‘I Turned a 112-Year-Old Schoolhouse into the Mansion of My Dreams’

An Indiana mother who has spent the last five years transforming a 112-year-old schoolhouse into a dream home for her family is opening up about the highs and lows of that very lengthy renovation process—while detailing her ambitious plans for the future of the historic structure.

Before the massive renovation, 38-year-old Stacie Grissom lived in New York City for 11 years, working in content and marketing for pet product company BarkBox.

But when Grissom and her husband, Sean, welcomed their first son, they decided to move back to their hometown in Franklin, IN, to be closer to family. And when it came to finding the perfect family home, they had just one non-negotiable requirement: it had to be old.  

“I always loved old homes,” Grissom shares. “It was a natural thing, and then my husband grew up in a 100-year-old farmhouse here in Franklin, so it was just a thing that was part of us.”

However, neither of them could have foreseen just how unique their chosen abode would be.

“It just always was non-negotiable for both of us that we would get an old house,” Grissom adds. “We just didn’t know it would be such a weird, quirky place.”

In August 2021, while still living in New York, the couple purchased the schoolhouse for $175,000. Two years later, they relocated to Franklin and stayed with family while renovating the property, officially moving into their dream home in 2024.

A rich history

Built in 1914, the schoolhouse was originally named Union Joint because it educated children living on the outer edges of two school districts. Before Grissom purchased it, the building had not been on the market since the 1950s.

Situated on three acres, the 9,000-square-foot structure operated as a school until 1934. It was then converted into a barn that housed chickens, pigs, sheep, turkeys, and cattle until around 1956. At that point, a former student bought the property and transformed it into a family home, which remained in her care until Grissom acquired it.

“It wasn’t ever really abandoned,” Grissom explains. “It has truly been a building that has been loved by the community for a long time.”

Renovating the schoolhouse

Even though the building had been consistently maintained, major issues arose while Grissom and her husband were transforming the structure into a modern residential space.

The single largest hurdle was replacing the roof on the two-story residence. Because it had never been fully replaced, significant water damage forced Grissom to completely gut the interior before main renovations could even begin.

“We had to take down all of the walls and things that had been built by the previous owner,” Grissom shares.

Because the building was never intended for residential living, removing those interior structures was far from simple. The schoolhouse was built with thick, paver bricks originally designed for roads, making removal exceptionally difficult.

Once the damaged brick walls were finally cleared, Grissom began repairing the water-rotted roof and floor joists before putting on a brand-new roof.

“It is a dense building, and that has been good for it in many ways, and makes our lives difficult in other ways,” Grissom says.

Despite the heavy labor, the restoration process uncovered several hidden gems. While clearing out debris left behind by previous owners, the couple discovered historic artifacts, including a 1917 teacher’s guide for educating rural students.

Original architectural features like 13-foot ceilings and 96-inch-tall windows help every room to feel truly spacious, and flood the open-concept layout with natural light.

However, those massive proportions made standard home repairs nearly impossible to outsource.

“We couldn’t even hire a regular residential contractor because they would get here and they’d be like: ‘This is enormous,’” Grissom says.

The solution came via Grissom’s father, a construction industry veteran. Using his industry connections, Grissom secured commercial contractors to handle the scale of the building.

“Normally a residential person could never call a commercial contractor and hire them for a job because they wouldn’t want to mess with residential,” Grissom explains. “But because they know my dad, and they like my dad. They were like, ‘Oh, sure, this is a cute, weird little project.’”

Currently, the family lives on the top floor while the lower level, which sits partially underground, is being converted into guest quarters. The bottom floor also houses a workshop and a playroom nicknamed “the dungeon”—a title inspired by the word written on the door when they bought the property.

A future vision

To a general visitor, the top floor of the schoolhouse would look finished, but Grissom sees it differently.

“We’re never gonna be done because that was part of the excitement of taking on this kind of house is that there’s always a new idea to make something better or more interesting or add more layers of story to it,” Grissom explains.

While she originally dubbed the property “Schoolhouse Homestead,” her vision for the surrounding acreage has evolved beyond that of a traditional homestead, which she very quickly realized might not be a fit for her family.

“When you live in New York City, the idea of homesteading is very romantic and is just so different and exotic from daily life,” Grissom says. “So I named it Schoolhouse Homestead when we were still in that.”

Now raising three children, Grissom realized taking on livestock isn’t in the immediate cards. Instead, she focuses her outdoor efforts on planting a food forest, a wildflower meadow, and native landscaping.

“It’s more for a hobby,” Grissom shares. “If the world ended tomorrow, I would have like 17 tomatoes to my name.”

Building a community online

Grissom’s process of documenting the overhaul has captivated a massive audience, though digital storytelling is nothing new to her.

“I’ve always had little side hustles related to storytelling on the internet,” Grissom says. “So I’ve always just done that kind of thing, and I just started telling the schoolhouse story.”

Her social channels have exploded, gathering nearly one million followers on Instagram and roughly 500,000 subscribers on YouTube, turning her content creation into a full-time career.

“It’s a better job than I’ve ever had at a company,” Grissom shares. “I’ll get messages from people who are retiring teachers, and they’ll send me an old globe that they had in their classroom.”

Followers frequently send vintage classroom items addressed simply to “Schoolhouse, Franklin, IN.” But thanks to a familiar local mail carrier, those packages always find their way to her doorstep.

“I think people like adaptive reuse,” Grissom explains. “I think that there is a lot of value in proving that it can still be useful.”

Ultimately, Grissom’s approach balances historical reverence with practical modern living.

“I love old buildings, but I don’t think that the answer is to always preserve them exactly as they were because I think people change and needs change and this building would not be useful if it was just preserved as a school,” Grissom says.

“Sometimes, the best way to preserve something is to give a reason for it to exist again.”