5 “Must Have” in a Farmhouse

A farm house is not a typical home. There are a few things that make it work better for some of your basic needs. Here are a few tips I would like to suggest.

Five “must have” in a farmhouse

Driving through neighborhoods and city streets I see many homes that are so beautiful with well manicured lawns and perfect flower beds. I love to look at how pretty they are. But lets face it are they really practical for a farmhouse.

A farmhouse needs to be easy to clean, and the space needs to be useable because what farmwife has a lot of time to clean and keep things in order perfectly.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my house to be clean. In the summer time it is a little harder because of the work I have to do outside. In the winter time mud gets tracked in making it a difficult task. With these simple ideas it can help make your job a little easier.

These are not in any particular order and there are definitely way more than 5 must haves on my list!

1st Must Have:

A mud room, I promise you it helps keep the mud right there. In our home I insist everyone take their shoes off at the door. It not only keeps the rest of my house cleaner, it also helps to preserve the shine on my hardwood floors.

My mud room has tile. The tile makes it really nice to clean. Even if I don’t get the mud, snow or dirt cleaned up right away it just sweeps right up easily after it is dry. A big rug at the door also helps catch hay, dust and other things that comes in.

In a mud room it is important to have a place to hang coats, hats and a place for boots out of the walkway. A built in locker for each kid or for each person to put their hats, boots, backpacks, pocket knives and maybe even all of the rocks out of their pockets. I am sure if you have kids you have seen all the treasures they love to bring in with them.

2nd Wash Tub Sink

I have a wash tub sink with a storage cabinet underneath in my mudroom. It is one of the best things I added to my home. As you know sometimes on a farm lots of things need to be washed. I don’t necessarily like to have everything washed in my kitchen sink.

The wash tub sink is a great place to wash the eggs when you bring them in the house. It also works great to wash the calf bottles or a bottle of any other animal you may be feeding at the time. At any given time I have bottles, syringes, and other things that have been used on the animals.

My wash tub sink works great to wash my wool and fiber in. And occasionally parts to a tractor a truck gets washed in the sink. And as with any farm lots of greasy dirty hands.

A wash tub sink close to the back door is a top priority on my list!

3rd Must have

I think this is one of the most important must haves! It is really handy to have the bathroom right there off the mudroom by the back door. Our bathroom has the toilet and the shower in a room. It is not really a big bathroom but works perfectly for our needs.

Having the bathroom so close to the back door stops a lot of dirt being tracked through the house to the bathroom. It is also nice when someone comes in covered with dust, straw or whatever else they were working on, to be able to take a shower without going through all of the house.

A bathroom by the backdoor is a top priority for me.

4th Must Have

This must have is in my kitchen. I have a large deep two sided sink. It may not be the prettiest sink because it is really old and came with a set of metal cabinets. The cabinets went to the shop but the sink came in here.

This sink is a really great addition to my kitchen especially when I am working on canning projects. There is plenty of room for lots of produce as well as all of the big canning pans you need to wash.

I love the fact that a large cookie sheet can be put into my sink and washed easily. I can also wash a 5 gallon bucket in the deepest side.

The deep two sided sink is perfect for making cheese, straining milk and any other cooking need you may come up with.

5th Must Have

This must have isn’t really anything to do with the functioning of the house but is something we enjoy very often after a busy day. A big covered front porch.

Our front porch we use so much. I have a swing hanging from the rafters that I enjoy swinging on. We have 4 other chairs with a small round table. Plenty of room when joined by others to visit.

Eating ice cream with my granddaughter while taking a break on my swing in the afternoons. It just doesn’t get any better than that.

FarmHouses

Wether you are in process of building a new farm house or just remodeling one. I hope these suggestions will be helpful.

While I love the looks of the new houses, you need to be practical when working on a farm house.

What “must haves” are on your priority list? Let me know I would love to hear.