From Frumpy to Fabulous Farmhouse

Last summer and fall, my daughter, her husband, and a builder friend renovated an early 1930's farmhouse next door to their church and transformed it into a youth house, "The Mustard Seed".

The house has undergone two renovations. Here is the house before the first renovation. Over the years, the "picture windows" and the "colonial" front door with sidelights and semi-circular fanlight were added, as well as fake shutters and a makeshift connection between the home and an added-on two-car garage.

And here is the home after the first renovation.

In the current restoration, four-over-four style windows appropriate to the style and age of the home were chosen to replace the ground floor picture windows and uneven-sized windows on the second floor.

Skinny front porch posts were replaced with beefy square columns.

The crumbling front porch floor...

 and steps 

were rebuilt.

A pair of refurbished doors replaced the "colonial" front door, semicircular fanlight and sidelights.

The makeshift connection between the added-on garage and the original farmhouse was torn out leaving a covered passage.

Outdated shiny brass door details and light fixtures were exchanged for...

black, size-appropriate light fixtures and mailbox.

Two black porch swings replaced an out-of-date glider.

As the exterior of the house was getting a facelift, the grounds were getting a makeover, too.

Over-grown bushes were torn out. Wheelbarrow loads of top-soil and mulch were added.

Reclaimed bricks were laid to outline the beds.

The Mustard Seed also got a coat of white paint (Swiss Coffee by Benjamin Moore).

The broken up driveway was repaved and a brick lined sidewalk was added up to the new front steps.

Large stone pavers were laid in gravel to lead visitors to the backyard.

Where there were once an assortment of chairs and makeshift log seats, now black rockers welcome teens to gather around the fire pit.

What a transformation! My next couple posts will give readers a peek inside at the metamorphosis to the main floor and upstairs. The interior is just as amazing.  

Parents of teens in this community are hopeful that wholesome friendships forged under the supervision of godly adults at The Mustard Seed will prevent the scourge of teen drug addictions sweeping our country. You can listen to a podcast by the pastor on the church's vision for youth in suburban Kansas City  (https://vimeo.com/201607741?ref=em-v-share).