Jonathan Knight Moves His Family Farmhouse

Plucking a 110-year-old home from its original location, trucking it to a new lot and renovating it from rafters to foundation is no mean feat — but for Farmhouse Fixer's Jon, it’s an act of love.

By: Lauren Oster

Show: Farmhouse Fixer

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Photo By: Shawn G. Henry/Getty Images

Photo By: Shawn G. Henry

Photo By: Shawn G. Henry/Getty Images

Why Did the Knight House Cross the Road?

Heavy lifting is par for the course when it comes to resuscitating homes that have fallen on hard times, but the heavy lifting restoration expert and Farmhouse Fixer star Jonathan Knight undertook on this project was something else entirely. Built in the early 1900s and owned by the Knight family for two decades, this handsome green house was built on land that’s subject to a conservation restriction — which means that only one house can stand on the seven-acre property. When Jonathan decided to build another farmhouse there, this one faced demolition.

Losing all that history? Not a chance. “We found the perfect spot to move the house just right down the road from where it’s currently sitting,” he explained. “It’s so much quieter and the views of the farm and the horses are amazing.” He knew what he’d be facing: “We’re not only going to renovate a house, we’re going to actually going to lift this house up and move it. I’ve never done anything like this and it’s going be such a fun process to watch it all and see how it goes.” When the dust settled, his family would have an even better place to gather.

Before: Front Exterior

It’s no accident there’s no walkway leading to the front door. For two decades, the Knights have been entering and exiting the home through the back door in the kitchen (which Jon thought that was a crying shame). “This side is better! When you come over here [you see] the porch, the brackets [and] the little half round window up top,” he explained. “That wasn’t made in a factory — that was some guy actually tracing out the wood and cutting it and making it all pretty. This is such a focal point! When we move the house I want to have this facing the road, so that when you drive down the road this is what you see.”

From: Jonathan Knight

After: Front Exterior

At long last, curb appeal that actually faces the curb. Jon created both a broken-flagstone walkway and a herringbone-patterned brick path to welcome his family back to their headquarters. For the freshened-up front door, designer Kristina Crestin chose a rich shade of marigold yellow, which complements the home’s green exterior and trim and carries into the flower beds surrounding it. The relocation alone cost a pretty penny — Jon paid $40,000 to relocate the home, $17,000 to lay its new foundation, about $25,000 for septic and $10,000 to dig a new well — but he knew the legacy he was safeguarding was well worth the investment. “We get to save this house,” he said.

After: Entryway

Jonathan left the stairs’ handrail and newel post in their natural state: “I always loved this newel post and we never used the front door so no one ever saw it,” he said. The skirtboard and stairs now match the baseboards and front door, beckoning Knights and their guests to a thoroughly reimagined family retreat.

From: Jonathan Knight

Before: Music Room

Jonathan adored period details like the ornate woodwork and crown molding in what his brother and nephew jokingly called “The Beat Laboratory.” “Back in the olden days, people would spend a little bit more money on the room that guests would [see when they] get off the carriage out front,” he said. “They’d walk in and this would be the greeting room. It’s spectacular.”

After: Music Room

Jonathan flipped the script in this space. To accentuate the room’s interior architecture, he used the same rich green that anchors the home’s palette on the trim and molding. Kristina surprised him with a contemporary, graphic cow-print wallpaper, which foregrounds those details and offers a 21st-century take on farmhouse-chic. Industrial accessories and a verdant array of house plants add layers to the design, while a rich, carved desk takes over for the drum kit and jukebox (rest in peace, Beat Laboratory).

From: Jonathan Knight

Before: Music Room

Jonathan wasn’t interested in opening up walls or making other structural changes in this room. Instead, he and Kristina worked to integrate it with the rest of the home to reflect an updated, industrial-farmhouse aesthetic.

After: Music Room

Unified through trim, the new office space also boasts vintage machinery repurposed as art and a quartet of salvaged seats — a quirky detail that surfaces again elsewhere in the farmhouse. The wallpaper was such a hit with Jonathan that he was inspired to research breeds of hobby-farm-friendly miniature cows: “So if you guys want to help me take care of them when we go on tour …”

From: Jonathan Knight

Before: Living Room

Tasked with serving as a de facto foyer (since the front door didn’t face the street) and saddled with a drop ceiling, the existing living room was neutral to the point of having no character. “I actually want to rip the ceilings out in a few rooms and just leave the beams exposed,” Jonathan said, “and it’ll have that deconstructed feel but it’ll be funky and fun.”

After: Living Room

How’s that for industrial edge? Gorgeously warm exposed beams now soar above the living room and make the space feel generous and cozy all at once. Green velvet window treatments continue the home’s color story, and new pine hardwood carries from the living room to the kitchen. A freshly-slipcovered sofa and plush chairs outdo the now-departed futon by a country mile.

From: Jonathan Knight and Kristina Crestin

Before: Living Room

The living room’s contemporary entertainment center and ornate chandelier lacked the farmhouse feel Jonathan longed to bring to the home, and the perpendicular graining where the space met the kitchen felt awkward.

After: Living Room

Kristina took Jonathan on a “shopping trip” to the trove of vintage pieces in his own barns, where a would-be work table caught their eyes as a fabulous new focal point for the living room. The spectacular exposed lath behind the television is a nod to history: in houses constructed before the 1940s, a treatment like this one would have served as the base for a plastered wall. Here, it’s a unique feature wall that showcases Jonathan’s love of traditional craftsmanship.

From: Jonathan Knight and Kristina Crestin

Before: Mudroom

Prior to Jonathan’s reimagining of the first floor, this bedroom served as a catch-all storage space. Redivided into common areas for visitors entering via the “new” front door (that is, the old front door that had previously gone unused), this same square footage would make the rooms surrounding it much more functional.

After: Mudroom

Dark tile and weathered ceiling joists lend an industrial feel to the all-new mudroom. Yet another of Kristina and Jonathan’s shopping-trip-to-the-barn finds gives the space its soul: These seats were rescued before Boston Garden was demolished in 1998. “[New Kids on the Block] played at the garden so many times, [and] it’s just a piece of Boston history,” Jonathan said. “People will walk in and be like, ‘What are these?’ And then I can tell the story.” Bonus: They’re chef’s-kiss perfect for the farmhouse’s new green-and-yellow color scheme.

From: Jonathan Knight

After: Powder Room

Beside the new mudroom and beneath the front stairs, Jonathan added an all-new feature: For the first time in its 110-year history, the farmhouse has a bathroom on its main floor. “[It’s] something we’ve always needed,” he said.

From: Jonathan Knight

After: Pantry

The main floor also now boasts a crisp new pantry, complete with storage that will serve the Knights far better than the rolling racks in the bedroom Jonathan reconfigured. He chose a vintage-inspired green glass pendant to create slight contrast with the industrial fixtures he selected for the farmhouse’s other spaces, then outfitted the countertop with veined marble to complement surfaces in the all-new kitchen. Speaking of the all-new kitchen …

From: Jonathan Knight

Before: Kitchen

… it couldn’t happen fast enough for Jonathan, who greeted it in this state with a deep sigh. “Wow, I haven’t been here in a while, but everything is exactly the way I hate it! I can’t wait to get in there and just get those nasty kitchen cabinets,” he said. The stainless-steel appliances, drop ceiling and overhead light weren’t long for this world, either.

After: Kitchen

A custom range hood, magnificent new barn-light-inspired pendants and a heightened ceiling with ornamental joists now extend the industrial style Jonathan deployed throughout the house, and an utterly gorgeous array of new cabinetry flows seamlessly into a massive, flush-inset refrigerator. Vintage crates serve as floating shelves, and rich gold hardware adds a touch of luxury.

From: Jonathan Knight and Kristina Crestin

After: Kitchen

By doing away with a steep second staircase and creating an addition at the rear of the house, Jonathan was able to make room for an 11-foot, marble-topped island with seating and a dishwasher, as well as a nine-foot soapstone sink — both of which came through a window Scott the contractor was able to pop out of the wall. The kitchen was going to move to another part of the house — but Jonathan’s sister Sharon argued that its windows’ spectacular view of the property was too special to sacrifice. “You were right,” he conceded.

From: Jonathan Knight and Kristina Crestin

After: Pond

That spectacular view includes the pond, and Jonathan decided its inhabitants deserved new digs as well. “Let’s farm this pond up a bit,” he announced, and used a rear deck he’d removed from an old property to create a houseboat-inspired, hang-out spot for his feathered friends. “At nighttime I keep the ducks in the barn, but during the day they just run around the yard, so I want to give them a sanctuary where they can run in to take naps,” he explained. Welcome home, ladies.

From: Jonathan Knight

Ready for the Knights

“I want my family to share the success that I’ve had,” Jonathan said, “and you know, the way I can do that is by keeping us together and having a spot where we can all hang out.” Restoration is his love language, and he was a bit overwhelmed when he walked through the relocated, finished farmhouse for the first time. “We spent all this time preparing it to move, moving it, putting it on a new foundation, doing the interiors over, and it turned out way better than I expected. And I’m so proud of this house, I just can’t wait for everybody to see it and have family and friends come over, and it feels like home. It feels so special.”

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