Our 1900 Farmhouse and Homestead

A Farmhouse with History

We are so excited to be creating the Steiger Family Farms Homestead. We purchased our home that was built in 1900 on one acre in the summer of 2020. Amazingly, this farmhouse has only been a home to three families before our own. It was the orginal homestead on our hill. The original homestead included over 200 acres. Overtime the acreage was sold off and other homes were built. The road in front of our house was actually added after our home and there is a tunnel under the road by the barn that was put there so the cows could access the pasture on the other side.

The Farmhouse

The farmhouse has seen a few additions and reductions over the years. From what we can tell, the current kitchen is an addition because it has a crawl space while the rest of the house has a stone basement. In some old pictures of the house, there was also a mudroom off of the kitchen. That has since been removed. We are looking forward to learning more about the history of this home.

little girl in the yard in front of a 1900 farmhouse

Farmhouse Renovations

Since moving in, we have completed a few renovations. We’ve painted nearly every room and redid the flooring in the upstairs bedrooms. To our surprise, we found original hardwood floors in the bedrooms!

New and Restored Flooring

The hardwood in the two smaller rooms was a plank style hardwood so we decided to go ahead and put in new carpet since it would make the rooms warmer for our daughter and future children. In the master bedroom, we decided to restore the hardwood. My husband sanded through many layers of paint to bring it to its former glory. It’s not fancy hardwood, but the gaps and imperfections fit perfectly with the farmhouse.

  • hardwood floor covered in deck paint in the master bedroom of the farmhouse
    What we found after ripping out carpet
  • man replacing boards in the floor at the doorway of the master bedroom in a farmhouse
    Replacing a few boards
  • sanded patch of hardwood floor surrounded by paint in the master bedroom of the farmhouse
    Sanding through the paint
  • freshly sanded hardwood floor in the master bedroom of the farmhouse
    Completely sanded
  • hardwood floor ready for stain in the farmhouse
    Wiped clean and ready for stain
  • freshly stained hardwood floor in the master bedroom of the farmhouse
    Freshly stained

Kitchen Renovations

The other big immediate renovation project was the kitchen. While the cabinetry was wonderful, the countertops were awful. They were uneven tile countertops. I simply could not imagine prepping our food on them. Food was stuck in the grout and cracks in the tile. We pulled them out a few days within moving in and lived with plywood countertops while we waited for the granite to be installed.

The Big White Barn

One of the things that drew us to this property is the beautiful old wooden barn. We believe it may have been built prior to the farmhouse. It was originally a dairy barn. Unfortunately, over the years it has begun to lean and the concrete walls in the lower half are beginning to crumble. It is our hope to restore it to its former glory so that it can house our future livestock.

Frontal side view of a large white barn with a hayloft
  • barn with a hayloft surrounded by overgrowth
  • front door to the barn
  • side of the barn where the stall doors are
  • side view of the barn to show leaning
  • dairy farm equipment in the barn
  • feeder built into the barn
  • pressure gauge
  • support wall crumbling
  • support beam nearly off the post

Hopes for the Future

As we look towards the coming years, we hope to restore the barn, make a few renovations in the farmhouse, and begin raising live stock such as chick, goat, sheep, and hogs on the property. In addition to livestock, we will be adding garden plots. We are excited to share our journey with you.