Simple, Shaker, and Secondhand: A 1906 Farmhouse in Minnesota, Ready for Winter

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).

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 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.

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