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In the summer of 2011, Sue's Dad, Chet, asked us to supervise a restoration project for him at his farm in Michigan's Thumb. He wanted to make several upgrades to the house and other buildings. Sadly, just as the project got going in full swing, Chet passed away. That meant that the farm became ours and the restoration project became our project.

This gallery shows gives an idea of what the farm house looked like before the project started, and during both phases of construction.

The project proceeded in two phases, phase one, which began in September of 2011, saw the house get new windows, new house wrap and new siding. The sun-porch was also rebuilt as a result of finding serious structural problems. A new roof was put on the garage at this time, too.

Susan and I continued to work on the inside of the house. We removed the plaster and lath in the dining room and office and stripped all of the carpet out of the house.

In February of 2013, phase two started in earnest, which involved gutting the interior of the first floor and completely rebuilding it. Serious structural problems were corrected, new plumbing, HVAC and electrical were installed. New drywall went up, the old wood floors were refinished, new trim and paint went in and the kitchen was finished with new cabinets, new appliances, new granite counter tops and accent lighting.

The project was nominally done by Memorial Day weekend in 2013, when we had guests up for the first time.