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Inside a 100 Year-Old Craftsman Bungalow
The Netherton Family breathes new life into a 100-year-old Craftsman bungalow just outside of town in Bolivar.
by Heather Kane Kohler
Jan 2025
Photo by Brandon Alms
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When Brian and Nikki Netherton first toured the Craftsman bungalow they now call home, it was going up for auction in two days. Nikki fell in love with its details, like its front porch with decorative concrete column bases. The way they were beautifully worn with age reminded her that she was in the presence of more than 100 years of history.
The two-acre property was just what the Nethertons were looking for. Both of them were raised on farms and had been looking for a home outside of town to raise their children, 8-year-old Dalia and 6-year-old Paul. “After living in the middle of town for nine years with no view of sunrise or sunset, the big, open sky full of fluttering birds and brilliant colors made my heart swoon,” says Nikki. “I needed to live here, I needed to fill the barn with animals and let my babies roam barefoot in the fields all the days of their childhood.”
The home is surrounded by farmland, and the Netherton property has three barns—giving them lots of room to add animals to the mix. “If the kids fall in love with baby chicks and ducklings at the farm store, they can take home a dozen,” Nikki says.
Brian and Nikki have been restoring the home from the moment they took ownership, working diligently to preserve as much character as possible. Brian spent one whole winter with a small heat gun and scraper, removing the thick, black carpet adhesive from the original hardwood floors. They replaced windows and even added a half bathroom. They also tackled the fireplace in the dining room, which was part of an addition built by the previous owners in 1969 and didn’t match the rest of the house. The couple removed a cedar trim and a cedar wood panel from above the mantel, and they replaced it with sheetrock they could paint to match the rest of the room. Nikki noticed that most Craftsman-style fireplaces have a minimal hearth. “I wanted to have plenty of space beside the fireplace for a seating area, so we chose to lay a small rectangle of bricks in front of the firebox and leave it at that,” says Nikki.
Photos by Brandon Alms
Warm and timeless style influenced the remodel of this Southern Hills home.
On the exterior, Brian has been peeling away at the vinyl siding. Many of the hallmark details of a Craftsman bungalow—like cedar shake shingles and dramatic rafter details—had been either removed or covered up. When Brian tore down damaged siding and soffit, he uncovered the home’s original white cedar shake siding and a gable above the front porch with beveled trim. Even the home’s original bracket boards were there. “It felt like we had released the Craftsman bungalow to sing after she had been stifled for over 50 years,” Nikki says.
Yet, the house’s history goes back further than that. It was built in 1914 by Charles and Stella Hood after a tornado hit their home in Polk County, where they lived with their four children. “It was a Sunday and Stella had just put a freshly baked cake on the table for the family,” says Nikki. “After the tornado passed, the only thing left of the house was that table with the cake sitting soundly, just where Stella had placed it.” The Hoods signed their new home in Bolivar like it was a work of art. Nikki found all of their names etched in concrete in the basement floor.
Nikki’s love for historic homes has helped her furnish and decorate their bungalow, and she has brought in old elements the couple has salvaged along the way. When shopping for her home Nikki is drawn to items with an old-world feel. She purchases things that foster a “fancy-feeling lifestyle,” like cloth napkins, tea and coffee serving sets, flower vases, candlesticks for the dining table, and vinyl records for the record player. She shops local for a lot of her furniture pieces, wall art and blue-and-white dishes at Bolivar-based antique shop Back Road Relics. She wishes to teach her children to cherish things of the past too. “I want them to grow up learning architectural language and develop an appreciation for the way things were crafted long ago,” says Nikki.
So much of the Nethertons’ family home is tied to the type of childhood they want to give Dalia and Paul. When she first saw the living room’s built-in bookcase colonnades with a curtain rod between them, she envisioned hanging a red curtain to create a stage the kids could use for dancing and performing. Today, that stage is a reality and is the backdrop of a now-beloved tradition. “Dalia and Paul and all of their cousins perform the nativity play for the family from between those velvet curtains and colonnades while I play the score on the piano, stage left,” Nikki says.
This time of year, the family takes advantage of the winter landscape of their property by using what they can forage. “We collect baskets full of pine tree branches and pine cones from our grove of pine trees in the west yard, and twigs of holly from the holly bush in the east yard,” says Nikki. “I put the boughs in vases of water, on shelves, and anywhere else I can sneak them.” Winter is an opportunity for the family to slow down and cozy in by the fire. “There are more books read, more cookies baked, and more hot tea sipped in our house during the winter months,” says Nikki.
