From Massachusetts Farmhouse to Vermont Mountain Estate: Inside Mel Robbins’ Emotional Housing Journey

Mel Robbins has built an internationally recognized career around teaching people how to take control of their lives, overcome self-doubt, and make radical personal transformations. Yet, behind her successful self-help empire, bestselling books like The Let Them Theory, and widely downloaded podcast, her own personal history includes a major, emotionally complex change of direction that hit closer to home than expected.

For years, the influential author, speaker, and media personality raised her family in a historic farmhouse just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. That long-standing chapter eventually came to a close when she and her husband, Chris, packed up their belongings and relocated to a sprawling 26-acre property in Southern Vermont. The transition was far more than a simple change of scenery; it marked the end of a 24-year era in Massachusetts and the beginning of a deeply nostalgic new chapter inside a home with existing family ties—a house originally built by her husband’s parents decades earlier.

Robbins’ current lifestyle and picturesque mountain views stand in stark contrast to the severe financial and personal struggles she has openly discussed facing in the past. Long before she established her thriving digital media and publishing career, Robbins navigated a period of intense crisis, dealing with $800,000 in crippling debt and severe marital strain before engineering her professional turnaround.

Reflecting on the pivotal moments that transformed her life, Robbins recently shared her perspective in an interview with People magazine, emphasizing the power of personal agency. "I wake up every day and I am profoundly grateful for making a decision to change myself for the better because that’s what started it all. One decision changes your life," she said.

The Massachusetts Farmhouse and Two Decades of Memories

Long before trading urban proximity for rural serenity, Robbins and her family lived in Sherborn, Massachusetts, inside a small, older farmhouse that gradually struggled to keep pace with their evolving needs. As her children grew older and her business operations expanded, space quickly became an ongoing challenge within the historic walls.

On episodes of The Mel Robbins Podcast, the author has often reflected on the quirks of the Massachusetts property, recalling that the house originally featured a dirt basement. Even after the family invested time and money into pouring a concrete floor, the low ceiling severely limited how the lower level could be utilized. Additionally, the narrow layout of the home made it difficult to comfortably host the kinds of gatherings she envisioned for her children and their teenage friends.

To create more usable square footage, the family eventually completed an addition, though it introduced new spatial puzzles to solve. Robbins explained that she and Chris refinanced the property to construct a garage featuring a room directly above it. While she originally envisioned the upper level as a dedicated playroom for the kids, those plans were quickly intercepted by an antique pool table inherited from her father, which consumed a massive portion of the available floor space.

Over the years, that heavy antique table evolved into a versatile household utility that stretched far beyond its original sporting purpose. The children used its flat surface for building intricate Lego structures, Robbins frequently folded laundry across its felt top, and a sturdy plywood covering eventually transformed it into a makeshift work surface as her professional enterprises continued to grow. Ultimately, Robbins made the difficult decision to dismantle the table so the room could better serve the evolving functional needs of the household.

Leaving the Sherborn property altogether brought an entirely different kind of emotional hurdle. In a candid 2022 video titled "We Just Sold Our House. I Was Not Ready To Feel This," Robbins opened up to her followers about the bittersweet reality of parting with a home that had anchored her family for nearly a quarter of a century.

"The closer I get to moving into our new place in Vermont, the more emotional I get about all of our kids growing up and this chapter of my life closing," she shared in the social media post. "We raised our kids in the same house outside of Boston for 24 years, and now I feel like I’m walking around like a ghost in a former chapter of my life. We haven’t officially decided whether or when we will sell it yet … but that hasn’t stopped the waves of anxiety."

A Vermont Home Rooted in Family History

The eventual move to Vermont was sparked organically when the family began exploring educational changes for their son, Oakley, who expressed a strong desire to attend high school in the Green Mountain State. Initially, Robbins was heavily resistant to the idea of leaving Massachusetts, where her media company was firmly anchored and her daily routines were deeply established.

At the same time, however, a parallel family discussion was unfolding. Chris’s mother was actively considering downsizing her lifestyle and offered her children the opportunity to purchase the very house that she and her late husband had built years prior. After much deliberation and a reconsideration of her initial hesitation, Robbins asked her husband to arrange a professional property appraisal. They ultimately purchased the home and embarked on extensive renovations, though Robbins has frequently acknowledged that adjusting to the rural lifestyle required patience.

While Robbins and Chris settled into full-time life in Southern Vermont, her growing media company, 143 Studios, maintained its operational base in Boston, requiring a balance between remote media production and urban enterprise.

The move to the 26-acre Vermont property also provided Robbins with a welcome opportunity to resolve a long-standing frustration from her Massachusetts days: providing a dedicated, durable space where her children could freely host friends without worry. To achieve this, she commissioned a small barn outbuilding designed specifically with resilience in mind. Rather than stressing over delicate furnishings, expensive carpets, or accidental damage, she prioritized creating a welcoming environment where young people could gather, play pool, and unwind without restrictions.

Describing the dramatic setting of the estate on social media, Robbins painted a vivid picture of the surrounding landscape. "The house sits on a mountain, on 26 acres and has a 140-mile view," she wrote. "You can access the Appalachian Trail, two ski resorts, and the view is absolutely unreal. It’s like heaven on earth. It’s even more special than it sounds because—Chris’s parents built the house several decades ago."

Personal Touches and Professional Spaces Inside the Vermont Estate

Beyond the sweeping mountain vistas and expansive acreage, Robbins has frequently shared intimate glimpses into the interior details of her Vermont home with her audience. During various podcast episodes, she has recounted everyday domestic realities, such as a breakfast nook situated right beside the kitchen. A built-in bench and the wall space above it were originally designated to become a dedicated display area for cherished family photographs. Despite having renovated the home and lived there full time for two years at that point, Robbins candidly admitted that the photo wall remained unfinished, using the delayed project as a humorous reminder of how personal goals often take time to materialize even when the physical space is readily available.

Other areas of the home quietly blend practical function with sentimental family history. In the entryway, an antique cabinet inherited from her great-grandmother—noted for its classic marble top—serves as a functional landing pad for everyday items like house keys and dog leashes.

The property has also played a crucial logistical role in her professional trajectory. Robbins revealed that during the initial stages of launching her podcast—spanning roughly the first year to 18 months—much of the audio recording took place right inside the Vermont residence while she balanced a demanding travel schedule. As her production footprint expanded and her team grew, the business eventually established dedicated office and studio spaces in Boston, allowing her to successfully bridge her peaceful home life in the mountains with a thriving digital enterprise.