"They were asking us questions like, 'What are you gonna do with the house'," says Hardy, who had a vision of what the then-rundown place could become. "We said, 'you know, we have a vision of what it could look like in the future. You see the possibilities.' "

The couple loved the historic elements of the 1925 home, so they opted to merge history and livability within the walls of the house overlooking Paris Mountain and downtown Greenville. They had a substantial amount of work to do. In fact, the place took seven months of work before they could even move in. They knocked down walls, converted closets, updated bathrooms, built an addition on the back and replaced all utilities. Thus, they ended up with what Hardy describes as "a new, old house."

They've been in the house for three years now, but say it's not quite finished. Admittedly, Hardy doesn't know if it will ever be done, but the world traveler who has been in Greenville for six years, says this is a place they'll most likely be for a while.

"When I was first working on the house, (people) would stop and ask, 'are you the owner? Are you gonna sell it,' " Hardy says. "I was like 'no, we're gonna live in it.' "

"We'll be here for a while."