Vikki Bleise’s home is nestled snuggly in a refined neighborhood in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It blends in so seamlessly with its neighbors, that you would never guess it started its life as a much smaller house, in a location about a mile down the road! How is that possible? The home was claimed by the state of Minnesota under eminent domain in 1962. Vikki’s father had built the home by hand only ten years earlier, and he wasn’t about to see his work torn down. So, he decided to move the entire structure—kitchen sink and all!

House moving day was Halloween 1962. Vikki chuckles when she talks about that day, “I remember my mom was really spooked because she thought for sure some ghost was going to abscond with the house or something. It was just too ominous to move a house on Halloween.”

When they finally settled into the neighborhood, the home had trouble fitting in at first. It was smaller than the surrounding houses and more simply-designed. Throughout the years, however, Vikki’s father added a two-car garage, and two additions.

Vikki moved away for thirty years, but eventually decided to move back when she inherited the home in 2010. As she puts it, “There was just something that said to me, ‘This is where you belong.’”

When Vikki moved back, she was filled with joy, but she was also faced with a home that was in significant need of an update. She hired JP&CO to entirely revamp her home.

This is one of the most creative floor plans we have ever tackled. To make all the necessary changes, and ensure each space fit the owner to a tee, the entire first floor was stripped to the studs and many spaces were repurposed. The footprint remained the same, but the kitchen became the living room, the dining room morphed into the kitchen, three small bedrooms were transformed into the master suite, and the front door was moved. Many connections to the past were salvaged by reusing old decorative hardware and light fixtures, and repurposing old ceiling beams.