The Cottage On Mill

In the 1850s, the local quarry owner let quarry workers use rubble stone to construct homes in a technique known as 'rubble houses.' The Cottage on Mill, built in the 1860s, is one of those rubble houses. Until the completion of the Mississippi River road in the 1970s, Elsah was isolated from travelers, tucked into a living time capsule. Located on the banks of the Mississippi, there have been several great floods. After the 1993 flood, the Cottage owner decided to build a basement. During this undertaking, the entire cottage almost collapsed. By reinforcing, the cottage was saved. The basement reconstruction and reinforcement raised the main floor about 6". The ceiling was lowered about 12" to add insulation.

When we purchased the cottage in February of 2022, We immediately fell in love with the coziness. That said, the low ceiling made things feel, perhaps, a bit too cozy. We had the vision of creating a Scandinavian cottage. We vaulted the ceiling and exposed as much stone rubble as possible. We also removed walls the previous owners had put in to create additional rooms to open up the 500-square-foot space. Four months later, with much love and manual labor, our lovely little cottage was in full bloom outside and in.