Country School Association of America
Early on in the school house renovation I discovered the Country School Association of America (CSAA). If old schools are your thing (and they are way my thing), then it’s pretty cool! At first I just read their website and Gramp gave me one of their books. Now I’ve had the chance to meet a few members and talk school house, yippee!
screen shot from CSAA website, check it out at countryschoolassociation.org
Two of the CSAA board members happen to live in Washington County. Locals may be familiar with history buffs Dale and Joan Prouty. For months people have been telling me I need to check in with them. We’ve finally connected and I’m learning more and more about local school houses.
New Friends
I’ve made a few far reaching friends through the CSAA as well. One of them actually messaged me last weekend to tell me they were driving through New York and would love to see the school house. The timing was perfect and fellow school house owner Nancy G. from Minnesota and her husband Paul stopped by and spent about an hour with us trading school house stories. 
Top – myself, Nancy and Gramp, Bottom -Nancy and Paul are awesome, they brought us some beer from the Mid West. Gramp immediately took possession of it!
Nancy’s school house is in the prairie style and was originally white. She reglazed all the windows herself! Check it out!
Nancy’s schoolhouse is located next to her family’s farm in Minnesota
Work Site Update
Gramp is hard at work on the awning rebuild. We’re working with Snell Septic on our septic system design. Mr. Snell and his son Ryan completed our perc test last week. They actually did some work on our house in the village recently as well. I never thought I’d know so much about septic systems…
awning before
awning in progress
Snell Septic visits the school house
What Exactly Have I been Doing?
Haha! If you’ve been following my personal facebook you know I’ve been in North Carolina for a wedding and have been trying to live the frugal life and save my pennies for the school house. I realize those things don’t exactly sound like they go together (travel is expensive). I am also becoming addicted to auctions and estate sales, I’m still unpacking my house from the move, and doing several home improvement projects.
Hello! What About the School House??
Gramp’s been putting in a lot of the hard labor lately. I did spend an afternoon pulling nails…fun! I’m thinking about design and will be testing out a few potential school house paint colors in my own home very soon. I’m also working on additional funding for the school house. Gramp has very high end tastes!
I pulled nails out of shiplap for a whole afternoon…if anyone wants to help let me know!
I’m thinking “Cow’s Milk” from Olympic for the window trim and “New London Burgundy” by Benjamin Moore for the door. What do you think?
What’s Going on Outside?
Landscaping and yard maintenance is truly ongoing. We did get a large pile of dirt spread out and filled in a dip in the land, so now we almost have a front yard! It looks pretty good! We’ve got a couple more small trees to take down and we’re continuing to mow, mow, mow!
landscaping continues…
Gramp's Old School 