This couple bought a 110-year-old schoolhouse with an unobstructed view for $175,000 and turned it into their family home – take a look inside

Stacy Grissom and Shawn Wilson lived in New York City for nearly a decade before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

In early 2020, Grissom was pregnant with their first child and worked in marketing at Barkbox, while Wilson was working as an orthopedic surgeon at a NYC hospital.

Grissom, seeing the state of the city during that time, realized he was ready to move back to Franklin, Indiana, about 30 miles from their hometown of Indianapolis.

“We had a reevaluation that people are the most important thing, so we wanted to go back to our hometown to be with our family,” Grissom told CNBC's Make It.

“We've got our chosen family in New York, and it's the best city in the world, but we have to go back to where our family was.”

A few months after their son was born, Grissom contacted a realtor friend in Franklin and asked him to start looking at “weird old houses.”

“I told him better, and to send us a fixer-upper,” says Grissom. “His father saw a school for sale and immediately said, 'Send it to Stacy'.”

Since Grissom and Wilson were still in New York City, they asked her parents to check out the property instead.

Grissom says the building was a school for local children between 1914 and 1934. After the schoolhouse closed, it was used as a barn.

Since Grissom's father had experience running a commercial real estate business, she knew he would give her an honest and expert opinion on the state of the school.

After getting his parents' approval, Grissom and Wilson made an offer to the schoolhouse sight unseen — and it was accepted within 24 hours.

“We wouldn't have bought it if my parents hadn't agreed because we knew we would need the whole village with such a project,” she says.

A week after Grissom and Wilson closed on the former schoolhouse, they saw it in person for the first time.

“I think I was a lot more naïve then than I am today, but I was very excited about it and its potential,” Grissom says. “You can see that there can be huge windows, tall ceilings and open spaces for a large family to gather on holidays.”

“It's like a Midwestern castle in the middle of some cornfields in Indiana. It's a beautiful little brick building that's home now,” he added.

After the couple closed in on the former schoolhouse, the real work began. By fall 2021, the couple stripped the school down to its bare bones, but a renovation they thought would take two years ended up being three.

The couple was still living in New York City.

“Things were a little slow going but then in February 2022 the new roof went on and things started to move but it took us three years because we were basically building a new house in an old shell of a building,” Grissom said.

The Grissoms declined to comment on how much the couple spent on the renovations but said they are still going through it and aren't quite done yet.

While cleaning the property, the couple and their contractor found random items, including a board that would hold old chalkboards with the words “Chicken Coop.”

“It was really cool to see because it was such a beautiful little school built by farmers for kids in this rural area. The community was really proud of the school,” Grissom said.

Although the couple had to start almost from scratch with the schoolhouse, they were able to keep the floors in a classroom, all brick, original doors and a water fountain that they are trying to restore.

“The time it took was definitely a big challenge and it was remotely difficult to renovate. I don't think we got into it, but now I know we're not renovating after that,” Grissom said. “We did it, and we're glad we got through, but no more old buildings for a while.”

Despite how difficult the renovation was for the couple, Grissom said her favorite part was getting to work with her father.

“Going through my dad's renovation boot camp was really cool, from how to work with other contractors to how to do the work ourselves. We learned a lot of trade-like things in three years,” she adds.

To pay homage to the former school, the couple used the same color that was originally painted on the walls when the school was still open. Grissom also created two mosaics for the entrance with the school's name and the date of its creation.

As for the decorations, Grissom said they're “trying to get as much school furniture back into the school as we can.”

Grissom admits that nothing about the renovations has been easy, but a highlight of the experience has been being able to focus full-time on being a content creator and sharing the Schoolhouse journey on social media.

“It was fun documenting the process and finding this old home renovation community online. I never thought my house could be a job,” she says. “It's nice to be able to make an income from something that tells a story and also get advice and have a community of people who like to restore old things.”

Amid ongoing renovations, the couple and their now two children moved into the home in September this year.

“Moving into the schoolhouse was easier than moving into our New York City apartment,” Grissom says. “It was nice to wake up and see the sunrise over the cornfield. There's going to be tornadoes here for a while, but it was really crazy to finally build a place that we've been thinking about for three years and pour it all out.” Our money, energy, sweat and tears.”

The schoolhouse now has four bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths, all on the 4,000-square-foot upper level. The couple still has a lower 4,000-square-foot sub-basement they're trying to figure out what to do with.

The best part about finally moving to the schoolhouse and returning to their hometown, Grissom said, is that her kids will grow up around their family.

“After living through the pandemic and all the stress and anxiety, we're faced with our mortality at a much earlier age than most generations and it's completely ingrained in my brain. My parents are healthy, we've got beautiful kids to look at, happy and just appreciating the little things. does,” he adds.

Since leaving a few weeks ago, Grissom said that when he realized it was a long road to go, he would go through it again.

“I never want to lose that naivety that tells us we want to buy a school and it's going to be our home,” she says.

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