Schoolhouse Visits: A 1935 Georgian-Inspired Midwest Home
When Amanda and Chris Pahls first discovered their Georgian-inspired 1930s brick beauty in Kansas, they knew they’d stumbled onto something special. “Finding our home was one of those ‘fell into our laps and all the stars aligned’ situations,” Amanda says. “I still pinch myself that we get to call this house ours.”
They moved in as a family of four, but over the years, the laughter has grown along with their family. With five daughters now filling their space, their home radiates life and creativity.
Amanda, an avid thrifter, has spent years collecting treasures to make the house their own, weaving in Shaker-inspired details for a calm, collected aesthetic. Below, she shares how they’ve created a space that balances charm, functionality, and joy for every member of their family.
Describe your personal style, and how it’s reflected in your home.
Where I lean into primitive decor, Chris enjoys a more modern take on design. We’ve never had a decor budget, but we’ve been crafty and resourceful with what we find. Recently, we’ve started purchasing a few special heirlooms, but patience is definitely a virtue when styling a home. We love that Schoolhouse pieces complement both of our styles beautifully throughout our space.
What were some of the first changes you made to your home?
I don’t know that we had much of a vision for how we wanted the house to look when we first moved in. I wanted white walls and lots of baskets, and Chris wanted to turn the detached garage into his pottery studio. At the time, there were four of us and three bedrooms, so we didn’t feel like we had to get too creative with the space we had. We did make a few cosmetic updates, like pulling the 1960s blue shag carpet and painting the turquoise walls white.
Side note: I actually begged my husband to paint the green trim white when we moved in, but he insisted on keeping it, and I’m so glad we did! It’s now one of my favorite colors. One of the questions I get asked most often is, “What color is that green?!” It’s a close dupe of Farrow & Ball’s French Gray, in case anyone is curious.
How has your approach changed as your family has grown?
We found out we were pregnant with our third daughter a few weeks after moving into the house. As we’ve grown, our desire for our home evolved from wanting white walls to creating an intentional, peaceful environment that fostered a creative space for our children to learn. We wanted to honor the charm of the home while meeting the practical needs of our growing family.
How do you choose which pieces to keep in your home?
Motherhood has created a need for me to provide my children with a safe home, and I learned early on when toys started to multiply, that I don’t want to fill our home with meaningless stuff. Instead, I want our home, and the belongings within it, to be intentional heirlooms.
I also love incorporating things from places where parts of my heart still reside. Whether it’s cuddling up with my daughters to read a book written about a place I once lived, or snuggling with a blanket made in Maine out of fabric that reminds me of the dolls and prams I had in Germany, this is the kind of comfort I lean into when making our house a home.
Can you tell us which Schoolhouse pieces are most special to you?
We educate our five daughters in our school room, which also functions as the dining room. I wanted to put a Schoolhouse clock in this space for years and now catch myself smiling at the Tanker Clock multiple times a day. The Butterscotch color compliments the green trim we have grown to love in this space.
I want our stories to live on through the chairs where we spend so much time getting to know each other and the stools the girls tiptoe on to help us cook or sneak a taste of cookie dough from Mom’s pretty bowls. I want the baskets that hold our table linens and napkins to remind the girls of all the warm meals we share together and how their dad experimented with every sauce he could find until he finally found one our pickiest eater loved on her noodles. I want to fill our home with special treasures that hold memories to carry on when we can’t.
Finally, can you tell us about your favorite room in your home and why?
Our school room/dining room is my favorite space in the home. I’ve birthed three of our five daughters in this specific space, and it’s where I’ve taught our girls to read, enjoyed many cups of coffee with friends, and gathered to eat lots of homemade baked goods. Our youngest likes to stack her older sister’s stool under our FDB Møbler J83 Stool, which she has very much claimed as her own.
We added the T10 Opal LED Bulbs to our fandelier, a quirky piece of the home that was here when we moved in, and we haven’t had the heart to change. The shape of these bulbs allows us to add some lamp shades that we tea dyed, and it warms up the space just like we hoped.
I have a love of chairs that my friends tease me about. Many of our chairs have been gifted from friends who have saved them off street corners, and the chairs come with special stories. We recently refinished an old table that we found on Facebook Marketplace, and after switching from benches to chairs for the first time in our home, we needed a few more chairs for our family. The TON 18 Bentwood Caned Chairs have been a perfect addition, fitting right into the space. They’re beautifully handcrafted, a timeless silhouette, and haven’t given anyone a splinter, one of our favorite features of these bentwoods!
The FDB Møbler J83 Long Bench fits seamlessly into several rooms in our home. We have a 2-year-old “bedroom roommate” at the moment, and the bench provides a practical way for her to join us, as well as a comfortable spot for me to slip her beloved vintage boots and clogs on and off.
Some of the very first bedding we ever added to our home were two Gray Twin Diamond Ticking Quilts on our daughters’ antique Jenny Lind beds. This bedding has such a timeless feel and my husband also digs it, which makes it just right! It felt like a special moment when we added the King Quilt to our bed. An ode to the beginning of making our house a home.
