Eleven years ago, Ron and Jill, then his girlfriend of six months, discovered the house of their dreams: a landmark Victorian row house that had belonged to a notorious fraternity in Baltimore.  Unfortunately, it was now a condemned, abandoned property.  But Jill wanted the house and Ron wanted Jill.  

Beyond the wall-to-wall graffiti, collapsed fireplaces and banisters, and three dumpsters worth of trash, the couple envisioned this as their future dream home.  So Ron bought the 4,500-square-foot ruin, despite the fact that neither Ron nor Jill knew anything about home renovation, and that the project might ruin them both financially and emotionally.

A book for lovers, dreamers, and do-it-yourselfers, From Animal House to Our House recounts Ron and Jill’s decade-long adventure in house restoration, offering inspiration, insight, and hilarity as they hammer away at the American dream of home ownership and true love.

“Armed with a tight deadline and a small budget and without mechanical expertise or clear plan, Tanner and his new girlfriend undertook a renovation project that would frighten away most contractors. The nuts and bolts of the project are detailed lovingly here—in words and hand-drawn illustrations—as well as the pair’s evolution from dating renovators into married homeowners.” —Therese Nielsen, Library Journal

Tanner lives in the big Baltimore brownstone featured in this memoir with his wife, Jill, and their many pets. Their website, Houselove.org, is dedicated to the love and care of old houses.