A 22-Year-Old Woman Revived Her Family’s 1832 Home And It’s Gorgeous

“My mother was ill, and there was discussion of selling it to developers,” Sidney explains, “But we were afraid that it would be demolished and made into an apartment complex or a strip mall… My childhood memories happened here.”

“When I was growing up, my mom, dad, and I lived on the second level, and my great-aunt (a firecracker known to everyone as Pie) lived on the first floor. She made baked goods for everybody in town and fixed lunch for my family each day. She taught me to cook. We were extremely close,” Sidney recalls from her childhood. It’s clear why Sidney is so fond of this house with the loving memories it holds in its walls.

So, just how bad was the house?

She explains it herself. “It didn’t have a shower because they didn’t have them in the 1800s. The electricity was never updated, so we had extension cords running everywhere. The house didn’t have central AC or heat. We lived with window units and gas heaters. We always set up our Christmas tree in the formal parlor, which was freezing, so we would gather there in coats, hats, gloves, and scarves to open presents.”

That’s when Sidney took it upon herself, with the little experience she had with restoring homes, to gather all the funds she had and work with a contractor to revive the 1832 home.