We still can’t believe how fortunate we were to be instantly welcomed into a little community of historic home lovers with a do-it-yourself mentality. I already indirectly mentioned our amazing neighbor Donna–she’s the one who snapped a photo of us in front of our house on our last day in town. You’d have to meet Donna to truly get what a generous, warm person she is. If you visit us in Madison, you’ll be sure to get an introduction–maybe over a delicious Roman Candle Pizza.

But this post is more about Donna the Fearless Hands-on Home Restorer. Her house is one of four identical 1920s bungalows all in a row, and unlike ours, hers has been restored almost exactly to its original glory. She has two fat binders full of photos showing the state it was in when she found it and saw through to its potential, as well as photos capturing the various states it was in while she restored it in her “no stone unturned” fashion. These are really fun to look through, and for Andrew and me they were extremely helpful for understanding which parts of our house were original and which changes could and should be undone. If it weren’t for Donna’s house, we wouldn’t have known that solid hardwood floors lived underneath the linoleum kitchen tiles.

Donna is active on the historical preservation scene in Madison, and in 2010 she won an award from the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation. Click the thumbnail in the very middle of the row to see Donna’s house from the outside. Her exposed, repaired, and beautifully painted wood clapboard siding especially gives us something to aspire to.

I also want to tell you about Dan, a member of Donna’s warm community of friends, family, and associates. Dan has a background as a structural engineer, and has undertaken numerous home projects himself. He was kind enough to come by and give us some advice about how to make structurally sound some of the changes that were made to our house over the years. His advice was invaluable.

While talking to Dan, we learned that he bought and restored a huge historic boarding school from his hometown in Minnesota. He and Donna had some stories to share about vacations out there–the town of Angora and Lake Vermillion both sound beautiful. The Teacherage (this was a new term to me!) is available as a vacation rental. And you can see photos of and learn about Alango School–the philosophy behind this huge project, the history of the school–at alangoschool.com.

You may have heard something about Midwesterners being the nicest, most generous, most genuine people on the planet. It’s all true! And in Madison, Wisconsin, especially, they are also usually up to something really interesting.