Tired of older homes in Poplar Bluff being allowed to fall in disarray, Sandra Elliott decided to take action.
"There are lots of really interesting houses here in Poplar Bluff," Elliott said. "They are abandoned, but the bones are still good."
Elliott set her sights on a home in the 900 block of Gardner Street as her first project.
Rowdy Boyer of Boyer Development and his son, Dakota, were hired to flip the home which has sat empty for nearly three years.
"The house screamed to resurrect me," he said. "It came to the point of bulldozing the home or bring it back to life and we were able to bring it back to life."
Boyer estimated the home was from the 1940s from the type of insulation used and the front porch possibly being a little older.
The front portion of the home served as a salon that was in operation until the late 90s.
David Hays makes a point to drive past the Gardner Street location when he is in the area.
The house has special meaning to Hays because he lived there until he was 4-years-old.
"I'm really tickled to see the house redone," Hays said. "It was dilapidated and if it wasn't flipped soon it would be demolished."
Hays' parents, Johnny and Diane, bought the home in 1967 where a beauty shop space was located.
Fresh out of beauty school, Hays' mother began Diane's Beauty Shop and the couple lived in the home behind the shop.
In 1977, with two children and additions made to the home twice, the Hays family decided to move to a home in Qulin built by Johnny.
The Gardner Street home was then rented to another woman who worked at the beauty shop, which Diane continued to operate for over 30 years.
"She lived there from about 1977 to 2000," Hays said of the salon worker who rented the home.
A little over two months ago, Hays noticed a dumpster in front of the home and realized it was either being demolished or redone.
"I'm glad to see someone redo it and make it livable again," he said.
While strolling through the home he spent a few years of his childhood, Hays reminisced about where the salon chairs sat and the sinks were located.
"There were a lot of memories," he said.
During the nine weeks of remodeling, the father and son duo have found some interesting items to date the home including a washing machine from possibly the 1940s.
Boyer imagines the washing machine was used in the salon for the towels. He found the piece of history under the floor, along with a toilet and storm doors.
"At first I thought it was a pressure cooker," Boyer said when coming across the small washing machine. "Once I got it opened I realized what it was."
The Kenmore washing machine now has a new home at the Poplar Bluff Museum.
Hays was not surprised to learn something was found in the crawl space adding his father was a "do-it-yourselfer" and under the home regularly.
A homemade firework sign was also found in the attic during remodeling.
"It was made from wood probably leftover from the carport in the '60s or '70s," Boyer estimated.
He and his son have plans to make something from the sign, such as a table, and leave it in the home for the new owners.
Previously a two bedroom home, the Boyers have now flipped the place to include three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
They have also raised the ceilings, corrected the leaking roof, put in new floors and sheetrock, added picture windows, built a back porch, installed all new appliances and much more.
"We want the new owner to come in and not have to worry about doing a thing," he said.
The final step of the remodel process was to landscape the outdoor area.
A concrete planter was found at the side of the house that Hays said once held a sign for the salon.
Boyer plans to rehab the planter and add it to the landscaping.
Hays was glad to hear the planter was going to be used and not demolished.
"I have remodeled hundreds of homes," Boyer said. "This was a labor of love."
Residents throughout the neighborhood have stopped by and shared their delight with the Boyers for their "labor of love."
"There are so many older houses with potential and to let them rot and fall apart is sad," Boyer said.
Elliott said her goal for the project was to put the home on the market at an affordable price and keep homes from sitting abandoned in neighborhoods.
"Now the house is saying, 'somebody made me pretty again,'" Boyer said.