{"id":3824,"date":"2026-06-28T23:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T23:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3824"},"modified":"2026-06-28T23:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T23:07:15","slug":"see-how-this-former-hgtv-couple-lovingly-restores-some-of-massachusetts-oldest-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3824","title":{"rendered":"See how this former HGTV couple lovingly restores some of Massachusetts\u2019 oldest homes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Growing up in Sandwich, Mike Lemieux and Jen Macdonald knew each other from school, but after \u201cone awkward date,\u201d they went their separate ways. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Both eventually landed finance jobs in Boston while secretly pining away for their true love: real estate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then one day in 2010, they both ended up at the same cookout. Talk turned to local real estate\u2014 specifically a beauty they\u2019d each eyed in Kingston. They were smitten with the house \u2014 and each other. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The couple founded Full Circle Homes in Plympton. Their passion for lovingly restoring antique homes burned so fierce, it landed them on HGTV for two seasons.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHouses With History,\u201d streaming on HGTVgo, HBOMax, and Discovery+, saw the New Englanders restoring centuries-old homes around Massachusetts. With no new seasons planned, \u201cWe took the bull by the horns and launched our own YouTube channel,\u201d said Lemieux, a general contractor and history buff. On \u201cFull Circle Homes – Mike and Jenny,\u201d viewers \u201ccan follow along and see everything that they saw on HGTV, but with more behind-the-scenes footage and detail.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Currently, you can watch them work on a 300-year-old house in Dartmouth, a 300-year-old Rochester antique Cape, and a circa-1700 Cape in Plympton.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The couple moved to Plympton in 2015, and they have \u201cbeen doing house restorations since we\u2019ve been dating \u2014 about 15 years,\u201d said Macdonald. One house turned into another. With fuzzy nostalgia, they recall their \u201cfirst flip.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMike got his general contracting license. I started getting more in depth with interior design, and it just grew from there,\u201d said Macdonald. \u201cWe learned a lot from working on our own projects, and then we started taking on client projects, and now we\u2019ve worked on, geez, I don\u2019t even know \u2026 maybe 50-plus mostly antique homes on the South Shore, South Coast, and Cape Cod.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMany projects that people would tear down,\u201d added Lemieux.<\/span><\/p>\n

The two often finish each other\u2019s sentences and laugh at something the other said. Through it all, their shared passion for restoring Massachusetts homes shines through.<\/span><\/p>\n

They talked with the Globe about old homes, current projects, their process, tips, and more. <\/span><\/p>\n

What do you love about antique homes?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Lemieux<\/b>: You\u2019re taking something that\u2019s got ties to not only the history of the community, but many times, the history of the United States. You\u2019re doing an archeological exploration of the chain of ownership, and you not only become part of that chain, but get to explore it with the community. It\u2019s the connective tissue of the community.<\/span><\/p>\n

You look at these structures \u2014 250, 300 years old \u2014 and realize that what we think is hard today, with all the technology we have, these people were just building these properties out ofnothing. They had to mill the trees and find the tools. It\u2019s a reminder of what it took to build this nation.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Macdonald<\/b>: Ditto on everything Mike said. It would be easy to demolish the house and put up a McMansion. But the homes are part of the fabric of the community. They have character. I love not only learning the history of the house, but solving the puzzle: How can I make this house functional for the family? How do we do a bathroom and make it feel like it\u2019s always been here?<\/span><\/p>\n

What are you working on now?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Macdonald<\/b>: For clients, we have a 300-year-old house in Dartmouth and a 300-year-old house in Dennis both getting new foundations. We have a 300-year-old house in Brewster. Then we have our own projects going. We\u2019re working on a schoolhouse we bought off Middleborough for $1 (1890s Rock Village Schoolhouse).<\/span><\/p>\n

Lemieux<\/b>: A town RFP (request for proposals). <\/span><\/p>\n

Macdonald<\/b>: It was a blind bidding (auction), and we won. That one we\u2019ve been working on for a couple years. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Tell me about the Dartmouth project.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Lemieux:<\/b> It\u2019s tough to tell the exact year, but it goes back to the early 1700s at least. It comes under FEMA regulations, because the Slocum River goes right in there. So we had to not only try to preserve as much of the property as we could, but we lifted the whole house and put it on a FEMA-approved foundation.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re doing full soup to nuts on that. We\u2019re leaving as much intact as we can, but the house was in really<\/i> bad shape. We\u2019re lifting it, excavating, putting it back onto a brand new foundation, and we\u2019re going to rebuild the historic chimney with working fireplaces. We\u2019re going to do every detail that clients wanted, and also keep the details that the Historic District wanted, so that the house looks much the same way it has for the last 300 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you live in a historic home? <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Macdonald<\/b>: Our office and our store, Mayflower Mercantile in Plympton, dates to 1827. But we actually live in a badly done 1970s Garrison Colonial. We\u2019re trying to make it look like an antique reproduction.<\/span><\/p>\n

What are some problems historical homes typically face?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Macdonald<\/b>: As a real estate agent, I see people get scared of historic signs on houses. There\u2019s a lot of confusion around historic restrictions. Sometimes just seeing the sign with a name and year on the front of a house, people pull out of driveways, like, \u201cOh, I can\u2019t deal with this.\u201d So it\u2019s just explaining to them so that they\u2019re not afraid of those things. <\/span><\/p>\n

Lemieux<\/b>: Installing modern HVAC. You don\u2019t want it to be visible, or interrupt the aesthetic of the home. You need to have the right mindset, and the right techniques.<\/span><\/p>\n

What advice do you have for people interested in buying a historic home? <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Lemieux: <\/b>When you buy an older home, experience it, live in it for a while, and then make decisions, rather than just saying \u201cGut the whole thing and start over.\u201d When you hire a contractor or a service provider, make sure they have experience in dealing with historic property. A lot of times we get in there after they\u2019ve hired somebody without experience, and we have to correct issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s a favorite project?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Macdonald<\/b>: The Deacon Eldred house in Sandwich. We rent it out now on Airbnb and Vrbo. Growing up, it was the Thornton W. Burgess Museum. My mother and my grandmother worked there, so I had been all throughout that house. It had just been sitting there for 30 years, melting into the ground. The town put it up for request for proposals. We won the bid. It\u2019s just the cutest house. I love it.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer. She can be reached at <\/i>ldaley33@gmail.com<\/i>. She tweets <\/i>@laurendaley1<\/i>, and Instagrams at <\/i> @laurendaley1<\/i>. <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

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The former \u201cHouses with History\u201d hosts now share their restorations of Massachusetts homes dating back 300 years on YouTube. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts"],"yoast_head":"\nSee how this former HGTV couple lovingly restores some of Massachusetts\u2019 oldest homes - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3824\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"See how this former HGTV couple lovingly restores some of Massachusetts\u2019 oldest homes - 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