By Kaylee Johnson
Journal & Press
Greenwich will have its time to shine on HGTV! While road tripping around beautiful and deeply historic Upstate New York, hosts of the television series “Cheap Old Houses,” Ethan and Elizabeth Finkelstein, stopped in Greenwich to pay homage to an old schoolhouse converted into an Airbnb rental. They also made stops in Amsterdam and Fort Plain to tour stunning midcentury Victorian architecture.
Like other popular series on HGTV, “Cheap Old Houses” hosts do not buy or renovate the houses they visit. Instead, they just pay homage to cheaply bought houses that have been beautifully transformed. Elizabeth and Ethan make a point to speak to the homeowners and acknowledge all of the work that goes into turning a pile of scattered wood into a prideful home.
Our neck of the woods has a lot of history. Perhaps some of our readers or reader’s parents even attended the schoolhouse in the upcoming episode of “Cheap Old Houses.” These days, the small, charming school, originally built in 1850, is owned by Jill and Rick Tefft, a daughter and father who have taken the restoration on as a passion project.
They bought the house for only $15,000 when it was in disarray, and ended up spending about $85,000 on restorations. In the process of bringing vitality back to the historic building Jill found out from her father, Rick, that her grandfather had attended the schoolhouse as a young boy. They even found a drawing he made in the process of clearing out the space. Jill and Rick are the perfect owners for this schoolhouse, because they have both hometown and family ties – the before and after photos of the house show just how much meticulous love and labor went into the preservation and decorating of the modern day Greenwich schoolhouse.
Jill and Rick focused heavily on keeping the feel of an old schoolhouse alive. They did this by keeping the old green chalkboards, using wood with carved names and dates to make a trendy kitchen island and of course, a picture of Rick’s father and Jill’s grandfather as a student over the fireplace.
It costs $179/night to experience what is labeled as “Gramp’s Old School” on Airbnb. With nearly all 5-star ratings, Jill is an excellent host and will gladly fill you in on the history of the house. You can catch Jill and Rick’s “Cheap Old Houses” episode, “Time Warp in Upstate New York,” on HGTV on August 9th at 9 p.m. The Greenwich stop is midway through this episode. It is great to see Greenwich being recognized for its historic ties and rural beauty on television, and we hope to see even more publicity in the future!
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