It takes more than determination and an eye for estate sale bargains to rehab an older home. Just ask digital creator and old home enthusiast Emma Kinghorn.
“You have to already love it, exactly as it is, or you won’t have the drive to fix everything that needs done,” Emma insisted. “Old houses speak to the same kind of owners, because you have to appreciate the style and the history to even buy it. They aren’t a blank canvas you can turn into your own personal style. They were designed to look and function exactly as they are, and if you try to change the aesthetic, you’re going to ultimately change and diminish the structure.”
For Emma, divine timing met determination during the pandemic.
“We went driving around Bemis Park looking at homes and saw this house, and agreed that if it ever went up for sale we’d go for it.”
A month after first agreeing to keep their eyes on the property, it was listed.
“We were the first to see it, and it wasn’t in great shape. There was wallpaper everywhere—not the pretty antique kind, but the ’80s outdated kind. The entire back yard was sliding into the house. We fell in love right away.”
While it may sound like Emma has a thing for a fixer-upper, she actually has an eye for an incredible investment and excellent bones.
“I just feel like old houses have a way of speaking with you. The previous owners in the early 1900s have the same wedding anniversary as we do. They were from the same part of Wisconsin I am. This house wanted someone who was going to recognize and respect its identity, and all of the changes we’ve made have been ways to honor the house. Things it felt like the house wanted us to do.”
Emma understands the energy of the house, not through crystal balls and tarot cards, but through elbow grease and research. In addition to undertaking the task of restoring the historic 1890s home back to its original glory, she set to work learning about the people around whom the home was built.
“I went to the Recorder of Deeds’ office and dug through city records and censuses. I found some of the owners through Ancestry.com. The Durham Museum has a few pictures of our house on display, and we even got in contact with the descendants of the family who owned the home in 1916.”
Using the old photographs she gathered, Emma was able to see the home as it was originally intended.
“Previous owners used a lot of country blue, painted the fireplace white, very HGTV kind of ‘updates.’ This isn’t an HGTV house, and those updates don’t hold up against the original stained glass and antique hardware.
“Our media room was likely our second biggest undertaking, and that was my fault,” Emma confided. “We decided that the first year we had the home, we would host Thanksgiving dinner. I started steaming the painted wallpaper in that room and the walls started melting. You have to ask yourself, do I bail and do this later when I have time, or do I see this through and do it right the first time?”
Emma opted for the labor-intense option and began painstakingly removing the drywall with industrial glue, repairing the plaster, and installing an updated William Morris print wallpaper.
“This room is right in the center of our home, so deciding to take it apart made the entire home chaotic and miserable,” she shared. “But now it’s my absolute favorite room to be in.”
The pair’s biggest undertaking, however, wasn’t inside the historic home at all.
“The yard took a month and a half, and only because Ben’s family are experts,” she beamed. “They own Kinghorn Gardens, and it was such a relief to have this team come in and know exactly what to do, because it was an overwhelming project. Bemis Park was the first neighborhood not to follow the predetermined grading system. We have 25 steps to our front door, and 32 to our garage. They brought in 200,000 pounds of stone to create retaining walls, a three-tiered back yard with an entertainment level, what will ultimately be a native plant garden, and a fire pit.”
Nate Ochoa Farho, Install Project manager of Kinghorn Gardens, remembers the project well.
“It was a huge undertaking, turning such a daunting back yard into a usable space,” he said. “The home has mature trees throughout and along the property line that we had to work around and incorporate, and the grading was absolutely a challenge to accommodate. The yard was so steep, they couldn’t use it at all, except as a means to get to their garage at the top of the incline—but Kinghorn is a really great team, and a lot of the people I get to work with have decades of experience and an ability to see not only the potential problems, but the true potential of a space. They’re incredible to work with, and they did an amazing job on this really unique project with a lot of respect for the space and the land they were working with.”
As the home continues to come together, Emma finds it drawing more attention. Not only through her digital diary of the process, but from home renovation shows and programs interested in featuring her progress.
“They reach out asking for a timeline [and] when they think we’ll be finished. This isn’t that kind of house, and this isn’t that kind of project. We will be building with this home for life.”
The Kinghorns’ progress can be followed on Instagram at @OldHouseOmaha.
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2024 issue of Omaha Home Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
