If walls could talk, Derek Bell and wife Brenda say they would reveal the remarkable and heartbreaking stories of the people who lived over the years in the five old buildings they rescued from Mother Nature or the wrecking ball. Some were empty for years due to a lack of money or legal battles over ownership. But each, with its own set of challenges, is close to the heart of where it all began, their 19th-century residence, the MacLaren House in Belle River, in Eastern P.E.I.

In April 1985, Derek and Brenda married and moved into the MacLaren House that had belonged to his great aunt Priscilla since the 1940s. She was 85 years old and had never married. “She wasn’t in good health and lived in this big, old home alone,” says Brenda.

She continues, “We didn’t want to live together, together. So, Derek and I made the upstairs into an apartment for us and converted the bedrooms into a kitchen, bathroom, and living room, and we still had three bedrooms. It was a big house.”

Derek adds, “As a kid, I thought my great aunt’s house was haunted … I found deer antlers in the attic, schoolbooks, and medical books from the original owner’s son, a doctor.”

As in many older homes, the attic held more surprises. It revealed a black-and-white faded 19th-century photograph of doctors performing an autopsy and posing with a skeleton. The couple also kept a doctor of medicine degree from McGill University, handwritten in Latin.

When Priscilla died in 2001 at age 101, the couple and their three teenagers took over the whole home. They continued to renovate, seamlessly preserving the home’s storied past with its ornate Victorian stone fireplaces that had come off the trading ships from England, and the finely detailed feather-grained patterned doors, trim, and original windows.

Brenda recalls peeling seven layers of aged wallpaper from one room, while horsehair plaster to fill pin holes unravelled in another. They tore down a wall to make way for heat since most older homes lack insulation, leading to draftiness and high energy bills.

“That’s why many people tear these homes down or let them go,” shares Brenda, while acknowledging that the intricate craftsmanship of an older home can’t be beat by the “cookie-cutter” modern “plastic” buildings.

Undeterred and with a sharp eye for detail, she began designing spaces as sanctuaries in sketchbooks before applying her timeless ideas to the real thing. “I call my style eclectic,” blending a mix of classic and contemporary English deVol inspiration.

Thanks to his farming roots (his childhood home is next door), Derek is a jack of all trades, and learned through the process that “the results are gratifying.”

The couple hired three tradespeople to help with the work: local carpenter John Fitzpatrick, who has become a good friend over the years, as well as a plumber and an electrician. 

The second home they renovated was a stately old Murray River building purchased for $25,000 in 2018. “It was a mess,” recalls Derek. “The roof was all leaking, the walls were all saturated with garbage, and the guy just walked out and left everything.”

Brenda points out, “One of the real estate agents said over 100 people had looked at the home and all left because they couldn’t see through the garbage.”

Derek remembers the home being mould-ridden. “We just busted everything out, stripped it to the bare bones, and put it back to building code,” he says. “But you put on the proper PPE (personal protective equipment) and take all the precautions.”

From the ground to the rooftop, and with the help of friends and neighbours, Brenda and Derek painstakingly remodelled the stately country home in Murray River. It sold for $229,000 in just over a year.

But the worst restoration was yet to come.

Derek says, “Nothing fazes me after the old schoolhouse,” which they restored on Point Prim Road two years ago.

“I mean, I wouldn’t let her (Brenda) in there. It wasn’t good. It was sad. A lot of people would have just torn it down because it needed an upgraded sewage system, a well, and power, but it was on a nice lot. People thought we were crazy,” says Derek.

In nine months, the formerly abandoned house was completely unrecognizable.

Brenda and Derek held an open house, where people in the community poured in to look at the exquisite details where the past (operating as a school from 1855 to 1970) meets the present. It sold in one day for $425,000.

Courtney Stevenson, who purchased the house, says it will continue to inspire future generations. Recently married and planning to start a family, she says, “I feel so blessed to be able to raise my family in such a beautiful place.”

The most recent restoration Brenda and Derek have undertaken is a home on Stewart Road that had sat empty since COVID. An elderly American couple owned the home, and found they couldn’t maintain it any longer.

When Brenda and Derek bought it, the roof leaked, the raccoons  had gotten in, and there was mould. Within a few weeks of humid weather, mushrooms sprouted across the living room’s ceiling. But Brenda and Derek were eager to get to work.

They turned the small home into a Martha’s Vineyard-style cottage. The original floor, resting under a new kitchen, was hand polished and saved, and the original kitchen turned into a pantry. Upstairs, they chose retro-designed beds to fit the small rooms proportionately.

Brenda and Derek decided to keep the cottage as an Airbnb. Sometimes, they stay there, watching bald eagles, a friendly fox, and geese appear on the surrounding farmland and over the peaceful Belle River from the large bay window. The cottage has a bonus — it’s a few steps from a secluded, serene beach.

“There’s a tremendous sense of pride when we finish. Even former owners have contacted us with interest and amazement. It keeps us going. But the cost of items is increasing, and we can’t save every old home,” reflects Brenda. 

Home with history
Red Hector MacMillan, a skilled carpenter descended from Scottish settlers, built the MacLaren House in 1885 for Daniel McLaren, who, in partnership with his son, Will, owned and operated the 67-hectare farm in Belle River, with 40 hectares used for raising mixed crops.

MacMillan hand-carved elaborate details, including vertical hardwood wainscoting, ornate trim, and moulding, to give the house a distinctive gingerbread look. Daniel was the local shopkeeper and, later, a postmaster. After his death, Will inherited the house and lived there with his wife until 1940, when it became the property of the Bells and has remained in their family.

From the source
Brenda and Derek recycle/upcycle antique furniture, items from Facebook Marketplace, donations, and reclaimed pieces from old homes. They have reimagined an old dresser into a bathroom vanity, revived an old, donated club-foot tub, and used a church pew as a rustic wall shelf.

DeVOL is a British designer style with beautiful contemporary and classic kitchens featuring wallpaper, clean lines, authentic carpentry, and a resemblance to things made to last.