Raising Goatheads

Leigh and Allen Evans pose outside the old Huston School. PHOTO COURTESY OF LEIGH AND ALLEN EVANS

Renovating the Huston School

BY HEATHER HAMILTON-POST

Leigh Evans empties a small jar of marbles onto the table, rolling each one between her fingers as she gazes through the wall of windows that overlooks a scenic Idaho landscape. Gathered from the dirt outside her schoolhouse-turnedhome, the marbles are among the only things she’s found in the years—seven of them—since owning the property with her husband Allen.

The Huston School, located on Homedale Road at the entrance to the Sunnyslope Wine Trail, was used as a schoolhouse from 1918 until 1973, when it was converted to apartments. When the apartments caught fire in 1991, the building was emptied, left to Idaho’s often volatile weather and whomever happened upon it. Although the building had several owners, it remained vacant until Leigh and Allen purchased it with plans to renovate in 2015. In addition to the interior work, the Evans family has put in over 400 hours moving dirt and digging trenches, joking that, previously, they’d been renovating, yes, but also, raising goatheads.

The front remains mostly unchanged.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LEIGH AND ALLEN EVANS

Because much of the schoolhouse had to be entirely reimaged to make it work as a home, the couple says they’ve done their best to preserve the outside, particularly in the front. And, even where they’ve changed things entirely, Allen and Leigh have done so with a dedication to the communities that raised them. “We feel so blessed to be given the responsibility of this building that was the center of the community for so many years. And we’ve been able to welcome people back,” Allen said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LEIGH AND ALLEN EVANS

It’s a responsibility they don’t take lightly. Before construction began, they had an engineering firm tell them to just tear it down. “And we didn’t like that,” Allen said. “So we found another firm.” Slowly, and with moments of sheer panic,

Leigh said they began the work, literally chipping away at it with the help of family and friends. “It’s determination, and joy, and hard work, coming home exhausted and dirty and tired. And it is so cool to live in—so lovely and welcoming,” she said.

Leigh Evans, an artist, has a plethora of views to choose from in her renovated home which has been literally rebuilt from the ground up.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LEIGH AND ALLEN EVANS

In the kitchen sits a walnut-topped island that Allen explains came from his grandmother, who homesteaded nearby. “They had this walnut orchard, and when they tore it down, my dad kept the wood. It sat in storage for 40 years, so when we moved in, we turned it into this top,” he said. There’s also a slab of butcherblock that Leigh incorporated, which they’ve owned for nearly their entire marriage, and an expansive table made from the school’s open floor joists and built by Allen’s high school friend.

Behind the school sits the swingset and slide that Allen’s family owned in Middleton when he was growing up, a seed cabinet, and a card catalog from a school where Allen taught. There are shutters they’ve built, family paintings, Leigh’s handmade curtains with accents from a friend’s grandmother’s button collection, and a friendly cat named Raggedy Ann that just showed up one day. Each element connects the past and present in a house that is truly a reflection of the community that built it.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LEIGH AND ALLEN EVANS

Throughout the home, there are reminders that it was indeed a schoolhouse—original brick, evidence of a stage, lunch counter, and cold storage. People stop by often to drop things off too. There are paintings, report cards, and photographs that have shown up, which help to piece together what the school might have looked like inside. Because living in a schoolhouse offers an excess of square footage, Leigh and Allen say they’ve been able to leave things, like the entrance, as they likely were when the school was running.

One of the couple’s daughters lives with them, as well as Keith Farris, Leigh’s father, who frequently interacts with the myriad of folks who stop by—recently, a pair of elderly sisters who were students at the school. Farris, who moved back to Idaho fairly recently, is happy to be back around what he called “that Idaho helpfulness,” and said the schoolhouse is a wonderful place to live.

The Evans family has embraced the space of their home with an open concept design that extends to an outdoor courtyard—the perfect place for entertaining guests!

PHOTO COURTESY OF LEIGH AND ALLEN EVANS

Leigh and Allen, who grew up in Idaho, said that they both come from families that opened their homes and dinner tables to others. Since moving into the schoolhouse, they’ve hosted a daughter’s wedding, a variety of families down on their luck, and a host of community members and neighbors anxious to see their work, which continues— Leigh and Allen have a lot of projects on the list, including a pantry sink, adding an original beam to the kitchen, a lift, and a secret door connecting the primary bedroom and the library. But they’ve also talked about an eventual afterschool arts program, a natural fit for two former teachers living in a schoolhouse with two art studios and a gorgeous outdoor courtyard.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LEIGH AND ALLEN EVANS

“It isn’t really surprising that God let us to a big house when we were trying to downsize,” Allen laughed. “We’ve been able to provide a great place for Dad and our daughter and community picnics.”

To see what the schoolhouse looked like when the Evans family began their work, check out the Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star by 92Keys music video on YouTube!