To many people glancing at an older house in Powell, it’s just another house; but to Tasha Brewer, it's full of potential. 

Brewer has always loved old homes; their character drew her in. She often found herself on Realtor.com imagining the potential each house held. 

When a house she had been dreaming of came on the market, she felt like it was meant to be, and purchased the home in May of 2023. 

It didn’t take long for Brewer to begin restoring her 100-year-old home, beginning upgrades in June that same year. Working with an originally three-story, three-bedroom, one-bathroom home with just over 2,000 square feet, her main goal was not to completely modernize the home, but to make it feel cared for. 

“More than anything, I felt like the house needed some love,” Brewer said. “I wanted to make it feel like a home again while being careful not to take away the character that made me fall in love with it in the first place … I want the updates we make to belong here — to feel as though they could have always been part of the house.”

Each project she took on required a different set of skills. Brewer had the belief that if she could envision it, she could do it, especially with help from her father, Tim Bjornestad, and her husband, Shannon Brewer. Growing up, Bjornestad was there alongside Tasha, teaching her how to build each new project. Now, Shannon has become her partner for every new idea. 

“I’m usually the one with the vision — explaining what I want something to look or feel like — and he’s [Shannon] incredibly good at figuring out how we can actually make it happen,” Tasha said. “Between my dad teaching me not to be afraid to try and my husband helping me turn my ideas into reality, I’ve learned so much simply by doing.”

Each project, though, hasn’t been as simple as it looked in the beginning. With a 100-year-old house, almost nothing is level, plumb, or square, so each project required more steps than originally planned. This was a curveball in many projects throughout the home, requiring Brewer to learn that patience is key. If the job is to be done correctly, it takes a little more time than originally planned. 

Not only did updating the home teach her many skills and patience, it also taught her to be more appreciative of the home. 

“You start to realize how many people have lived within these walls before you. Every generation has changed something, repaired something, or left a little piece of its story behind,” Brewer said. “I don’t really look at this house as something that’s simply ours. I think of us as stewards of it for this little portion of its life.”

Working with a small budget and keeping the character of the house, the upgrades to the home weren’t anything huge in essence, but each change made the house a home. Each project didn’t happen one at a time; some occurred simultaneously with another. The biggest changes to the home inside include updating the kitchen, adding a fireplace, a banquet seating area in the dining room, and a fourth bedroom. As for the outside, the upgrades included adding grass and plants, adding a railing to the front porch, and repainting the entire outside as well as the door. 

Painting the front door doesn’t sound like a huge change, but to Brewer, it's what made the home feel most like her. Originally, she planned to replace the door with something that matched the character of the home more, but it wasn’t in the budget, so she turned to paint. The baby pink door gave the house the personality she was looking for. 

“... that’s really been the theme of this entire renovation — working with what I have, finding creative solutions, and slowly bringing out the character that was already here,” Brewer said. “I want the house to feel like me, but I also never want to erase what makes it special.”

Improvements to the home aren’t done yet. With the addition of one more bedroom, Brewer plans to also add another bathroom. With each new project, another is waiting to be started. But that’s part of what she loves about the process. Owning an old home comes with its challenges, but it also allows for so much growth and learning. 

“There’s something really meaningful to me about being a steward of an old home — preserving the things that make it special, repairing what needs to be repaired, and giving it another season of life," Brewer said.

“Someday another family will live here. They’ll make their own memories, change things we did, discover things we covered up, and make the house theirs. I love knowing that we’re helping make sure this old house gets the chance to carry on for many more generations.”