Soapstone

The color came out funny when I took this picture.  The second picture is closer to the actual color.  We want to use Church Hill Soapstone on our countertops.  The quarry is right here in Virginia,  and it's completely food safe.  No toxins or chemicals are put on it.  Our builder wanted to put in granite, but soapstone is a much better fit for us as we seek out local, environmentally safe products.  Although we are not a certified organic farm (yet), our animals are not given any hormones or antibiotics.  The vegetables that we grow in our garden are raised from Heritage seeds, organically.  Soapstone is the perfect choice for us.
We've decided on kitchen cabinet color.  They will be Acadia White, which is a creamy white.  It's the middle color on the paint strip.  I think the black and cream contrast will be nice.

Repurposing

As we build our farmhouse, we have choosen to repurpose what we can.  Since we live on a farm and advocate buying food from a local farmer, we thought that we would try to buy as locally as possible.  It has been an interesting journey, and we've meet wonderful people !  This 1926 claw foot tub from Fredricksburg, Va., was refinished after this picture was taken.  It's carefully covered up until our new bathroom is ready for it.  We have collected some vintage, high back sinks to go in to the house.  This one is from Henderson, NC and is going in the kitchen. 
We also are strongly considering antique heart pine flooring.  That journey started on the farm with a chainsaw and poisen ivy as we cut through old logs.  We met other people who have used heart pine, and we've looked at their floors.  We searched for enough heart pine for our house, and we think we have found it.  The installer is coming to measure the house on Wednesday.  Heart pine is not as hard as other "normal" floor samples from the floor store.  It does, however, have character, is repurposed, and kind of local.  We think it will look perfect in the farmhouse.  I've read that stiletto heels leave marks on heart pine...no one should be on the farm in stiletto heels, so that works out well.  The kids were able to leave some marks on the wood (they love it when samples come, because they get to abuse them).   But the marks blend in to the wood.  With 4 kids, I need nail holes, knots, and bolt holes in the floor....floor companies call this the rustic look. 
The floor reminds me of when one of the kids was learning to write their name.  They wrote it on the couch with an orange magic marker.  And with a Sharpie on a couch pillow.  This same child (I think) and another sibling used magic markers to draw pictures on a new white dresser.  Washable markers only work on skin and clothes, I think.  I like to think of it as character.

Back in the saddle.....

We've been busy.  Busier than normal.  We knew when we moved to the farm that we needed to build a house.  Sounds so simple.  We wanted a house that looked like an actual farmhouse.  Finding floorplans was not simple.  Then we changed the interior to meet our needs.  In February our builder started working on the house.  Just getting to this point has been a really long process.  The drywall has been put up, and I'm supposed to be choosing paint colors.  And bathroom tile.  On Wednesday a floor installer from South Carolina is coming to measure the rooms for heart pine floor.  I also need to to finish making decisions about the cabinets.  That is the short list.  Hopefully blogging again will help clear my head, because nothing seems to be helping.