FIXER-UPPER ON JOBE ROAD

My great-niece Nicki and her boyfriend Stephen are totally rehabbing the 1920s farmhouse where I grew up. We are so proud of the work they are doing and their vision for what will be. They have so many plans for the place! For starters, they are standing in what I knew as a bedroom, now transformed into a kitchen overlooking the living room.

Stephen and Nicki, seated, with my brother Tim and me standing. The kitchen now overlooks the living room. Once upon a time the site of the new kitchen was Tim's bedroom.

From the living room, looking into the former kitchen, left, now stripped of appliances and cabinets. It will be the dining room. The door leads out to the back porch and beyond that is the vintage summer kitchen. The door to the left used to be in a hallway and now opens to the living room / kitchen combination. Behind that door was my high school bedroom.

A selection of wallcoverings uncovered in the rehab, dating back, most likely to the 1920s. My brother Tim recalls the blue paper from when our grandparents lived in the home from the 1950s.

Ah... I'd recognize THAT view anywhere! Looking out on the Union County landscape of my youth.

I asked Nicki if this is her motto and she agreed that it "pretty much" is.

The newly created kitchen is coming together!

My great-niece, Nicki, lives in the house where I grew up.

Starting with my grandparents (her great-great-grandparents), she’s the fifth generation to live in the home. (There are six generations having called the property home, as Nicki’s sister and baby niece live nearby. Her uncle and family live on Jobe Road as well.)

A year ago when visiting this, my home place, Nicki shared the plans she had for fixing up the 1920s house.

On Facebook she has commented for the past year about some of her projects.

Today Brian and I, along with my brother and sister-in-law Tim and Jeannie, had an invite to come see not only the vision but the progress made by Nicki and her boyfriend, Stephen. They do all the work themselves and it’s pretty incredible.

I think it’s fair to say that we all were wowed by not only what they have done, but the way they were able to visualize their goals, and the skill they have shown in completely rearranging things I never could have imagined possible.

The small kitchen wasn’t updated or given a coat of paint. No, Nicki imagined a bedroom located behind the living room as the new kitchen. A wall went down, a rustic wooden bar from planks in the barn went up. The new kitchen overlooks the living room. The old kitchen was stripped of its kitchen-ness and will soon become a dining room.

Old living room windows were replaced with new ones that open and shut with ease and showcase pretty rural views outside. In fact, I wouldn’t have known I was in the same house where I grew up if not for those views when I looked out.

Nicki and Stephen have done more than what I’ve mentioned. They’ve added a laundry room, refinished original wooden floors and added a bedroom. They have so many more projects planned once they finish the living and dining rooms and kitchen.

HGTV is surely going to come calling at any time and make them stars.

I loved seeing, hearing and feeling the excitement they have for their projects. Ah, to be young and inspired as they are! I am excited for them and delighted that the old home place has new life and love out there on Jobe Road.

Thank you for asking us out. We loved it! We are proud of you!  Can’t wait to come back for the next installment.

You kids fix the turkey, we’ll bring the sides.

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