The emphasis was on outdoor living and a Glen Mills meadow when Kevin Nolan and his wife, Mary Fran McLaughlin, decided to buy an abandoned house in 2009, writes Terri Akman for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The home was unlivable but rested on seven acres of land, said Nolan, the retired owner of Nolan Painting in Havertown.

“I’d been looking for a diamond in the rough for years,” recalled Nolan. “But this diamond needed more than paint.”

Nolan had a vision for the property, bringing in Larry Weaner, a landscape architect known for designing meadows.

That’s when the 3-acre Glen Mills meadow started to take shape.

They planted wildflowers, including penstemon, aster, bee balm, joe-pye weed, coneflower, black-eyed Susan, goldenrod, and bluestem grass.

In 2011, the couple moved into the Glen Mills house that had no heat or water.

Over the next seven months, with a hired architect, they built a new house named Big Run, a contemporary rustic rancher with sustainable geothermal energy. 

A barn replaces the old house that once stood on the property.

They now enjoy the meadow from a 110-foot wraparound porch.

Find out more about the new house and the meadow in The Philadelphia inquirer.