Originally built in 1858, the house at 11 Poplar Street, had always been a charming farmhouse with perennial allure, welcoming everyone, even when distressed. It will be again.....that is, once it is finished being reincarnated later next year.The property sits in the bucolic village district of Andover, NH. Close enough to the campus of Proctor Academy, and just distant enough from the main road, to be pleasant and convenient. As you exit the main building on the Proctor campus, you'd see just enough of farmhouse, its wrap-around porch and other charming architectural elements, that you couldn't help but travel down to the end of the short road to take a better peek and see just what the whole house had to offer.

The current owners, Brad & Megan Hardie, purchased the property at auction in late 2013. It was purchased in nearly condemnable condition, and was in need of lots of love. Stereotypical of many older farmhouses, the structure was a variation of the "expansion mansion" genre of building, where additional spaces, were just affixed and/or cobbled onto the original farmhouse, one after the other, as the need arose. The annex had most recently been used as a two bedroom apartment and prior to providing additional housing, the extensions housed a graphic design studio, and even operated as a chinchilla ranch at one point! At just under 3/4 of an acre, the property is well proportioned for it's quaint village location, but the arrangement of the affixed structures made the interior of the farmhouse very dark. Removing the spaces that stretched out from the farmhouse, would; enlarge the yard, brighten the interior and invite the rest of yard, located to the west of the house, into the home a bit. Although initially hopeful to salvage, reclaim, recycle and/or upcycle most of the structure, due to typical life, job and of course family time constraints, Brad & Megan decided to demo everything but the original farmhouse. With energetic 4 and 6 year old girls to raise, and based on some advice from a few elders who had taken on similar projects in the past on their own, it has proven to be a wise decision thus far.

Thankfully, in the end, they were able to upcycle quite a bit of the structure to some of their friends, who have since created structures for themselves on their own farmhouse properties. Their goal, after the dust settled from the demo was to do a whole house renovation, square up the footprint of the house, stretch it out a touch, and consequently complete a deep energy retrofit on the remaining farmhouse. Megan who teaches forensics at Proctor Academy, has always been smitten by the property ever since landing in the area over 18 years ago. Brad is who is currently a career firefighter/paramedic has always shared her love for the property. While working in emergency services, Brad has also been building homes and designing projects for over 25 years. Ever since he was a child, he has dreamed of having a fixer upper, or building his own home. They had tried to purchase the house, albeit unsuccessfully, a couple of times over the years, so when the opportunity to purchase the home via auction came up, it just seemed like the right time for a crazy, but wholesome endeavor.

Unfortunately, while demoing the structure, Brad discovered that so much of the remaining farmhouse was found to be rotten, structurally unsound, and/or damaged by a previous fire, that he knocked the whole house down. Fortunately, various elements were salvaged for use later though...