When my wife and I purchased our southern New Hampshire homestead in 2021, the property consisted of a house on 2.76 overgrown acres, a dilapidated chicken coop, a massive junk pile, and a shed. Five years later, I’m pleased to report that the chicken coop has been rebuilt and the shed has been transformed into a small barn. However, the junk pile still needs excavating.
The modest farmhouse we call home was built in 1850 in the Greek Revival style of the period. It is a story and half with a steeply pitched slate roof, black window shutters, and a front door insulated in decades of paint. An ell contains our aging kitchen, sunroom, pantry, two bathrooms, and a drafty storage room we call the side shed. It is technically a three-bedroom house, but my wife and I have repurposed the downstairs library into our master bedroom, while our four children have the run of the top floor.
