Historic Home Tour

Marshall Michigan

Matt & Becky Samra Home
408 North Madison Street

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Matt and Becky Samra purchased their 1925 American Foursquare home in September, 1996. Since moving in they’ve done extensive work on both the house and the yard.  Matt restored most of the main-floor woodwork by removing layers of paint and refinishing window frames and baseboards (as well as restoring original solid brass heating grates). In 2002 the Samras gutted the kitchen, doubled the width of the entryway, and added new cabinets, flooring and countertops. After they finished the kitchen they remodeled the basement and its bathroom and added a two-tiered deck overlooking the backyard which in 2005 was part of marshall’s “Welcome to My Garden” tour.

The home is decorated with many artifacts from Becky’s great grandparents’ farm in northern Michigan, including antique crocks, buckets and vintage fruit and beverage crates. Many of the furniture pieces (Chests, dressers, cabinets, picture frames and the dining room table) were rescued from one of the barns on the family farm and restored.

Other items you can see include a 1914 dinner menu from the Battle Creek Sanitarium, an antique stained glass window above the stairway landing (a housewarming gift from Matt to Becky), an 1880's Chautauqua writing blackboard, a 1920's Victrola record player and an early 20th Century upright piano the Samras purchased for five dollars and restored over the course of a year. In the front room there is a 19th Century porcelain milk pitcher found under Matt’s grandparents’ porch in Pennsylvania. Be sure to look at the photo collage in the dining room capturing the seasonal changes of the backyard birch tree.