1620 timber frame - or is it a witch's hut?

My husband and I purchased a more than 400-year-old half-timbered house in Hornburg, Germany. The house once belonged to a hops-growing farmer and was built in the late 16th or early 17th century.
Read along as we are restoring, renovating, gardening and simply living in our wonderful home!

Of a new beginning and a new arrival...

Authors: Anna

I was lately considering to delete this blog due to chronic lack of postings. But somehow I couldn't, on the one hand because it shows part of the way we've come with our old house and on the other hand because of you, readers of this blog, who are still regularly checking back here after two years of complete silence.
Therefore, I...

Read more at 1620 timber frame - or is it a witch's hut?

Life over here...

Authors: Anna

No post since May on this blog...
Thanks so much for all of your lovely comments over the past few months - I'm really touched by so many of you checking back regularly on our blog!
There isn't actually much of an explanation for this long silence, just life treating us not too well lately. Nothing really bad happened, but still you...

Read more at 1620 timber frame - or is it a witch's hut?

Is love of old things hereditary?

Authors: Anna

... our son grows up in a house that is more than 400 years old; he eats in an antique high chair; he sleeps in an antique cot; he rides an antique rocking horse (well actually it is a rocking roe deer, but that is another story); he plays with antique building bricks ...
I think you get the idea of it. And it will be very interesting...

Read more at 1620 timber frame - or is it a witch's hut?

Hungry as a worm...

Authors: Anna

Another loooong silence over here, although I actually have a lot to post about. Being a working-and-diy'er-mom just leaves little time for blogging. We're all doing great and with our son taking his first steps, life became yet more exciting ;-)
We finally began to seriously work on the nursery, it's about time with the little one...

Read more at 1620 timber frame - or is it a witch's hut?

New windows, part III: Guardian angel

Authors: Anna

Shortly before Christmas, the new windows were built in, and the day the workers were here, a guardian angel watched over them (and us!). They leaned their ladder against the balcony in order to exchange the windows upstairs:


And a picture to give you an idea in what height that balcony is:

And this is what the place where their ladder...

Read more at 1620 timber frame - or is it a witch's hut?

A little king's throne

Authors: Anna

About a year ago, when I was just a few weeks pregnant, we bought a nice wooden highchair for our little one and put it away in one of our barns in order not to tempt fate.
By now our son is 7,5 months old and we took our midwife's advice, not to let the baby sit as long as he's not doing it independently. That happened these days...

Read more at 1620 timber frame - or is it a witch's hut?

Frost pattern - or: yes, it's cold!

Authors: Anna

First of all - although I know I'm late - HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you out there!

We've had fantastic winter weather for about two weeks now - snow and frost with lows of - 22°C. This showed us once again, how crucial good insulation and windows are. Or have you ever woken up to see frost patterns on your windows?



Or frozen and iced...

Read more at 1620 timber frame - or is it a witch's hut?

Tagged! Seven book facts...

Authors: Anna

I was tagged by Larry over at Simpson's Folly. Here are the rules of the game:
Share seven random or weird Book facts about yourself.
Well, this is an easy one for me, my pseudonym is "bookworm"...:
1. This is my oldest book:
Martin Opitz: "Collected works"


It was published in Amsterdam in 1646, so it is just slightly younger than our...

Read more at 1620 timber frame - or is it a witch's hut?

Fantastic find - antiquity in the garden

Authors: Anna

Yesterday, hubby planted about 100 bulbs - hoping that some of them will bloom in spring ;-). He ameliorated the soil with the pickax and suddenly he had the impression he was hitting a stone. But it wasn't a stone, it was this clay bottle:

After cleaning it, we discovered a stamp saying "Herzogthum Nassau" (Duchy of Nassau), a lioncel...

Read more at 1620 timber frame - or is it a witch's hut?

New windows, part II: Choice of contractor and formalities

Authors: Anna

The difficulty with our new windows is how to find a fine balance between conformity with preservation orders and modern comforts, especially concerning the energy balance.
Remember: We are a monument :-) and therefore we have to consider quite a lot of regulatory requirements. The most important ones are:
1. Windows must be outward...

Read more at 1620 timber frame - or is it a witch's hut?