The McMurry House

Not sure what’s crazier: working at this height all day and not flinching, or the fact that our chimneys never had true flashing until now.

This, plus removal of a portion of the roof that was completely rebuilt with EPDM, and we are now golden for the next 20 years at least…right? RIGHT? 😬🤪

Here’s something that’s not for the weak of heart: renovating the top floor of your home in its entirely while also living in it. 🤪

The third floor has been the bane of our existence since we moved in in 2017, and we are SO THANKFUL to finally have it done! We wanted to keep it light, bright and simple to act as a bonus room and additional storage and office space for the home.

It didn’t come without its challenges though:

The home was built in 1896, which means there isn’t a true straight line in the place, ha. So a lot of leveling was had.

The plaid carpet of my dreams was picked out, only to find out it needed a special installer and would add more than $10,000 to the bill. Hard no. 😂

It came with a total rerouting of ductwork throughout the house, which of course we promptly had done during the coldest snap Tennessee had seen in a while, leaving us dependent on space heaters.

The renovation found several roof leaks and issues, all being resolved now.

So listen, after all is said and done, the top 3rd of this house ain’t needing NOTHING for the next 50 years. 😂

Let’s talk about the exterior restoration and the years it took off my life. 😅 Part 1 of…probably lots. Let’s call this one the “series of unfortunate events.”

Roughly 60% of the siding needed to be replaced. We weren’t expecting it to be that high of an amount, but when you get into it, it’s one of those things where the only way to finish the project is to push through - no turning back! Just when we would think we were done, another piece would show its age, its deterioration, and its need to go. Then, it was back to calling our angel contractor to come out and finish it up. He probably hated seeing my number come across his phone back then - but he was so sweet and never made us feel like a bother. The entire restoration period outside (minus the painting) took almost 7 weeks. That’s how detailed it was.

We had one goal: save and accurately replace as much of the wood siding as we could - some dating back to when the house was built in 1896. However, anything that was more modern we opted to replace with hardy-board so we’d have more longevity there.

The best part was getting more insulation around the house. We took advantage of popping off siding to put in more protection from the elements.

For the kitchen especially, this created a WORLD of difference. Since we did this in 2021, we haven’t had a single frozen pipe in that area, which was once an issue. (Knocks on wood).

A throwback to our first Christmas in the house in 2017. So much has changed since then, but we are so thankful for every Christmas here. These big old homes were made for the season! 🎄

Meet the family behind Springfield's Pink House! We moved to Springfield in 2017 and quickly fell in love with the sweet historic district. We've since started a business here to help grow small businesses in our town, and of course, painted our Greek Revival pink!

Why pink? Jon and I (Lisa) were married in Savannah, Georgia. The lowcountry life is definitely our style, and the beautiful historic home colors have always been our favorites. When driving back on one of our many trips to and from Savannah since, we drove through Marietta, Georgia and were awestruck by a pink Greek Revival that looked similar to our home. We knew right then and there, it could be done and it would look fabulous. So, we made a plan and did!

99% of the town has loved it and been so sweet in sharing our joy over it. Some purists are still digesting it but it's okay, we love them anyways and thankfully they aren't paying our mortgage. 😉💕

All joking aside, our house was once a Victorian, and when scraping paint to do this paint job, the painters came across a variety of past colors other than white, including yellows and blues. When the facade was changed to the revival style it is now between 1909-1911, so did its paint job. We are excited to mix both of its styles in one now, giving it a nod to its past with a dash of pink.

This year has seemed to go by in a flash. Here we are, Dec. 11th, just getting our tree up after finishing our sweet community's Christmas Tour of Homes. It was the perfect motivation to finally get our decorations out and get to work.

Has anyone else had a bit more trouble finding the excitement to decorate after the last few years? We used to host a massive holiday party, "A Very Arnold Christmas" which would kick me into high gear come November 1 to get the house ready. But with the lack of gathering the last few years, I haven't been as motivated to go "all out."

I will say, this tree turned into three (two more went upstairs to glow from the windows) before the night's end. So maybe my jolly elf side is still in there somewhere. 💕✨

Moments before the storm rolled in.

Wondering why our column capitals are different? About 30 years ago, the story goes that there was an electrical fire that practically blew the roof off the house. In the process, it melted the outside column caps and they dripped down the columns. Thankfully, the owners loved the house enough to save it and built it back - and put in new electrical. They then replaced the column capitals with the decorative boxes you see now.

There are still burn marks on the floors upstairs from the fire, some that make the floor dip about a quarter inch.