The Old Stone Farmhouse in “Marley & Me”

Welcome to Day 2 of “Marley & Me.” Yesterday I featured the charming starter home that John and Jenny Grogan (played by Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston) lived in. Today we’re looking at the beautiful old Pennsylvania farmhouse that they moved into later in the film. When the Grogan family pulls up to the house for the first time, it’s Fall. Cue the soaring music. I may have been getting just a teensy bit bored with the movie at that point, but now it had my full attention!

Here is the house in winter, covered in snow. It looks like the perfect “Christmas House” to me:

I read that this farmhouse impressed the real John and Jenny Grogan so much that the couple purchased a similar home for themselves.

Someone close to the production contacted me when the movie came out and shared some photos they took of the crew faking that snowy day. They asked to remain anonymous, but I have to say thank you for these. I love seeing how the movie magic is made!

Here are some behind-the-scenes photos taken inside the house during production, in the dining room:

The real John Grogan’s new puppy was on the set. So cute!

Back to the movie–Owen Wilson (as John Grogan) coming in the front door after work:

This room is beautiful. I love the details, like the line of books on the windowsill in the background:

Their son watches old videos of Marley:

Jennifer Aniston in a cozy windowseat:

Here’s a photo of the stone farmhouse with the (real) homeowners’ collie, Beryl, featured in Philadelphia magazine before the movie came out. The 1837 stone farmhouse in Chester County, Pennsylvania, sits on 16 acres.

The living room, painted a warm gold:

The homeowners were featured in an article called Farm Charm, with some beautiful interior photographs of the house that you’ll recognize from the film. It also tells more about the home, and about all the work the couple put into it. The article says that it was in such bad shape when they moved in that there were bats nesting upstairs, floorboards were falling into the basement, and all of the plumbing and wiring had to be replaced.

The kitchen is new, created from what was a mudroom, but they designed it to look original to the house with hefty ceiling beams and wide plank floorboards (via Philadelphia Magazine). Gorgeous.

Here are a couple of photos taken of the kitchen during filming with all of the equipment and “work mess” in view:

Here’s a photo of Jennifer Aniston standing in the kitchen in the film:

A daybed off the kitchen:

To see more of the photos, visit Philadelphia magazine.

According to an article in Fused Focus, the film’s producers wanted the Grogans’ Pennsylvania home to reflect the family’s maturity and growth: “It needed to have a warm, solid, and inviting feel.”

One more behind-the-scenes shot, of the cast and crew in front of the house (you can see Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston in the second row):

If you missed my first post, about the Grogans’ starter home in Florida, click here to see it.

Visit my TV/Movie Houses page for links to all the others I’ve featured so far, from Father of the Bride to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Tagged as: " set design, dogs, film, Jennifer Aniston, John Grogan, Marley & Me, movie houses, Movie Mondays, movies, novels, Owen Wilson, Pennsylvania, production design, stone farmhouse