It’s a massive project, but the end results will be so worth it. I can’t imagine living in an old school!
Stacie Grissom and Sean Wilson moved out of their hometown only to find out that there was no place like home.
The two high school sweethearts grew up in Franklin, Indiana, then moved to New York City to chase their dreams.
Ten years and two kids later, they returned to their Midwest hometown.
They didn’t know that a dream restoration project would bring them back home.
Stacie was looking for the perfect project to restore an existing old building to be their family home.
She had a realtor to help her search for this and has saved up for it. Her realtor emailed her with the subject line, ‘Don’t judge me.’
Her heart instantly jumped when she saw the photo of the building.
After all, it was one she had known for a very long time.
It was a very familiar building for someone who grew up in Franklin.
It was an old school that was up for sale for $175,000.
Stacie’s parents checked the school; all it took was for her father to say, ‘This is doable,’ for her to hand over all her savings and buy the building without even having checked it.
She told RTV6:
“We bought it without seeing it ourselves.”
It was the Union Joint Graded School No. 9, and Stacie and Sean were determined to make it their home.
It’s a massive building.
The entire school building has 10,000 square feet of space for the couple to work on, with most of the parts needing to be replaced into new ones – windows, roofs, and so much more.
Needless to say, they had the work cut out for themselves, but the couple is in no hurry to finish this.
They put more importance on honoring the building’s history than anything.
Stacie went to the Johnson County Museum of History and discovered that the school building had been there since 1914 and had functioned as a school for over 20 years.
She found photos of how life was in that building: wagons and horses were used to drop kids off at school, a part of the house was used as a barn, and the living room housed some turkeys.
Stacie used that to inspire a fun nod at its old residents.
She had shirts and jackets made and used the moniker “Home of the Gobblers,” and we think that’s cute!
But her efforts to honor the school did not end there; she consulted an expert – and an old hometown friend – to help with her design decisions.
Danny Causey was the perfect person for the job.
Aside from creating the digital renders of their house plan, he also owns Madison Street Salvage which supports the nonprofit Franklin Heritage Inc.
Danny helped create a design for Stacie’s home that would preserve the historical factors of the school while designing a homey interior filled with antique furniture and fixtures that matches the school’s age and time.
This may be a huge undertaking, but Stacie and Sean are determined to make this a home.
They even have an Instagram page called “Schoolhouse Homestead” where they share photos of their incredible journey.
It is important for the couple to restore and save this old school building from being demolished because they know it meant a lot to the locals, especially those who had memories and stories to tell about their time in Union Joint Graded School No. 9.
This is still a work in progress. Still, we bet their house will look fabulous!