Of all of our projects, this one definitely stands out as what you would call “a labor of love” (emphasis of the labor part), 5-years of labor, to be exact, that began in 2014. It all began on a whim one day (we were living in our nice newly built home) when I decided to go take a quick peek at a dumpy old lakefront bed & breakfast on 10-acres that was nearby and about to go into foreclosure. After an initial visit to the property, I took my husband there to see it. We stood there in the living room of the dilapidated B&B (not to mention me with a big pregnant belly) and I said, I wanna live here!. My husband, not quite yet convinced we should be moving, saw the crazed look in my eyes said, ‘oh boy, here we go again’.

A year later, after negotiating the price with the bank, we were the proud new owners of a great property that needed a lot of work. There was water damage, an overgrown wooded beachfront, and literally every part of the house needed to be remodeled. We even remodeled the barn and built a massive chicken coop on one of the stone foundations on the property. The home has five bedrooms and six bathrooms, with the main section being an old farmhouse that was moved there decades ago, and a large addition which was done in the mid-nineties. The design style we chose was a modern farmhouse style, inspired by who else but Joanna Gaines, who had recently burst onto the design scene. We refinished all the hardwood floors and painted pretty much everything inside white. One unique feature we added was a butlers pantry that made great use of an otherwise bizarre kitchen nook. The list of work we did there is endless…

Reflecting back on the project, it took some convincing to talk ourselves, and our kids into the idea of moving into the place, given the condition of the home, but we have so many wonderful memories there, and we didn’t want to leave…but such is life, on to the next adventure. We will forever hold this place in our hearts.