Noted recently on Instagram: a snug family farmhouse in Saint Paul, Minnesota, replete with small wintertime pleasures.
“Our home is an old farmhouse built in 1906,” writes Emma O’Connor, a part-time nurse who is raising two children, Theodore and Luella, in the house with her husband, Brandon, a third-year medical student. The two are both originally from Minnesota, and the family moved in just a little over a year ago, in September of 2020. “One special piece of history we discovered recently: My husband’s grandmother grew up just a few houses down the block and was good friends with one of the girls who lived in our house.”
Since moving in, the couple has tended to it by hand—”all nonessential,” Emma writes, “but helpful in making the house feel like our own.” They’ve painted every room, redone the kitchen, ripped out carpet and old vinyl flooring, planted a garden, and filled the space with handed-down, pre-loved finds—and garlands and greenery for the winter months.
Join us for a look around.
Photography courtesy of Emma O’Connor (@emmaelizabethoconnor).
![inside, the front hall opens into the living area. \2\20;we, my husband 17](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/emma-oconnor-minnesota-house-living-2-733x978.jpg)
![a look into the dining room. \2\20;one way i love to ready our home for 18](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/emma-oconnor-minnesota-house-dining-733x977.jpg)
![how to weather a long, cold winter in saint paul? \2\20;i truly don 19](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/emma-oconnor-minnesota-house-dining-2-733x977.jpg)
![\2\20;all of our furniture is secondhand,\2\2\1; writes emma. &am 20](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/emma-oconnor-minnesota-house-living-733x977.jpg)
At right, a multi-purpose basket stores spare pillows and blankets; see more in Object of Desire: The Olli Ella Big Luggy Basket.
![the couple fully renovated the kitchen themselves, complete with a breakfast no 21](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/emma-oconnor-minnesota-house-kitchen-2-733x916.jpg)
![the stripped down, work in progress kitchen is fitted with butcher block counte 22](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/emma-oconnor-minnesota-house-kitchen-733x977.jpg)
![a shelf cum shaker peg rail, also painted in svelte sage, corrals the family&am 23](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/emma-oconnor-minnesota-house-kitchen-1-733x977.jpg)
![blue painted stairs lead to the attic. (the color? \2\20;a mixture made 24](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/emma-oconnor-minnesota-stairway-733x978.jpg)
The couple added bead board and peg rails throughout the house to period-appropriate effect. The walls are painted in Fresh Cotton by Valspar, the trim and bead board in Washed Cotton by Dutch Boy.
![\2\20;we removed vinyl flooring and refinished the wood floors upstairs, 25](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/emma-oconnor-minnesota-house-bathroom-1-733x977.jpg)
![the bathroom trim and peg rail are painted in retreat by sherwin williams. the 26](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/emma-oconnor-minnesota-house-bathroom-2-733x977.jpg)
![the couple\2\17;s bedroom: \2\20;our black metal bed frame origin 27](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/emma-oconnor-minnesota-house-main-bedroom-733x977.jpg)
![the nursery, for the youngest, luella, is fitted with secondhand finds and all 30](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/emma-oconnor-minnesota-house-nursery-2-733x977.jpg)
![proof that a playroom needn\2\17;t be filled with plastic or garish colo 31](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/emma-oconnor-minnesota-house-playroom-2-733x882.jpg)
![\2\20;my hope for our home is to be a safe dwelling that invites us to s 32](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/emma-oconnor-minnesota-house-playroom-1-733x916.jpg)
For more in the way of Midwestern homes, see:
- Kitchen of the Week: A New Heart of the Home for a Young Family in Columbus, Ohio
- Lovely, Dark, and Deep: An 1800s Victorian House in Nebraska, Restored Down to the Doorknobs
- Kitchen of the Week: A Not Too Precious Kitchen for “Faux Martha” in Minnesota
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