This Old House Chose Us — The Beechwood Revival Begins

There are some things in life you just can’t explain. This is one of them and now we are sharing our 100 year old home renovation. 

It started with a school transfer.

When my youngest son Easton switched from his private school in Ohio to Beechwood High School in Northern Kentucky, I’ll be honest, I was a little nervous. New school, new friends, a 40 minute commute from our farm on the east side of Ohio. It was a big change. But Easton plays football, and those late evening drives to practice that summer before his freshman year? They changed everything. Not because of football. Because of a house.

 

A few doors down from Beechwood High School, tucked back and a little forgotten by the world, sat this home.

And y’all — it called to me.

The Father of the Bride House

If you know me, you know I have a deep love for the movie Father of the Bride. The house in that film is classic, timeless, just feels like the perfect home. It has lived rent free in my heart for decades. It’s the kind of house that just feels like a dream.

When I saw this house near Beechwood High School, rundown, overgrown, clearly abandoned, I didn’t see the peeling paint or the neglect. I saw that house. I saw what it could be. I saw every single bit of its potential and more. And I just felt it in my heart the way you feel something that just belongs to you.

I turned to Daron and said, “Daron, I really want this house.”

He laughed. Bless him. He genuinely laughed and said absolutely not.

The One That Almost Got Away

Fast forward a few weeks into Easton’s freshman year, and the house hit the MLS. I saw the listing, I saw the price, and I went into full on mission mode. My sister had a realtor friend. We made a plan to go see it.

And then Daron and I had a blowup. A silly miscommunication about pickup, the kind of argument that feels huge in the moment and ridiculous the next day, and we had to leave before we ever made it inside. We saw the exterior. We sat with it. And then we went home.

A few months later, the listing disappeared.

I assumed it had sold. And I was heartbroken in that quiet, private way you are when you grieve something that was never technically yours. But I prayed over it. I really did.

I said, Lord, if this house is meant for us, you’ll make a way. If it’s not, I trust that too.

And I let it go.

The Phone Call That Changed Everything

By spring, Easton’s freshman year was wrapping up and we were deep in conversations about the commute. Forty minutes each way, every other day. It was wearing on all of us. I told Daron we needed to think about moving to Kentucky. I wanted to be close to the school, close to community, close to where our life was actually happening.

And that’s when I noticed the house again.

Still empty. Still sitting there. Why was no one living there if it had sold?

So I did what any completely normal, totally not obsessed person would do and I started digging. What I found was that the house had been pulled from the MLS, not sold. And the man who owned it? He happened to do his banking at the credit union where my mom used to be the manager.

She made a phone call.

He still had the house. He was planning to relist it.

I looked at Daron and I said, please. Just come see it with me. Let me show you what I see.

He came. I showed him my vision, every room, every corner, every possibility. And within days, we were sitting at a bank table, signing paperwork, paying cash.

The Beechwood Revival had begun.

Welcome to the Before: 100 Year Old Home Renovation

This first episode of the Beechwood Revival is exactly what it sounds like. The before. The raw, unfiltered, untouched before. I’m walking you through every room, every space, every beautiful imperfect inch of this 100 year old home exactly as we found it.

And I want to ask you something, because I’ve been asking everyone I know:

Would you renovate and restore like we’re doing, or would you have torn it down and started completely from scratch?

There is no wrong answer. I just want to know. Drop it in the comments, because I have a feeling this community is going to be very divided on this one.

Watch the first Beechwood Revival webisode below, come back every Sunday for a new episode, and buckle up because this journey is just getting started.

We have big, big dreams for this house. And I have a feeling it’s going to be special.

Don’t miss Episode 2, dropping next Sunday. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss a thing.

XO,