Help Levi and Aurora Rebuild a bit of Their House of Dreams

Friends… we’re absolutely heartbroken for Levi and Aurora Voskamp, two young artists, married only 18 months, who had poured out their heart and hard work the last 4 years into personally and painstakingly restoring a 152-year-old stone house, built in 1873, into their home that they lovingly called the Little House of Dreams – and then a chimney fire burnt their home, and all their belongings, to the ground this week.

When Levi and Aurora began this work of love, the house had been abandoned for 20 years prior, with the sky initially being visible from the basement, through floorboards and rafters and shingles. Levi and Aurora sought out insurance for the house, but due to the initial dilapidated and deteriorated state of the house, no insurance company would offer insurance until the renovation was complete.

Levi, working on the family farm with his dad and brother, along with photographing, and Aurora, a designer at Listowel Florist, and an aspiring artist, frugally and with much grit, poured over 4,000 passionate hours and their entire life-savings into personally restoring the historic home to its former glory, from laying in every floor joist, to salvaging pine floorboards to lay throughout, to refinishing old cherry beams into the front door, building cupboards — even handcrafting their bed frame from reclaimed 400-year-old ash beams — Levi, artfully & wholeheartedly, handcrafted every detail of the stone house restoration with an attentive eye for history and beauty.

As Aurora journaled one night this week when she couldn’t sleep:

“Countless dates, before we were even married, spent in respirators and coveralls in the dilapidated stone house, tearing out and shoveling with our bare hands, the weather, wear and wreckage of 20 years of abandonment and wildlife. And as we worked, we dreamed. We dreamed of restoration and revival.

And then slowly, over the next four years we saw those dreams weaving into reality. Levi, such an artist, and craftsman, learned how to do everything himself. From electrical, to plumbing, to framing, to refinishing floors, to routing trim, to insulating, to drywall. He passed inspections, and went above and beyond to build something that was strong and warm, and a beautiful work of art.

We salvaged grainery boards and lined our basement walls, we saved the old clawfoot tub from the back of the house, and we salvaged the old flooring. With help from family and friends, we reroofed it to keep it dry. Levi patiently and lovingly learned how to frame and drywall the wonderfully deep, complicatedly angled, windowsills.

Minutes before the fire, Levi was working on a second coat of mud on the main level and the upstairs, soon to be studio space. I was slowly preparing and gathering pieces for when we moved upstairs, and just beginning to plan out paint colours and logistics for our little kitchen. We were so, so, so painfully close.”

But a chimney fire during a strong northwest wind this past Tuesday morning engulfed the house in flames within minutes, burning all of their woodworking tools, their art studio, Levi’s camera lenses and gear, a lifetime of Aurora’s paintings and artwork, all of their wedding gifts and personal belongings, and devastatingly incinerated their beloved, nearly finished home; their own little piece of handcrafted art.

While the heartbreaking loss of this historic, landmark house, and years of passionate labor, are irreplaceable, any kind donations will help this young couple start to rebuild their lives, and their hopes to save some of the stones of this historic home, and begin their hard work and dreams again.

Any kind giving will support the work of starting to source replacement materials, pour new foundations, raise a frame, and turn the surreal nightmare of this heartbreak, into a small reflection of their little house of dreams all over again.

We can’t thank you enough for your prayers, kindness, and generous love.

(Local friends: if you’d rather e-transfer to Levi & Aurora directly:

voskampsgallery "at" gmail "dot" com

--> just with the note "Gift" or "Donation"

Or if you're led to reach out to Levi & Aurora personally for any local donations of materials, house goods, clothing or help.

Please pray for us?)