Man Turns Crumbling 1957 Stone Ruin Into His Dream Home in Just One Year

The living room

The living room is where the old ruin finally starts to feel like a home. Instead of covering every surface with modern plasterboard, Luxon leaned heavily into natural materials. Warm timber cladding surrounds much of the interior, while the original stonework remains part of the character of the building. The combination makes the room feel somewhere between a mountain cabin and an old country cottage rather than a newly renovated house.

Getting to that point required far more than putting up a few boards. The walls had to be insulated, a vapor barrier installed and pine boards fitted over the new layers. Luxon treated the timber with linseed oil, choosing it partly because it left a softer, more natural-looking finish. Then came one of the most important additions for an off-grid house in the woods: a wood-burning stove. Suddenly the same room that had once been exposed to damp and cold had a glowing fire at its centre.

A skylight above also helps bring daylight down through the house, while the handmade furniture fits the compact room instead of overwhelming it. It is cosy rather than flashy, and that seems to be the entire point. But the living space was only one part of the plan. A few steps away, another area was being turned into somewhere Luxon could actually cook.