A young couple have transformed a decaying country church into a new home, with locals ecstatic a piece of their history has been restored.
Campbell Michell had only renovated a couple of small rooms before he found the Pinnaroo Methodist Church, about two hours east of Adelaide near the Victorian border, in 2016.
The 110-year-old building was in a state of disrepair after the congregation moved out a decade earlier and storms had caused further damage.
It was being considered for demolition and the church committee was ready to pay $45,000 to have it torn down.
But that's when Mr Michell was visiting family in the town and put in a bid of $26,000 to purchase the church and save the building.
"When I first walked into the big hall here, I could just see how cool it was with the light shining in and I wanted to build a home that kept that feel," he said.
"But I also wanted it to be a modern thing with a lot of stairs and a fun English-manor kind of vibe.
Mr Michell, who is a cabinet maker by trade, met his partner Caroline Forster three years ago after the project had started.
Ms Forster has taken the lead on much of the interior design since she came into the picture.
"There was so much work to do and I did underestimate how much there was to do," he said.
"It took a while of sweat and blood to chip at the old stuff, put the new stuff in and get it done."
Town supportive of transformation
The church was opened in 1912 and served as a town hall and meeting place during its early days.
The large hall out the back was built to cater for the burgeoning Sunday school, which was attracting more students than the local area school.
Local historian and church member Max Wurfel said Mr Michell and Ms Forster had saved what was an important building to the town's residents.
"As a congregation it was something we still had to maintain even though we weren't using it," he said.
"So to have someone come along and take it over was really good for us and the committee. It's really nice that it's still there.
"I'm pleased that they were able to get it and really do something with it."
The couple recently held an open day so locals could walk through and see the transformation to the building where many of them worshipped, were married and gathered with their friends.
"The town has been so supportive and it's been amazing to do a final reveal for them and have them walk through the house," Ms Forster said.
"Lots of them were married here and had funerals and baby showers here.
Leaving their own mark
Ms Forster added the renovation had educated the couple about the town they now called home.
The large stained-glass windows that rise up inside the main hall bear the names of the town's early residents, each with a story their descendants have been keen to tell.
The couple have added their names to the windows, signifying a new era for the church.
"We had a storm come through a year back and it actually damaged one of the windows," Mr Michell said.
"Rather than leave it how it was, we replicated the original windows and wrote on there that it was restored by us to add a bit of our own flavour.
Now mortgage-free and ready to begin the next chapter of their lives, Ms Forster said living in the church felt like a "dream".
"We're pretty young, we're mortgage-free and we have this awesome home."
Follow Campbell and Caroline's renovation journey from start to finish in the new series of Restoration Australia, coming to ABC TV and iview later in 2022.
