PENDLETON — New life is being pumped into a historic home that has remained vacant for more than 20 years in the heart of downtown Pendleton.

Just behind the post office, the once-stately home that had become an eyesore is well on its way to becoming an asset to the community once more.

But when Tricha Craig stumbled onto the home as she was passing through town, she didn’t see an eyesore. She saw potential.

She and her husband, Ryan, had kept an eye on the area as a possible home since they moved to Illinois. Repeated trips to visit family in the Muncie area were constant reminders of Pendleton’s charm.

“I immediately had an emotional attachment to it,” she said simply.

That attachment led to a search for the owner – instrumental in the search were neighbors Bruce and Brenda Ring. Papers were finalized in June 2008 and the meticulous work began.

A carriage house

Living with Tricha’s parents in the meantime, the family has been renovating both the main house and the carriage house.

Hoping the carriage house will be ready for occupancy in four weeks, the small building has been transformed from two one-bedroom apartments to a single-family dwelling with two bedrooms and a loft.

Still, the fit will be tight with three children: Elijah, 15; Mac, 8, and Jackson, 4.

Once the main house is finished, Tricha hopes to use the carriage house for her interior design studio, but is not willing to commit to the building’s function just yet.

The current goal for the main house is to get it to a point where they can work on the inside during the winter. Earlier this year they had to cover the structure with blue tarps because they had gutted so much of the dilapidated building that passers-by could literally look through it.

“We knew it would be a complete rehabilitation project,” she said. “But you cannot foresee everything. We were not anticipating rebuilding the porch.”

Termite damage left them no choice. Rather than slapping on a new porch quickly, however, the couple researched articles and studied pictures to ensure the new porch would closely resemble the old one and match the character of the home.

Inn, tavern, home