My husband and I decided to leave SW Florida and move nearer to our children. We chose the Asheville, NC area where they call people like us "half-backs" -- those who want to be near their original homes but who don't want to go back to the frigid weather of winter. We found a 10 acre piece of land on top of Burney Mountain, just 10 miles from the Biltmore Estate. We wanted the privacy and beauty of the natural woods but with all the modern touches and the convenience of good shopping, medical care and an airport nearby. Seemed like a tall order but we found it!
Starting with untouched wooded land, we designed our home to meet our needs and then found a builder willing to take on such an unusual project. He was very receptive to our wants and desires and considered it a challenge since most new home owners want only the high-end finishes such as granite, stainless steel, very formal lighting fixtures, etc. -- all the things that we did
not want! We had been collecting primitive antiques for our entire married life and this was a great opportunity to showcase them. My husband bought the re-claimed log cabin for my birthday -- was built circa 1820 in central NC of American Chestnut and we had it relocated to our lot and that was the beginning of our project. Since I have done so much genealogy on my family and found many cabins of my own ancestors, this was a natural for us.
It took a long time to accomplish our goal but with a lot of research, patience and determination, we had exactly what we wanted. We were fortunate to connect with a man who owned a sawmill and grew up hunting on our mountain. He was able to find all the unique products we needed as well as reassemble the cabin and do the chinking. The floors and beams in the cabin are from a home in eastern Tennessee that was over 125 years old. The flooring continues into the dog-trot and makes a great transition into the main part of the house. The stacked stone fireplace was made of stone local to the area and you can see the hooks above the stone where the ever-present rifle would have hung. When we lived there, my husband had an antique Revolutionary War rifle that was placed there. We wanted the house to look as if it had started with the original cabin and as the family matured and prospered, the home was extended to meet the needs of a growing family. The garage was designed to look like the barn.
The floors in the main portion of the house are all reclaimed heart pine from a local bleachery that opened in 1882. To maintain the integrity of the wood, we decided not to sand out or try to remove any stains or the small holes from machinery that had been screwed into the floors. We felt it added to the character of our home and was a small tribute to all the people who had worked there for so many years to support their families. The beams are from a corn crib built in 1844 less than 3 miles from us. One beam that extends the length of the great room was over 48 feet long and cut to 44 feet to fit into the beams. That's one tall tree! The beams are all hand sawn with an adz which was the tool used at that time. We had the walls textured to look as if they were made with horsehair in the plaster as was done long ago. All the paint colors are original buttermilk paint colors but I took them to a paint store and had them matched to the paint of today that is washable and more durable.
The keeping kitchen is one of my favorite parts of the home -- I love the informality of it as well as the look of a vintage kitchen. To hide the appliances, we designed a cook center that hid the stove and microwave and allowed room for all the spices and pots and pans; the refrigerator has a cabinet built around it; the dishwasher has a door that is hidden by the cabinetry. We didn't use any traditional cabinets but rather antique pieces of furniture -- a pot-belly table that used to hold flour and meal but we used it for the aluminum foil, storage bags, waxed paper, etc. There is a Hoosier-style cabinet and a tall cabinet made with an old screen door that both provided lots of storage. The tall pie-safe type cabinet hid all of our food staples and there is a large pantry next to the kitchen so plenty of room for portable appliances, food, canned goods, paper supplies, etc. A center island contains the sink, dishwasher and garbage cans. There is also an area for 4 barstools so you can visit with family and friends while making dinner. We chose Vermont soapstone for the counter-top on the island and also for the cook-center. It is a natural product suitable for the time period that we were trying to duplicate. Over the island hangs a old ladder made by either my husband's father or grandfather and was used to pick apples at the farm in Illinois when my husband was a child. I filled it with gourds that I grew, old baskets and kitchen items from the past. The ceiling and beams are very old wormy chestnut selected by my husband.
The main level has the cabin, dog-trot, great room, master bedroom and bath, keeping kitchen, pantry, laundry room and powder room with a wrap around porch that is 16-20 feet off the ground.
In addition to the stairway, there is an elevator to the lower walk-out level that contains a family room, a 2nd master bedroom and bath, 2 additional bedrooms, a bath, cedar closet and a large storage closet with shelving. There is a patio that also wraps around the lower level of the house with a car-port like area that has a power outlet for a golf cart, ATV or 4-wheeler. The home is wheel-chair accessible with wider doorways, no steps on the main level, 3 doors to the upper porch and a door directly outside on the lower level. My husband was using an electric scooter while we lived there and he could navigate the entire house. There are 2 HVAC units each with air filters and humidifiers, a large generator that will work for 5-6 days if the power goes off, a lighting arrester system on the roof, Hardy Plank siding (made with cement) and a tin roof for protection in the woods. All the exterior walls are 6 inches thick instead of the traditional 4 inches for extra insulation making this a very energy efficient home.
And it's all about the view!
When my husband passed away, I stayed here for 2 years alone and decided that I needed to come back to the Chicago area to be near children, grandchildren and old friends -- my support system was here and I really needed that. After having renters, I have decided that now is the time to sell our home and hope that someone else will enjoy it as much as we did and can appreciate all the energy and love that we put into it. Winter is mild -- spring is long and beautiful -- summer is not humid and very few bugs -- fall is long and colorful. The woods are full of rhododendron, wild dogwood, bittersweet and many wildflowers. The birds are plentiful and we watched over 3 dozen different species on a daily basis. there are deer and wild turkey that walk around as if they owned the place! This is a great home and is only 13 miles from downtown Asheville, 12 miles from the airport and Mission Hospital and shopping in all directions. It is located in Fletcher, NC and listed with Century21.
As soon as the link is available, I will post it so that you can see the entire listing.
Here is the listing for this home: be sure to scroll to the bottom for the photos
http://www.wncrmls.com/wnc/maildoc/hodgson_1395257016-Mar-19-2014-3_23_36pm.html
Wow Us Wednesday #159 Show and Tell Friday
