Schoolhouse Homestead

Projects

Schoolhouse Gear: How I’ve Been Designing & Making Custom T-Shirts, Patches, + More

April 7, 2023

Since we bought our schoolhouse in August of 2021, one of the most fun things we’ve been doing on the side is making fake uniforms, toddler letter jackets, athletic gear, crests, and other swag for it. It’s a completely ridiculous task, for sure, but it’s one of the things that has helped me pass the time as we are living in another city waiting for the professionals to…

Renovations• Youtube Episodes

Video Tour: Schoolhouse Homestead Episode 3

March 6, 2023

Finally got another YouTube episode edited and live on the progress we’ve made in the last year! Between moving to a new city, having a second baby in October, and all the demands of a full-time job… It took me a while to edit this from 4am-6am on random mornings. This process is intense and stressful but also very VERY excited about moving back home. I’ve also embedded…

History

Inside Hopewell Elementary in Franklin, Indiana

December 23, 2021

When we were home a few months ago for Sean’s sister’s wedding, we wanted to see if we could go inside our old elementary school, Hopewell, to get some design inspiration for the schoolhouse renovations. I reached out to the folks at Heritage Baptist College and they were kind enough to give us an afternoon tour! When we entered, it was so wild to see so many familiar…

Renovations

Schoolhouse Renovation and Restoration Phase 1: September 2021

October 16, 2021

It’s a little crazy to look at all of the progress that’s been made since we first bought the schoolhouse in August. In addition to video tour updates, I wanted to have a spot to capture the progress of the schoolhouse renovations in photo form because it can be a bit tricky to visualize everything just on our Instagram. Below I’ve divided the sections of the school into…

History

Hopewell School: A History by Charles B. Van Nuys

October 10, 2021

When Sean and I went to the Johnson County Museum of History a few weeks back, we had the goal of finding 1) as much information about Union Joint as possible and 2) find any history of other schools in the county so that we could use them as inspiration. As two Hopewell Elementary alums, and as someone who grew up in Hopewell Church, we were also super…

Renovations• Youtube Episodes

Video Tour: Schoolhouse Homestead Episode 1

October 7, 2021

video tour of old schoolhouse franklin indiana

A couple weeks ago we filmed a tour of the school to show the renovation progress so far. (Next time I’ll try to get my dad to join the commentary and it will make for a much funnier tour, but this time you’re stuck with just me and my iPhone. :)) We’ve already made a lot of progress since this was filmed with Robert Wilson and his amazing…

History

The History of Union Joint Graded School No. 9

September 13, 2021

Whenever we talked about our future home, we always knew we wanted to find a home with a story. We never expected we’d be lucky enough to find something with as much of a story as Union Joint Graded School No. 9. Union Joint was built in the early 1900s to serve children from the farthest corners of two neighboring townships, Nineveh and Franklin. The thinking was that…

History• Renovations

We Bought a Schoolhouse!

September 10, 2021

A big life update from our little family- Sean and I bought a schoolhouse in Franklin! We feel so lucky that the Indiana town we both grew up in has thrived in the 10 years since we’ve been gone. We always planned on moving back to the Midwest, but after Arlo was born, the Midwest narrowed to Franklin. The place where we grew up, met, fell in love…