BEFORES THE HILLHOUSE This one was the hardest, most time consuming, most painful. Literally. We almost gave up more than once over the years it took to pull it from hellhole to habitable. Glad we started back up to finish her (after almost quitting so many times & almost killing each other in the process).Below is the letter we wrote her last year on the day we moved in. So many ways we screwed up trying to save this one #lessonsLearned * The rest of the Before & Afters at #WandawegaRehabsA PROMISE TO A HOUSE (and a lady we never got to meet)Dear House, Its been 90-plus years since someone moved into you for the very first time - a little fishing cabin on a tiny lake. 3 years ago when we started your resurrection we tried to save as much of you as we could. But In the process, we found that too much was too far gone.We did manage to save some of your bones: your old creaky floors are still underneath the new ones. Your cellar staircase still lies beneath the shiny replacement. A piece of one of your old beams has become your new fireplace manteland the walls will be hung with the memory of one of your former owners (a Ziegfeld Girl-turned-LadyBoss-mom-of-four, Ruth Foster Froemming, who was the 1st woman to run for Mayor of Milwaukee). House, your wooden skeleton beneath your shiny new siding will keep us grounded - your foundation reminding us of nearly a century that you brought a warm spot to blue collar vacationers visiting a tiny Wisconsin lake.Today is the day you will be moved into again for the 1st time. The day you get your new lease on life. We are going to fill you with everything we love, and share you with everyone we love. We promise to extend your days long after ours are done - in hopes that another 90 years from now, you will still be serving your intended purpose. A little house by a little lake where people can do the same things generations before us have done here. Exhale. ( *we hope you like what weve done with the place Ruth * )..After shots: @bobcoscarelliArchitect @cargo_north @rejuvenation @rejuvenationchicago @kohler @lamarzoccohome @fireclaytile @lalunecollection @thehudsoncompany