Hurd Schoolhouse Renovation

12/25/2022

Merry Christmas from the Hurd Schoolhouse! We pray you are able to celebrate with family and friends today. Stay safe and warm!

08/22/2021

I talked a lot about dreams. My dream for the Schoolhouse was a complete wall of bookshelves. And I meant floor to ceiling - waaay up high. After all, it’s a SCHOOLhouse, right? And I love books. I could fill the shelves. (Seriously). I drew up plans, and craftsman Lawrence Bledden made it happen. He not only perfected my plans, but made them better. The shelves are on floor level and in the bell tower loft accessed by a spiral staircase. Thank you to Lawrence and his team!

08/21/2021

Thank you Domina for recommending Glass Studios for the stained glass reproduction of the front and interior French doors of the foyer. The work is amazing, and Mr Allison did a beautiful piece of artwork that flows with the history of the building and adds light and color. We highly recommend this craftsman to you all!! See a couple of before/after photos below.

08/15/2021

And here is a view from the other direction! This project has been a joy, and we are so thankful for all the highly talented folks who worked with us to make it so beautiful!!

08/15/2021

It’s been a long road, but the Hurd Schoolhouse renovation is complete!! I am sorry we can’t take you all for a tour, but I will be posting a lot of pictures for you soon!! In the meantime, here is a before, where I am dreaming and envisioning the completed project, which you can see below!! Bonus points if you can spot where we put some of the original chalkboards!

08/05/2021

So close to completion!! I really wish we could invite you all out for an open house, but I don’t know yet if I can swing it. I will have more photos and videos for you all super soon. Here is another teaser - we used some of the original chalk boards as the backsplash in the kitchen!

07/21/2021

More teasers.. fixing the front entry! We love Laing Masonry!!

06/24/2021

More updates coming soon - and here is a photo/teaser!

02/23/2021

10. Did I mention that dreaming is an important part of this process? LOL.. I never stop, and I would love to invite you to join me. (insert groans from my family here, lol) I am dreaming of turning the '1886' plexiglass/painted transom above the front door to a stained glass rendition of the year 1886! I would love to see this done locally so if you know someone (or if you are that someone 🙂 ) please message me to talk about the possibility. Also, I am dreaming of new front doors... I can buy some from a box store locally - or find a craftsman who can do justice to the building! Again, drop a message through the page if you are interested. We love working with local folks - who then become part of the journey!

02/23/2021

9. Permit - check. Plans - check. Now let's dig us some dirt!
Since we are putting a 19x24 addition off the side of the Schoolhouse we are going to DIG. Thankfully the weather helped us out back in Nov/Dec of 2020. Mr. Weiler of Weiler Excavating, along with several young men we know, were able to dig out the area for the foundation of the addition. There was an old well in front of this area that had to be removed. It had a huge concrete square in the ground with a concrete slab cover! No, we didn't find anything historically interesting while we were digging. Yes, this is in front of the Cemetery - and no, we didn't disturb anyone past, present, or future! It was a challenge, however. We had to dig 3 feet out from the existing Schoolhouse foundation, and be sure to support that base so the Schoolhouse wall wouldn't cave in! We hadn't yet done any work on the actual building itself at this point other than removing the contents that were left behind. I do have a couple of schooldesks left that we are thinking about refinishing and offering for sale if anyone is interested!

02/19/2021

8. There are already so many people we are thankful for that have helped this project along in so many ways. I am trying to create these posts in the order of occurrence - and appreciate your patience as a try to remember all the things that have happened! The next step in our journey were THE PLANS... and this was a tough process. I (Jessica) have SO many ideas that my wonderful husband and many others work hard to reign in. Our friend Kim Dahlgren was instrumental in getting us started - and then Mary Swanson of Swanson Design Studios in Lansing fleshed out our ideas and made them work with the existing structure! I am so thankful for them both.

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