Transforming a ’90s-style home into a modern farmhouse

As avid mountain bikers and triathletes, Michael and Melissa Meacham didn’t need to see the inside of their home before buying it.

The Brady Bunch-style split level with an angled roof sat on six acres next to a three-mile trail within Green Lane Park in Montgomery County.

“We were looking for at least a year,” Melissa said. “The houses were either too run down, too big, too small, or we were outbid. This house was right on the Orange Trail. We stalked the property from the rear.”

Within a week, the couple toured the property, waived the inspection, and made an offer.

Over the last two years, the family has transformed the four-bedroom, 1,800-square-foot home from an outdated ‘90s house to a modern farmhouse. They named their property Screaming Goat Farm and recently held an open house to share their rescue animals with the public.

“It was just plain. It was a run-of-the-mill house,” Melissa said. “But it was well built. I just knew my husband could fix the little things.”

Michael, a Marine veteran who served four years in Afghanistan, grew up in Red Hill and started working on a farm at age 12. Melissa, who worked in project management and finance for 15 years, grew up in Phoenixville. She volunteers each week at Quakertown’s Last Chance Ranch.

“It was hard to adjust out here in the woods, to go grocery shopping a half-hour away. Now I couldn’t even live in the city,” she said. “But it was his dream to have sheep. I always wanted goats. So we made that dream happen.”

The couple, who have four grown children and two grandchildren between them, met through the Philadelphia Triathlon Club.

This September, they will celebrate an important anniversary. Two years ago, at age 44, Melissa was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma. Sept. 5, 2023, marked her remission.

The couple started renovations for their home in the basement, redoing the bathroom and the floors, and reconfiguring the laundry room. They embraced the orange paint on the walls and hung their medals from multiple Ironman races and marathons.

The family room boasts French doors, which give an overview of the property. That view includes an expansive garden, a quaint fire pit, and pastures for their 36 animals, including chickens, goats, and sheep.

During Melissa’s cancer treatments, Michael built the two-story barn and greenhouse.

“I’m an outdoorsman,” said Michael, who works in sales. “I feel trapped when I’m inside for more than an hour. I love building things.”

Upstairs, they opened up the space and redid the cramped kitchen.

“This was all boxed up like a 1970s house. We couldn’t open the fridge or dishwasher without hitting the island,” Melissa said.

The couple found farmhouse lights from a salvage yard and an antique server at a show in Boyertown. The barnwood farmhouse table, which fits the dining room space perfectly, was discovered at the Rustic Red Door. They have decorated throughout with rooster, goat, and chicken decor, as well as paid homage to both bicycles and nature.

In the living room, they replaced the front window with sliding glass doors and added a 10-by-12-foot porch, which transformed the look of the outside of the home from a split level to a farmhouse. On the front, they added vertical siding.

They worked to reuse as much as they could, finding gates on Facebook Marketplace and wood for the barn from the Perkiomenville Auction & Flea Market. They dug their own pond on the property and enjoy existing mushrooms, raspberry bushes, and herbs on the property.

They look forward to raising the sheep and turkeys for meat, making goat milk soap and shampoo, and holding another open house in October.

“For all our hardships, this was our reward,” Melissa said. “To enjoy our nature and our animals.”

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