“I always thought I’d just put a yurt here,” Claire Zinnecker says of the five-acre vacant slice of land she bought in 2018 along the San Gabriel River in Georgetown, Texas. The interior designer (clairezinnickerdesign.com) already had a home just 35 miles south in Austin and wasn’t planning to move anytime soon. But six months later, when her aunt showed her an old house on Facebook Marketplace that a developer wanted off his property, Claire couldn’t resist the 1898 Folk Victorian’s inherent charm. She put down $15,000 to buy the house, then another $34,000 to have Brown & Sons House Movers transport it from downtown Austin to her land. “They put the house back together better than it was when they took it apart,” says Claire, who named the house Ida in honor of the Swedish immigrants, Gus and Ida Anderson, who first lived there.

But that’s not the only thing she relocated to Georgetown. Soon after she bought Ida, she fell in love again, with Adam Mink, whom she met during a therapy retreat in Colorado. “We became really good friends that week and he was in a place where he didn’t know what his next steps were,” Claire says. “Somehow, I convinced him to move here from Colorado and help me fix up the house. We fell in love, moved in, and got married last spring.”

Together, the couple brought Ida back to life—one board at a time. “The style inspiration was the house itself,” Claire says. “I thought of her as a character and worked really hard to make this house become what I thought the best [version] of her was. Part of the process was deciding what to do to make it ours and what to keep there so the house could keep telling its original story.”

Keep reading to see how she tackled the transformation.

Claire Zinnecker and Adam Mink share their property with a menagerie of animals (donkeys! chickens! ducks!).

Claire saw the potential in this abandoned and falling down 1897 Folk Victorian.

Moving the house from its original location in downtown Austin required the structure to be sliced in half and driven on two 18-wheelers navigated by a police escort.

A shiny tin roof and a new foundation complete the total makeover that channels the personality of a rustic French farmhouse.

While the house’s footprint largely remained the same, every room needed serious attention, so they set about stripping and rebuilding entire walls, floors, and trim, replacing and moving windows, and restoring old doors. “I’ve tried just about every paint stripping technique out there, and none of them are fun,” Claire says.

“I had big dreams at the beginning, but (for budget reasons) we worked slowly on the remodel, which allowed the house to tell me what it should be and not the other way around,” says Claire. For example, she initially considered painting the entire entry space white, but later changed her mind to dark green and decided to leave the top half of one side in its original state, sealing the wood to prevent further chipping. Chunks of cheesecloth—once used on top of boarded surfaces to prep for wallpaper—also remain on the ceiling.

The front entry is a time capsule of Ida’s lives, with a storyboard that unfolds on the gallery wall. Vintage frames showcase thrifted paintings and collages Claire made using preserved pieces of wallpaper and clippings from 1930s Swedish newspapers she found in the floorboards. Dried flowers, from the couple’s wedding at the house last spring, continue the story.

The original kitchen had dark cabinets and floors.

“I knew I wanted a kitchen sink with a row of windows that looked onto the land so people would like to do the dishes,” Claire says of the once-dark kitchen. Painting the shiplap walls and ceiling white opened up the space. Salvaged finds like the Hoosier cabinet, circa-1950s O’Keefe & Merritt enamel stove, and Mexican pine island reinforce a layered, acquired-over-time feeling. Popcorn the duck, who has free range in the house, is here for the sunlight but stays for the chance of a watermelon nibble.

RELATED: 34 Farmhouse Kitchen Ideas for the Perfect Rustic Vibe

Claire, who grew up using power tools with her dad, repurposed a workbench she found in the barn as a console for an old farmhouse sink with attached drainboard. She sewed a linen curtain and hung it with a tension rod to hide the plumbing. “I just cut a piece of wood because I had the frame already from the workbench,” she says. “I’m pretty proud of it.”

Now a dining space, the once-boarded up back of the house leads to a new deck with a double-door opening that mirrors the front entry. “I liked the idea that, when you walk into the house, you could see all the way to the outside,” Claire says. The room is simply furnished with a table from More than Antiques—a European dealer at Round Top, Texas—and a collection of mismatched woven-seat chairs found for $10 each on Facebook Marketplace.

RELATED: Round Top, Texas is Beloved for Antiquing, But That's Not the Only Reason to Visit

To reflect the home’s pretty sunlight, Claire painted the office’s antique bookcase in a high-gloss black paint. “I was super-torn about painting that piece because we spend our whole lives stripping paint off of wood, but with so much natural wood on the walls and ceilings, the room needed the contrast,” she says. “It was the boldest move on the most expensive piece in the house.”

Get the Look:
Bookcase Paint Color: Tricorn Black by Sherwin-Williams

RELATED: These Nine Paint Colors Are Inspired by the Mississippi Delta

Claire frequents online auctions and Facebook Marketplace for bargains, including this $100 table in the dining room-turned-home office, where white-painted shiplap juxtaposes natural wood wainscoting that she painstakingly removed and stripped. She’s also been known to brake for a too-good-to-pass-by roadside find.

Claire and Adam built the wall behind the headboard using wood salvaged from other parts of the house. Of the home’s more involved DIYs, she says: “My tip is to find a good podcast or audiobook and buckle up—I love a good crime story!” The boards are sealed to let the original sage-tinged colors come through. Claire also cozied up the room with a double wedding ring quilt sewn by her grandmother.

What is it? What is it Worth? Specimen Charts
Claire stumbled upon this Czech specimen chart at the Excess fields during the Round Top Antiques Shows. Similar charts can be found for $100 to $300, depending on size and condition.

Creating a pocket for the sliding bathroom door was a clever space-saving idea, but it took more time to find the just-right antique door—which Claire finally discovered at an antiques shop in Taylor, Texas—to fit the dimensions.

Get the Look:
Soaking Tub: by Kohler

In the primary bedroom, Claire softened the home’s rustic edges with linen draperies that reach up to the 11-foot-high ceilings, then puddle to the floor. The dramatic effect “feels like you’re in a hotel,” Claire says. “I was hesitant at first to go with so much fabric because I love the large windows and the decorative trim,” she adds. “I never thought that adding soft drapes and cozy Roman shades would only enhance these architectural details.”

Claire refinished a bedroom dresser that displays a portrait of Adam’s grandfather painted by his great-grandfather. “Adam’s grand-father passed away last fall, so it’s extra-special now,” Claire says.

The balance of found and new items, natural linens, and mixed woods create a calming and interesting bedroom. “I love late afternoons in my bedroom,” Claire says. “The lighting is moody and golden.”

The couple’s new deck looks out to the San Gabriel River that borders their land. “Whenever things are really stressful, I would make it a point to sit down there by the river and remind myself why I’m doing all of this,” Claire says.

If you're like us, you never get tired of seeing an old farmhouse get a fresh new look. Here are some of our favorite farmhouse renovations:
*See how this farmhouse went from a dilapidated wreck to a one-of-a-kind country gem.

*See what happens when two antiques lovers get their hands on a 1700s farmhouse.

*See how a run-down 100-year-old farmhouse became this family's country dream thanks to a savvy approach to all things salvage.