Anastasiia and her husband Gunther purchased a nearly 120-year-old church in Maryland for $320,000 in 2017.The couple changed its name from All Saints' Church to All Saints House and now live there with their three children.Anastasiia told Business Insider they have spent the past few years restoring it. When the couple moved into the church in June of 2017, they began chipping away at their long list of restoration projects, which they document on Instagram.So far, Anastasiia estimates that they've spent around $40,000 to $50,000 on various projects around their home.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.In December of 2016, Anastasiia and Gunther, a young Maryland couple, were on the lookout for a restoration project. So, when they saw a for-sale sign in front of an old church up the road from their house, they stopped the car and looked inside.Around six months and $320,000 later, it was theirs.Now, the couple and their three children live in the 120-year-old All Saints Church. While they're actively renovating it, it still maintains many of its original details.What is now called All Saints House was deconsecrated in the 1970s,Anastasiia told Business Insider. Since then, it has seen three separate owners (not including Anastasiia and Gunther) who have added lofts, rooms, skylights, and bathrooms to the space.The couple said that when they bought the home, it was livable, but it had sat empty for years and needed some fine-tuning. So, they began chipping away at their long list of restoration projects, which they document on Instagram.So far, completed projects include the stripping of dangerous lead paint from the front door, adding a breakfast bar in the kitchen, redesigning the master bedroom,and renovating the kitchen.Business Insider caught up with Anastasiia to find out what it's like to live in a house with over a century of history.SEE ALSO:A homeless Detroit man bought an abandoned house for $1,500 and spent 10 years renovating it for his wife. Here's how he did it ' and what it looks like now.DON'T MISS:Inside the luxury trailer park in the Hamptons, where trailers have ocean views and go for more than $1 millionAnastasiia and her husband Gunther bought All Saints' Church, which they now call All Saints House, for $320,000 in 2017.Anastasiia told Business Insider that she and her husband had been on the lookout for an old house to restore. So, when they saw a for-sale sign in front of an old church up the road from their house, they immediately went inside."The moment we walked in, that was it. It was love at first sight," she said. "We looked at each other and said 'yes, we definitely want to live here' and called our real-estate agent."Anastasiia, a teacher, and Gunther, a biostatistician, have always shared a love for old houses and follow restoration projects on social media."We are part of a growing Instagram community of old house lovers and people who restore old houses," Anastasiia told Business Insider. "So we have a lot of friends on Instagram that we get great ideas from and ask for advice."The church, according to Maryland.gov, was designed by New York architect Henry Martyn Congdon nearly 120 years ago. It was built to replace a previous church, also designed by Congdon, that burned down on December 31, 1899.According to Anastasiia, All Saints' Church served as a place of worship in Maryland until the 1950s and remained empty until it was deconsecrated in the 1970s. Since then, it has seen a handful of owners who have added lofts, additional rooms, and bathrooms to the space."The changes that were made to the building are not permanent," she explained to Business Insider. "You can take down everything that's been put up, and it can be a functioning church again."Despite the additions, the building's original Gothic revival architecture has been preserved for nearly 120 years. To this day, the church still features original finishes.In fact, the home's stained glass windows were imported from Munich, Germany during the turn of the century.As soon as the couple bought the church, they began chipping away at their long list of restoration projects.The first task was to clean the house from top to bottom, a task that took around two weeks to complete, Anastasiia told Business Insider.So far, Anastasiia estimates that they've spent around $40,000 to $50,000 remodeling and renovating.Anastasiia told Business Insider that she and Gunther complete the projects on their own with the help of YouTube tutorials. The renovated kitchen is the biggest project they've completed so far.The three-month-long kitchen renovation included redoing the flooring and replacing the joists, updating the plumbing and electrical work, and installing new cabinets and countertops.Anastasiia told Business Insider that the hardest part of the entire restoration process is making sure the additions complement the church's original style."We try to keep everything as original as possible, as the owners prior to us did," she said. "We don't want to change anything that would damage the architectural integrity of the building."But preserving the building's architectural integrity doesn't come without its challenges. According to Anastasiia, the ceilings in the home's great hall are 25 feet tall, making it difficult to change lightbulbs and clean the wooden beams.Anastasiia told Business Insider that the entire house spans approximately 2,500 square feet.When it came to decorating, Anastasiia and Gunther had to buy new furniture because what they had was too small. To better understand just how big the space is, consider this: The brown couch in the great hall (pictured below) is 12 feet long.To find the perfect pieces, they shopped mostly at antique and thrift shops.The grand piano, which was originally a church piano, sits next to the fireplace. According to Anastasiia, it dates back to the beginning of the 20th century.Currently, there are three bedrooms and two bathrooms in the home. The loft, which looks out over the great room, serves as the master bedroom.One of the home's three skylights covers almost an entire side of the master bedroom.Directly under the loft area are the two other bedrooms.Anastasiia told Business Insider that during the colder months, her family spends a lot of time in this small, cozy living room, which was originally an altar.The great hall doesn't have heat, so during the colder months, Anastasiia told Business Insider that her family hangs out in the small living room. In fact, in a caption on Instagram, she calls it the second-most used space in the house next to the kitchen.The belfry ' the tower attached to the church ' is made up of three levels. The top level still features a bronze church bell from the 1900s, Anastasiia told Business Insider.The first floor of the tower is usually a library, but the couple recently (and temporarily) converted it into a guest bedroom.The couple has big plans for the tower. The second floor is going to be transformed into a Victorian-style bedroom that the couple hopes to share with others through Airbnb. As for the third level, Anastasiia plans to transform it into a lounging area with floor-to-ceiling windows.The bronze bell will be removed from the tower and displayed elsewhere on the property.Behind the house is an old cemetery. While they don't own it, Anastasiia told Business Insider that her family takes care of it by maintaining the land and doing some of the gardening."It's not as spooky as you'd think," she said.Anastasiia believes the bestpart of owning and restoring the old church is the inspiration and creativity it fuels."My husband always says that we're just stewards of this place," she said. "This place has been here for over 100 years and it will be here long after we are gone. Our job is not to just make it what we want but to make sure we preserve it."
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