Elegant Casual Style for a Gracious Farmhouse

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This Georgia couple appreciated their ancestral country vacation house so much that they chose to live there. While the pastoral 1960s prefab cabin was all they wanted for relaxed weekend remains, it was not suitable for full-time living, so they remodeled and enlarged the home, which makes it resemble a simple, rambling farmhouse which had increased over time. The new home is much more elegant than the original cabin but still lends itself well to casual living and maintains that familiar beloved feeling.

at a Glance
Who lives here: A few ofempty nesters who like to entertain
Location: Harris County, Georgia
Architects: Historical Theories
Interior designer: Melanie Davis
Landscape designer: Bill Lincicome
Size: 4 bedrooms, 4 baths

Photography by Blayne Beacham

Historical Concepts

Historical Concepts

The idea was to make the home feel and look as a real rambling farmhouse with additions built over decades.

Before Photo

The cabin held lots of great memories for three generations of their family. Their first idea was to preserve the first cabin for a guesthouse and construct a new principal house. However, the designers and owners realized that the cottage’s place atop the knoll was the very picturesque spot on the house.

Historical Concepts

AFTER: Growing more ways to enjoy the views of this 100-acre farm and lake proved to be a priority. Each room currently leads to a porch or is open into the pastoral views. This new front entrance combines the first cabin (left) with the addition (right).

The metal roof of this old home was the ideal choice for the new farmhouse too. “It’s about as native to this kind of farm because the local fieldstone seen on the old rock walls around the house,” says Historical Concepts principal Terry Pylant.

Historical Concepts

Photograph by Emily Followill

The shaded portion of the plan shows the footprint of the first home, which was kept intact. The positioning of the new entrance porch and halls provides the interiors a comfortable stream.

Historical Concepts

“We wanted it to seem as though it’d happened, and also we wanted to deemphasize how big the house was by breaking down the massing,” Pylant explains. “It’s not a significant plateau home; it’s a rambling farmhouse.”

Historical Concepts

The hallway links new and old — the first living area is about the right, and the brand new kitchen is on the left side. Reclaimed antique pine floors bring some farmhouse simplicity into the tasteful space.

Floors: Vintage Lumber

Historical Concepts

The designers removed the wall between the first living area and dining area. “This opened up the space but maintained the cozy proportions of the first rooms,” Pylant states.

Repurposed antique lighting throughout the home: Eloise Pickard

Before Photo

Historical Concepts

The group popped up the first cabin’s roof to make it lighter, airier and more polished. The living area also has a new bay of windows with views into the lake.

Historical Concepts

The dining area has a new three-season-room option; a brand new porch stands where there was a concrete patio. The few, Sandy and Otis, are now well equipped to have many guests.

“In true Southern fashion, Miss Sandy’s fantastic foyer can be broad enough for extra seats, and she puts up one into two round tables there for big dinners,” says interior designer Melanie Davis. “This allows 30-plus folks to be in under 10 feet from the main dining area table and 40 individuals seated in all of these places if need be … not to mention using the lake porch off the kitchen.”

Historical Concepts

Historical Concepts

Like the first rock walls on the house, the renovation’s four new chimneys were produced with local fieldstone. More local fieldstone details around the dining room patio tie the architecture to the landscape.

Historical Concepts

A balance of glistening and rustic components generates stability in the farmhouse kitchen. Carrara marble countertops add elegance, while the antique pine floors and beadboard ceilings are more primitive.

A 16-foot-long wall of transom-topped French doors opens into the brand new front porch.

Historical Concepts

This really is actually the screened-in lake porch off the kitchen, which serves as a casual living room for most of the year. A TV is hidden behind cabinet doors over the fireplace.

“A porch swing is a quintessential thing on a porch — you haveta have them” Pylant states. The unique hardware around the swing is antique well pulleys that the owners had. Another Southern porch must is Haint Blue ceilings.

Historical Concepts

The master bedroom also opens straight to the lake. This suite was placed to give the room privacy, views into the lake and access to the porch.

Historical Concepts

“He’s an early riser and she enjoys privacy, therefore we made the master suite with this in mind,” Pylant states. This is a personal sitting area from the master bedroom.

Historical Concepts

In the master bathroom shower, high windows let in the light without making the few feel just like exhibitionists.

Historical Concepts

Historical Concepts

This gallery leads from the master suite to some Dutch door (right), which leads out to the formal gardens.

One of the things that the few loved about visiting their country house was gardening. They had added azaleas, roses and a vegetable garden through time, and were eager to have the ability to spend more time gardening.

“The house includes a paddock, farm fields and gardens, and we had order near the home,” Pylant states. This site plan provides you with a good idea of how the gardens and home fit together and join to the remainder of the house, which will be roughly 100 acres.

Historical Concepts

An axis joins the home through the garden to Sandy’s photography studio. She wanted to walk on a paved surface between the two, therefore this garden’s style is much more formal. The group graded the tricky slopes of this site to create terraces, which made this flat garden possible.

Historical Concepts

Historical Concepts

Here is the view from just beyond the studio across the gardens to the main house. This perspective also shows you exactly how effective the team had been in making the home seem as it had grown through recent years.

Historical Concepts

Subtle terracing of bud stairs connects the formal landscaped areas with all the more pastoral ones.

Historical Concepts

The pool pavilion includes another fieldstone fireplace.

Historical Concepts

A back porch is your most-used entrance for everyone, since it’s just off the driveway and parking court.

Historical Concepts

Keeping the entrance of guests in mind, the group made one of the most beautiful mudrooms I’ve ever noticed, in accord with the elegant yet casual type of this farmhouse. The mudroom is flanked by a laundry area and a gardening area.

Historical Concepts

The gardening area has wonderful views out to the formal gardens directly above the aluminum sink.

Historical Concepts

The prior master bedroom in the first home now serves as a magical guest bedroom.

Historical Concepts

Only off the guest area is an enclosed sleeping porch. The rustic and cozy room is a favourite spot for the couple’s grandchildren.

Historical Concepts

Butt boards on the walls along with beadboard ceiling give the sleeping porch a cabin feel.

“We all wanted the home to feel real to this location,” Pylant states. The new home is welcoming and comfortable, and seems like it’s been growing on the property for the past hundred decades.

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