Inside a picturesque converted schoolhouse in Prince Edward County

Who: Tracey DaSilva, a marketing director; Conor Barrett, a firefighter and civil engineer; and their three-year-old son, Fionn Where: Demorestville, Prince Edward County
Year built: 1870

Two weeks after Conor and Tracey met in Toronto, in November of 2014, Conor moved to Ottawa for work. The couple would meet up in Prince Edward County, halfway between the two cities. In 2020, Conor moved back to Toronto and into Tracey’s west-end condo.

Soon afterward, Conor began looking for an investment property to revitalize. Back in his home country of Ireland, he had worked on restoring historic houses in Dublin. When his realtor showed him a run-down schoolhouse near Picton, he immediately saw its potential.

The two-level structure had been converted into a home with two bedrooms and beige carpeting in the loft. The main floor was broken up by ad hoc walls that didn’t let in much light. “I knew the walls had to go so we could open up the classroom,” Conor says. Over weekends for the next two years, the couple fixed the water system, sanded down the wainscoting and gutted the kitchen.

Their son, Fionn, was born in the spring of 2021. Conor used some of his paternity leave to finish the house. In May, Tracey, who hadn’t been there in months, teared up when she saw the airy opened-up space. Now, they rent the place out for short-term stays and spend family time there whenever they can. “We’ll have fires in the wood-burning stove. It’s so cozy,” Conor says.