Rustic Farmhouse

The bulk of my time lately has been working on the design for a major renovation to a farmhouse down in Chester, SC, which is about 45 minutes south of Charlotte.  My client has been dreaming of her 'rustic farmhouse' renovation since they purchased the property several years ago.  The project has grown and changed so much since I started working with her on the details, but we will be starting construction soon and I feel that the design has reached a point where I can share it (i.e. there shouldn't be too many more revisions!)

Here's what we started with.  This is a photograph of the current front of the home:

And this is the current back of the home:

Since the front of the house has such a great view onto their 90 acres of land (and their 65 adorable sheep), we have decided to change the orientation of the house so that the current back of the house will become the new front entrance.  This works especially well since the parking is already here.  It also has a great space upon entering the new front door that can easily be converted into a foyer/mudroom.  

Here is a drawing of the new back of the house (formerly the front of the house), which is what you will see from the road, and as you drive up the beautiful curving pebble drive:

Hopefully you can hardly recognize it as the same house!  If you compare this drawing to the photograph, you will notice that many things were changed:  We pulled the front entrance out to enlarge the dining room and maximize the windows.  Second, we added a large outdoor fireplace.  Third, we extended the gables (removed the small one) and added porches across the entire facade.  Lastly, we added large french doors to replace the existing windows  As you can see from the drawing, the addition of the porches instantly gave the home a more casual, relaxed, and inviting feeling.  The metal roof, the board & batten on the gables, the exposed rafter tails, and the cupolas also help reinforce the farmhouse theme.   

Here is a drawing of the new front entrance:

The front has a similar feel to the back of the house, with the addition of the porches and metal roofing over the porches.

Here are the other exterior elevations, just so you can get a feel for the entire house:

As I mentioned, we should be starting construction soon because my client has already committed to have a large benefit at the newly renovated farmhouse on October 8th!  Wish us luck that it can be completed by then!

Thanks for reading!

Welcome to my world

In the past few years my life has experienced something of a transformation.  My world changed from being filled with conference calls and powerpoint presentations to one filled with paint and fabric and furniture and sawdust.  I am finally doing what I’ve always wanted to do with my life.   I’m working longer and harder than ever before but now it’s work that I don’t mind doing.  In fact, I love it.   However sometimes it is lonely and scary to be a self-employed sole practitioner.  I miss having others around to share thoughts and bounce ideas off.  Which leads me to one reason why I’m starting this blog:  

I want to share my work, ideas, (and questions) with you, my friends, family, and other design-obsessed individuals, and hopefully get some feedback in return.   

Second,  I am doing this because every day since I became an interior designer I have encountered the most beautiful, interesting, inspiring things, people, pictures, and places that I have ever dreamed imaginable.  I am doing this because I am so proud of the work I’m doing and I want you to see and experience what I am seeing, who I am meeting, and what I am living.  I have been inspired by many of you reading this, and I hope you are inspired by my work as well.  Thanks for reading this far, and I hope that you will come back! 



-Bronwyn