Kelley, who grew up in Lake Tahoe, was not exposed to historical homes because there are very few on the west coast compared to the east coast. However, she has a love of history.
“I was always obsessed with the idea of living in the French countryside, speak[ing] French,” she said. “Just to connect to the history and our past and to learn from how other people did things, and to always remember our roots and where we came from.”
Kelley married her husband at age 18. He was in the military, and their first move was to Nebraska. After living there, they moved to the Australian outback, which ignited Kelley’s love of landscaping and philanthropy. She worked with the garden club and studied permaculture and agricultural techniques in an arid environment.
“Just so simple, like learning to live without anything but the basics,” she said. “It made me realize that these material things we collect are so beautiful and so much fun, but happiness doesn’t come from any of them. So we do everything very intentionally and very slowly.”
After Australia, Kelley and the family moved to Dayton. They lived in a home on Kramer Road where they made some renovations, but Kelley’s first “flip” was her next home on Beverly. Kelley hired her own crew and did the work herself. She said she was grateful to learn from others in the industry.
“I developed this huge wealth of knowledge and experience and connected with all these tradesmen that taught me so much about taking care of old homes,” she said. “I realized there is a huge need for people who have these skill sets because they’re dying trades.”
Kelley worked on the Beverly home at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her husband was sent to Japan, so she was doing this on her own. The home was finished in six months. She said working on the home also sparked an interest in preservation.
“That house combined my love of historic preservation, and then looking at all these houses in Oakwood that were starting to fall apart a little bit,” she said.
A variety of owners
She moved into her current home on Oakwood Avenue in 2020. The home was originally built in 1924 by S.S. King and his wife. According to Kelley, the second owner was Adolph Smith, who made interesting updates to the home. In the 1950s, a family purchased the home and made some not-so-good updates to the home.
The next owner was Betty Krebs, who was an editor and writer for the Dayton Daily News. Krebs was an arts editor and critic who was with the newspaper for 53 years before retiring in 1994. Kelley said Krebs held many large parties at the home.
Kelley did not have the original blueprints for the structure, but with her knowledge of design and love of history, she’s pledged to taking the home back to its original glory as much as she possibly can. The home needed repairs as there were issues with water damage and the outdated electrical wiring.
The list of changes Kelley has made is extensive and obviously ongoing. She’s restored the chimneys and windows, built a gym in the basement, added a sauna, updated the plumbing system, and renovated bedrooms and bathrooms that were unsafe or poorly executed in the past. She is also set on bringing back the historic details of the home.
“I would feel terrible removing something original,” she said. “But going back to not having the blueprints, when you don’t have the original, it gives you a little bit more creative freedom to interpret what you feel like this house should be for today.”
Kelley has made many improvements to the outside of the home including excavating and regrading the yard to resolve drainage issues, rebuilding stone retaining walls, building a greenhouse for growing herbs and vegetables and adding outdoor storage.
Several future projects are currently underway, though, to do everything slowly and thoughtfully. She wants to complete the unfinished basement, expand the kitchen, remodel some bathrooms, complete the garage and shed area, as well as additional outdoor upgrades.
Kelley is careful though to do everything slow and thoughtful for a perfect balance of historic integrity and modern comfort.
“Do we ever renovate for what a future buyer is going to go for? Because I find that although this is very niche, it works for certain … people that really will then appreciate what you’ve done and stay in keeping with maintaining that,” she said. “Like, if we tried to modernize it in a way that wasn’t in keeping for us in the home, then someone would buy it potentially in the future and not care for it the way that we care for it.”
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