Family transforms 100-year-old school into dream home in ‘chaotic’ 3-year renovation
A family has been renovating an old school in Indiana to make it their forever home.
Stacie Grissom and her husband Sean Wilson moved to Franklin, Indiana, in August 2021 after spending 10 years in New York City.
Grissom told SWNS the pair were looking for a place near their family where they could raise their two children, Arlo, three, and Margot, two.
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While looking for unique homes with quirks, Grissom said they came across an old, abandoned school from 1914, according to the family’s social media account @schoolhousehomestead.
After deciding to purchase the property and renovate it into their dream home, the family got to work.
"Our lives have been very chaotic [as] we have been raising two kids and doing a renovation," she said.
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The school was in rough shape when the family first purchased it.
Grissom said they had to strip the building down to its original bones.
"We put a new roof on, strengthened the foundations and placed new windows," she told SWNS.
The family also installed insulation and interior framing and built a kitchen all by themselves.
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On top of that, Grissom noted that supplies were slow to arrive due to the pandemic supply backup.
"Things took seven times longer than [we] originally thought they would take."
Over the last three years, the family has turned the school into a 4,000-square-foot home with four bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Although most of the house has been renovated with new materials, Grissom said they did refinish one of the classroom’s pine wood floors and have used second-hand items from old schools to decorate the home.
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In an effort to keep that nod to the original purpose of the building, Grissom purchased dining chairs from an old school in Slovenia.
Although the family is nearing move-in day, Grissom said this is "just the beginning."
"We have so many projects we want to do. We also want to add things to the home that celebrate the school [and] we want to put details in that will tell the story."
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She added, "I am excited to have Thanksgiving and Christmas here, make big meals and show people the beauty of Indiana."
The family has shared the renovation process on social media and have garnered over 882,000 Instagram followers on their account @schoolhousehomestead.
Fox News Digital reached out to them for further comment.