Our first home was a total DIY renovation on the corner of South Park.

It's a tale of two naive newlyweds. There was much blood, sweat, and tears, as well as a forever love of orangey-red brick and Billings' south side.

 

Built in 1907 as a single family home, the building was at one point split into 4 apartments for factory workers at the nearby sugar beet plant. Before our renovation it was 2 apartments, with the upstairs only accessible from an exterior stair.

 

We restructured the floors with steel beams in order to open up the living space, exposed the brick, tore out the ceiling, painted the exposed joists, and pulled up and refinished the original fir floor. We saved and repurposed old fir boards to build custom kitchen shelving, a bathroom counter and a feature wall with them. We reused vintage light fixtures, the existing clawfoot tub, built-in niches to highlight the old coal chimneys and left the existing doors in their candy colors of mint and pink. 

 

We were able to mix the vintage features with a sleek new stair and kitchen to embrace the best of what was already there as well as add tons of charm to create a modern home.