'Houses with History': Mike, Jennifer and Rich give 1666 safe house a modern touch
'Houses with History' is a 2021 home renovation series. The show stars history know-it-all Mike Lemieux, professional carpenter Rich Soares and designer Jennifer Macdonald, a dedicated trio who takes up the challenge to rescue stunning vintage houses in Plymouth. Their primary mission is to save old properties in the area. The series is all about more than just renovating. They focus on preservation and helping restore the legacy of some of America's oldest historic homes.
The team works through Plymouth County and its surrounding wooded areas, south of Boston. They come across and transform 18th and 19th-century homes into brand new ones, all while preserving the house's natural history. For this motivated team, saving a home means saving a piece of history. What's more, they share all of that homes’ origins and renovation stories with us!
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On Episode 4 of 'Houses with History', Mike, Jennifer and Rich take a look at Shannon and Jace's home in MA, a fantastically well-maintained house built in the year 1666. "The Wilson Project", as Mike calls it, was the home of John Magoun. He was one of the first settlers and came here in 1665. The place also served as a safe house back in times of conflict and also to protect people at a time when colonists and natives were fighting for land.
Both Shannon and Jace, the homeowners have the same concerns. To start with, their kitchen is practically obsolete, the temperature in the drawing-room is so low that it's always freezing in there and the attic upstairs looks more like a storeroom to have things dumped. Another added challenge here is that Shannon mentions having a liking to a certain porcelain blue and all things white! Will the trio nail 'The Wilson Project'? (pun intended!)
Mike, Jennifer, and Rich discuss making a couple of changes that need to be done and take an extensive tour of the house to get a better idea as to where their renovation plans can work.
Full of ideas and having taken the homeowners' thoughts into consideration, the team gets to work. They decide to take down half a wall in the kitchen, thereby letting in more light inside. To accentuate the same, they paint the kitchen walls white with hints of Shannon's preferred porcelain blue to make the white really stand out and pop. In addition, they add some delicate details (like doorknobs, handles, showpieces) to retain the federal style features.
Next, the team adds a dormer on the roof so that the house has a charming touch to it, after which they begin to frame out the closet in the attic, to convert them into personal bathrooms with vanity sets. To add on, all the window shutters have been restored in better condition as well.
What once was a dark and cramped kitchen is now much more functional and bright white. Mike also adds leaded glass so that the place is lit up with natural light.
The attic upstairs has transformed into an organized closet space, along with "his and hers" personalized bathrooms. Moreover, they did such a great job with the renovation, the house is set to last at least another 350 years!
The renovation costs came up to a solid $150,000, and Miike, Jennifer, and Rich added that the Wilson Project is one of the oldest houses they have worked on.
'Houses with History' airs every Wednesday, at 9 pm ET/PT.