Saturday Spotlight: Meg from Farmhouse 5540

Hi, everyone! Every Saturday Kris (Junk Chic Cottage) and I each spotlight a blogger where they tell us a little bit more about themselves so we can get to know the person behind the blog.

I'm  pleased to introduce to you Meg from Farmhouse 5540!  I can't remember exactly when I found Meg's blog, but I was immediately smitten!  Her style is true, pure, rustic farmhouse...a look that I just adore.  Also, I really admire Meg and her hubby for all of the hard work and physical labor that they've put into restoring their home-quite a feat!  Please sit back, relax, and enjoy getting to know Meg better!

First I want to say thank you to Susan and Kris for the invitation to be the guest blogger this Saturday! I have to admit I was a little hesitant at first. I am an extremely private person, I mean I could talk about decorating till the cows come home but talking about myself?...that is another thing all together. I don't even have my picture on my sidebar of my blog because it makes me feel uncomfortable. But my sister-in-law was recently encouraging me to share more about myself on my blog in hopes that it would gain me more followers (she is who encouraged me to even start blogging in the first place so I figure I should listen to her) so I thought why not do it...I mean I share my home on the internet why not share some stuff about me?

My husband, son and I have lived in our farmhouse in Pennsylvania for 5 years. My husband, Neal, and I are both 33 and met in college. We have been together 13 years, married 9. We both come from incredible families and nothing is more important to us than them. Neal is an assistant principal of a high school but if you follow my blog you know he is also a carpenter, plumber, electrician, stone mason, master of all trades basically. If you asked us what our favorite thing to do was our answer would definitely be spending time with our families, but we also love going camping and going to concerts (music is a huge part of our life). We are happiest though, together in our house tackling the latest project or renovation, having the same work ethic and go for it attitude makes us a really good team.

This is Neal and me in Chicago this past summer, we went to Lollapalooza and it was actually the first trip we had taken just the two of us in over 6 years. 

The most important thing to me is being a wonderful mother and nothing brings me greater happiness than my son, Eli. Once I had him it felt like my life clicked into place, for me there is just nothing better than being a mom. Sorry if this is sounding cheesy, that was not my intention:/

As far as moms go I have one of the best, we are super close and she is my best friend. We are very similar and count on each other for a lot, plus she is tons of fun and always up for anything. My favorite thing is when she comes to stay and we hit all of the thrift stores and yard sales. She started taking me to the flea market with her when I was little girl and I have loved it ever since. My mom has great style and has always had a beautiful home, our styles are very different but I have learned so much from her. She always did everything herself, all the gardening, painting, sewing, canning, I have never known a harder working woman or a better role model.

This is my mom and me at an Edward Sharpe concert, that was such a fun night.

Ever since I was a little girl I have been obsessed with earlier harsher times. I was always pretending that I was on the prairie or crossing the Oregon Trail and that we had to make do with whatever we had around. Not surprisingly the Laura Ingalls Wilder books were my favorite (she was born the year our house was built, how neat!). Well not much has changed, I am still obsessed with the way of life in the 1800's and love decorating with things from that era.

For me there are just never enough hours in the day. I love to decorate, think about decorating, renovate, paint, organize, clean, repurpose, reuse, search for old good stuff, and most off all to make things that people don't see any potential in beautiful. Not many people would have seen the potential that our farmhouse was just waiting to show off but I did the minute we pulled into the driveway. Most people thought we were absolutely crazy when we decided to buy it, our parents and realtor especially, but Neal and I were up for the challenge. I had always dreamed of having my very own farmhouse/fixer upper and I couldn't wait to get the house to the point where people could actually start to see the true beauty (and not think I had lost my mind anymore). Although we still have lots of embarrassing areas to tackle (mostly exterior now), I am starting to feel like we are getting somewhere lately.

We have done every single ounce of work on our house ourselves, and have yet to hire anyone for anything. This was our biggest project to date...

We tore the back of our house off this summer and rebuilt it from the foundation up. We always try to salvage as much possible, if there is anything I hate it is when people buy an old house but then take out everything old. Sadly we had to take this room down to the studs, but we were able to reuse the floor at least.

This is what it looks like now from the inside...

This is the before picture taken from the very same spot....

As for inspiration I get most of it from all of my old issues of Country Home, why they stopped publishing that magazine I will never know. Nancy Fishelson's work is utter perfection to me and a huge inspiration, I wish they would publish a book of all her houses. I also get inspiration from all of the wonderful bloggers out there, each with their own unique style. Decorating books, magazines and also movies give me great inspiration as well.

I like to keep a clean, simple and rustic look and I don't like much color. You may have seen color pop up in my blog here and there, I always think I will try it out but then I quickly tire of it and can't make it go away fast enough. In the first house we bought I painted the walls bright yellow, wow have I changed since then:) Our farmhouse rambles on and on and I have found that keeping things pale and neutral creates a much more calming and cohesive space.

In my down time I love to read or watch a good movie. Some of my favorite novels to read involve a woman enduring some sort of hardship. A few of my favorites are Those Who Save Us, A Parchment of Leaves, and Gap Creek. I also love to read about history and am specifically fascinated by the Civil War, 19th and 20th century American history and the Holocaust. I always loved history class and I try to learn a new piece of history everyday. Some of my favorite movies are Cold Mountain, Glory, The Assassination of Jesse James, and The New World. I find most television atrocious but I love PBS and Rehab Addict (Nicole is my hero). I also love cooking, baking, camping, gardening, and just being outside in general.

I want so badly to have my own shop someday, I have a whole attic and garage stashed full goodies in hopes of that day. Even if I could sell at a big Antique/Flea Market I would be ecstatic. In the meantime my Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/FarmhouseSupply is a great way to sell the smaller things I find in my hunts.

Blogging has become a great way for me to share my ceaseless passion, and I have made so many wonderful friends in the process. Other than my sister I never knew anyone that thought about decorating and DIY as much as I did. Thanks to the blog world there is a giant network of us now, you guys are the best.

Okay, I have gone on about myself long enough, but in the words of Chevy Chase (actually Clark W. Griswald) "I'm gonna do it right and I'm gonna do it big", that's my motto....thanks for listening.

Meg, I'm so glad that you stepped out of your comfort zone and decided to do this post!  It was great learning more about you (and finally seeing a picture of you! :)  I can relate to your relationship with your mom, too-my mom is my best friend!
Please stop and visit Meg at Farmhouse 5540 then hop over to Kris's blog and read about Patty at Patty's Pretty Things!
Have a wonderful day!