Welcome to our project of turning this beautiful church
building into a home. We started this in July 2007
 and it has been an adventure in learning completely new skills,
getting over fear of heights, using proper equipment, and safety ropes
 and harnesses, and to keep the goal of completing this at a
minimum of spending while keeping the quality high. In short, Michelle,
 Carol, Tony, Kris and I (Steve) with help and assistance from many
 have completed this goal through perseverance!

I found this property on a bike ride, it called me back three times (I kept trying to leave and forget it)
and I knew it was going to happen. I was going to fill my dream of restoring a historic property. I just did not know what I would do with it. We were thinking... just a country retreat and keeping it very simple. Then Michelle's pioneer spirit came out and she decided that she would live there someday when she found the love of her life. So the journey began and came to pass with a beautiful ending.

Take a look at the slides below to see the progress, this is a new format of using flash to create slides. This keeps the website easier to manage and reduces space used to store all these photos. Hope you enjoy and feel free to drop us an email if you have any questions or comments.

email steve@dazzlingmills.com

Above are the original photos along with some of the work of getting the building ready to make it into a home. Things to notice are, the dropped
ceilings and carpeting had to go. The original arched ceiling was hidden and the carpeting was given to a family in need of it, and we wanted to go
back to the original wood floors. The original alter was extended across the entire front, the smaller rounded alter was restored to how it was. 

When the dropped ceiling was removed the plaster was so crumbly that it was beyond repair. One of my brilliant ideas was to put tongue and groove
pine flooring on the entire arched ceiling. This only took four months at 8 hours a day! Hard work paid off as it is beautiful.
The added  alter wood was used on the kitchen walls and to wrap the spiral stairs with a curved wall. this wood was added to the church in 1927 we believe.
A loft was created and this gives the kitchen a space of its own as well as adding a bedroom and bathroom. We kept the original atmosphere of the church
by not blocking the windows and building around them to let them have room to shine in. The floors are currently being stripped as well as the wood trim.

There was lots of cleanup and maintenance that had to be done to the outside property. A bucket truck was a must as well as a storage
space. An iron fence and pine trees were added to define the parking area and future driveway. The bell tower needed better access and
we added balconies out of them to be able to enjoy the incredible views from up there. The windows are one by one being restored. There
is plenty to be done, and there has been a lot done!

We restored one side of the slate roof and replaced the other. I came so close to ripping off the slate and re-roofing with another material.
I was convinced by our team that I could learn to do this and then found two barns that were willing to give up their slate. I am so glad we
were able to keep this incredible historic material on the roof! It only took six months while the regular shingles would have been under a week!

Above are a few of the Sunday cook outs, birthday parties, juggling parties etc... as well as a bunch of good friends getting together.
The area around the property is so gorgeous, a river runs through just a mile down the road, a covered bridge crosses the river, an
old Indian mill is preserved for a museum, and the bike riding is second to none.

Completed project will be posted this fall as we hit the road right after the wedding. Come back.