Made curious by an article with beautiful and inexpensive old houses in New York’s Catskills, Jason Oliver Nixon, and John Loecke decided to check out the area’s real estate. They found a 19th century 900-square-foot Federal schoolhouse listed at just $30,000. Three hours later they were exploring the run-down rental. It had no closets, second-floor ceilings so low you couldn’t stand erect, and layers and layers of wallpaper and paint. They bought it, convinced with a little elbow grease, they could bring it back to life, Loecke is after all, a decorator by trade. But just a week after closing, the pipes burst and the ceiling collapsed. Since they owned it now, they began a total gut renovation, doing much of the work themselves along with Jason’s uncle and father. A year later, the transformation “Monkey Cottage” was complete:

Jason: “We call it Monkey Cottage because it’s a place to monkey around. In the winter, we enjoy the snow that accumulates. And on summer days, we just putter around the garden.”
John: “I love the fact that we were able to give this old house a longer history. Everything that we’ve done to bring it back to life is in keeping with the original architectural style, but we’ve also managed to make it our own.”
Jason: “We call it Monkey Cottage because it’s a place to monkey around. In the winter, we enjoy the snow that accumulates. And on summer days, we just putter around the garden.”
John: “I love the fact that we were able to give this old house a longer history. Everything that we’ve done to bring it back to life is in keeping with the original architectural style, but we’ve also managed to make it our own.”

I have no idea how much the renovation cost, but at less than a thousand square feet, doing the work themselves, I’ll bet not that much. I’ve renovated a 19th century brownstone, a former church and my current place which once was a barn, so I know the joy of reclaiming what once seemed lost. Nice job, gents. (via Elle Decor)