MARYVILLE, Tenn. — When a realtor and her husband bought a house in Maryville last year, they planned to remodel it for a nightly rental. The process has taken a lot longer than they planned but now it's ready to go.
For a special surprise the owners let a previous resident see it before the first guests arrive.
Janie Mills got a look inside Memaw's a Southern She Shed.
"When I grew up here this was considered the country. There was nothing around here," she said.
The house in Maryville prompts plenty of memories.
"Lots of memories. My sister and I grew up here," she said. "It was my mother's house until October last year."
That's when Jackie and Tony Mills (no relation to Janie Mills) bought it.
Jackie said, "A lot of blood, sweat, tears and fights came though this house while we were remodeling. At the end of the day it turned out beautiful. I'm so proud of it."
It would have been a typical updated remodeling project but a powder blue bathroom changed that.
It inspired the new owners to go with a mid-century modern theme and a name to reflect it: Memaw's a Southern She Shed.
It's a home that makes you think of your Memaw.
"I have secretly driven by to watch and see what might be going on. But from afar you really couldn't tell much of what they were doing," Janie said.
What they were doing included soliciting input on Facebook. They committed to most suggestions except for the wallpaper choice in the blue bathroom.
Jackie said, "We ended up going with a very similar but different pattern. The blue bathroom was the heart of the house for us."
Jackie knew who else had a heart for the house so she invited Janie over to see it before the first airbnb guests arrived.
Her reaction?
"Amazing, it was just amazing. I was afraid I was going to cry."
Janie saw the results of Jackie and Tony scouring estate sales for the furniture and researching colors and styles.
The floor plan is more open now and the colors are not the same as when Janie grew up there.
The green shag carpet is long gone but Janie's mother's refrigerator is still in the renovated kitchen.
"I'm hoping that when people come that they'll walk in here and they'll say, oh, my grandmother used to have that. Or I grew up with that. This was a book that I read when I was little. We have gone all the way down to board games that were played in the 70s and 80s," Jackie said.
It's a cozy place that can take you back to a simpler time at Memaw's.