning.
The studio is immaculate, and filled with furniture and other projects Rick is working on.

I’m always impressed with how thought out everything is. The shelves are lined with felt so when Rick puts his tools away they don’t get dull. (isn’t that dentist’s lamp as task lamp cool?)

The house is sort of like two tiny houses, one stone, one wood, up against each other to make an "L". Recently, they put a small addition onto the wood part of the house, expanding the kitchen and adding a room upstairs.

The materials used are remarkable, as are the stories of where they came from. Just as with all the stuff in the barn, Rick scrounged, traded, and scavenged to find the most amazing things, and they've used them in usual, and very unexpected ways.

I love the mix of old and new, handmade and manufactured, traditional and contemporary in everything from the buildings themselves to the objects on the shelves.

Even though there are many things not quite done (they are doing all the work themselves!) it’s the attention to detail that strikes me most- it's the kind of attention to craft that is far too often reserved for pieces of fine furniture.
Photos by Ryan, Steven and me. (good ones by Ryan.)

burn baby, burn

As I mentioned, a couple of years ago Rick and Toni decided to restore 40 of their 80 acres back into a prairie.

This spring, with the help of the local fire department, they did their first controlled burn.
People who know what they are talking about (not me) recommend doing a controlled burn every few years.
These fires would happen naturally due to lightning strikes, dry dead plant material and dry spells etc, but you don't really want an uncontrolled fire happening near your house.

Besides, a fast moving fire is good for the prairie.

Burning the prairie clears the field of plants that are not supposed to be there. Unlike prairie grasses, invasive species, tree and shrub saplings etc are not addapted to survive the fire. They are killed giving the prairie plants a chance to establish themselves and flourish.

The prairie plants survive because of their remarkably deep root system- some grasses have roots up to 15 foot deep!

It also adds nutrients to the soil, and can increase the amount of moisture that reaches the roots.

Plus, all the flames and smoke make for some pretty amazing photos.
Photos by Ryan Sturtz (except the top one. which was by me.)

light

How cool is this lamp in Rick and Toni's guest room that was made from the leg of an antique porcelain sink?

treasure box

I am having a hard time figuring out how to organize all the photos I want to show you and things I want to tell you from our trip to Rick and Toni's, so please forgive me if these next few posts seem a bit random and rambling.

One of my favorite things to do at the farm is to snoop around the barn (although it can get quite dangerous because if you say you like something, Rick is likely to give it to you.)

Rick has the most amazing collection of stuff that he has scrounged and scavenged, discovered and saved.

He's got everything you can imagine, and some things you can't.

Gorgeous industrial lights and lamp parts of all sorts,

Saarinen and other mid century modern chairs in impeccable condition that Steven's architect friends would kill to have,

Industrial ladders worn in just the right places,

beautiful Pyrex lab equipment that fascinated me for hours,

the most amazing collection of lumber you have ever seen (Ryan is going to turn those pieces of walnut into a new dining room table.)

vintage mustard jars from when mustard jars were cool (many were designed to be turned into banks when the mustard was gone- mid century upcycling),
ceramic dishes made by Coors. (Yup, Coors, the same folks who make beer. The dishes are better.) Real slate chalkboards, all sorts of stools and chairs, doors, cabinets, the list goes on and on and just when you think you've seen it all, Rick pulls out something else.

I told him he should start and etsy shop, but I don't think he was convinced. It may be a good thing, for my wallet at least, because I'm pretty sure I'd be his number one customer.

in addition

Rick and Toni's most recent project has been remodeling their kitchen and bathrooms and adding a small addition.

All the siding was salvaged a beautiful mix of redwood (unstained) and cedar (stained). The corners are mitered, there's no caulk anywhere because everything fits so perfectly and it just looks lovely.

I wish I'd taken a better picture, but the porch has no visible fasteners. The craftsmanship is truly incredible, the whole house is built like it's a piece of fine furniture. It makes it hard to think about all the things we need to do around here.

The view from the kitchen table is lovely, the granary, barn and restored prairie.