Kylie McKay and her husband renovated an 85-year-old garage in Memphis, converting it into a guesthouse after a significant renovation costing about $80K. Initially described as dark and dirty with nonfunctioning facilities, the space was transformed for both family accommodation and potential income. Kylie emphasized stewardship in maintaining the historic integrity of the district while minimizing environmental impact, restoring original windows, doors, and using reclaimed materials and décor sourced from various markets.
This space functioned as a huge shed when we bought our home in 2020. We had to disconnect the knob and tube electricity for safety reasons, and the garage doors were broken, so it was a very large, very dark, very dirty space.
I view owning an old home as stewardship, not ownership, so I took on this project with goals of respecting our historic district and creating minimal environmental impact.
I personally stripped and restored every window and door we added to the building, and scoured eBay for light fixtures and porcelain doorknobs.
There are very few new items in this space, and the design is the result of a year and a half of scouring estate sales, Facebook Marketplace, and eBay, as well as my personal stash.
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