Former duplex converted to single-family when couple became 'old-house people'

When Kasey and Lee Ormiston shopped for their first home, they wanted lots of land with room for animals, even if it meant settling for less house. They wound up on a half-acre, but found the way of life they had envisioned: in downtown Holliston, with its appealing mix of old-fashioned and trendy shops. "A lot of people want to be downtown," Kasey Ormiston said. "There's been a resurgence. People want that ability to walk. It really is a simpler life."

The house was a two-family with a dirt yard and tilting barn when they bought it 12 years ago. Acting as general contractor and demolitionists, the couple converted it back to a one-family while updating the kitchen, adding a master bedroom and bath, and new mudroom/office that has become a favorite place for everyone in the family, dog included -- probably because of the floor's radiant heat. After ripping up oak flooring on the first floor, the Ormistons found original wide-pine underneath. For the new kitchen floor, Lee's parents dried and planed pine that a great uncle had cut down. And wood for the island top came from a pre-Civil War blacksmith's shop.

Though the Ormistons weren't "old-house people," they became fast converts. When adding doors, Lee insisted on old doors with historically accurate hardware. A carpenter made the millwork in the kitchen, dining room, and master bedroom to his specifications.

The house has a Rumford fireplace -- a tall, shallow fireplace designed to throw significant heat by Sir Benjamin Thompson, a physicist, who was born in Woburn but left for England in 1776. It also has a beehive oven and original wavy glass in the windows. The patio and stone walls in the back and out front are new.

The Ormiston s are moving because Lee has a new job out of state. They are selling the home themselves and have scheduled an open house for noon to 3 p.m. today.

VANESSA PARKS