A Family Farmhouse Full of Charming DIYs

When Maggie York met her now husband Adam in 2006, he was renovating his family’s century-old Illinois farmhouse. She ended up falling for both of them. “I’ve always had a passion for older homes, and the fact that Adam was fixing up the place himself was so impressive,” she says. She soon joined him, honing her design skills as they updated the 2,400-square-foot structure. “The house had good bones, but it needed a lot,” says Adam, who lived there as a teen. They worked with a contractor to open up the floor plan while keeping original features like oak flooring and beadboard ceilings. “When you live in a home that’s been special to so many people, preserving the history matters,” says Maggie.

Now, 16 years later, the Yorks have four kids and thriving careers (Adam started a sustainable farming business on the property; Maggie officially became an interior decorator) — and the house is as glorious as ever. "Maggie has truly transformed this house — it did not look like this when I was a kid!" says Adam.