Houzz Tours
Houzz Tour: Some Old Tricks for a New Atlanta Farmhouse
A ‘pretend story’ helped this builder create a new farmhouse that feels like it was added onto over several generations
Builder Blake Shaw and his wife, Catherine, dreamed of someday having an old farmhouse on a small farm or near the mountains. But when they began drawing up plans to renovate their existing home, they found themselves designing their bucolic dream home right in their suburban Atlanta neighborhood.
The design narrative starts not with the front of the house, but rather with the great room at the rear, seen here from the outside. Blake likes to imagine that the great room was once a one-room cabin on the property and that years later someone connected it to a newer farmhouse at the front as the family grew more prosperous. “I took a whimsical approach to materials and finishes with that pretend story in mind,” he says.
Cypress stain: Amherst Gray, Benjamin Moore
Cypress stain: Amherst Gray, Benjamin Moore
Cypress wood finished in a solid gray stain covers the exterior. Two different orientations mix for variety, playing on the old-new theme. Blake used a traditional horizontal lap on the first story, similar to old farmhouses, but for the second story he used vertical tongue and groove, a modern take on board and batten.
He made the sculptural solid cedar porch braces in his cabinet and architectural detail shop, Millworx. The galvanized aluminum roof has a pleasant dull appearance and fits the farmhouse style.
Hand-thrown brick, rougher around the edges than conventional machine-made brick, was used around the exterior foundation, as well as on the porch and chimney.
Brick: Savannah Gray from Old Carolina Brick
He made the sculptural solid cedar porch braces in his cabinet and architectural detail shop, Millworx. The galvanized aluminum roof has a pleasant dull appearance and fits the farmhouse style.
Hand-thrown brick, rougher around the edges than conventional machine-made brick, was used around the exterior foundation, as well as on the porch and chimney.
Brick: Savannah Gray from Old Carolina Brick
The Shaws’ favorite component in the house is the fireplace in the great room. “We have a fire nearly every night from October to March,” Blake says. It’s a masonry fireplace and has 19th century fire brick that Blake sourced from England and incorporated into the firebox. “They gave an instant lived-in feel to the space,” he says. The fireplace surround is finished in the same Savannah Gray hand-thrown brick used on the home’s exterior.
Fireplace: FireRock
Fireplace: FireRock
The great room is about 20 by 24 feet, with 12-foot ceilings and two 10-foot-high windows. Blake says that for it to feel like a true great room, it needed to be sizable to comfortably accommodate all the kids, dogs and adults together.
Drapes: burlap; ottoman: custom; sofa: Restoration Hardware
Drapes: burlap; ottoman: custom; sofa: Restoration Hardware
Cypress wood envelops the great room and provides coziness. It takes brown stain better than yellow pine, Blake says. On the ceiling, smaller beams are finished in cypress and the box-built larger beams are pecky cypress. (Pecky cypress is created by a fungus that leaves recesses and pockets, similar to the appearance of worm holes. The marking gives the wood a more rustic character.)
Adjacent to the great room is the kitchen and dining area, which has an open floor plan. Like the great room, its walls are finished in pecky cypress, but are painted white. Some of the boards are noticeably more “pecky” than others. Plain cypress planks cover the ceiling, where the white paint provides a freshly scrubbed contrast to the darker great room.
The pantry door, seen here, as well as all of the interior doors are new pine and were stained dark to feel like old oak.
Reclaimed pine flooring installed throughout the home was obtained from old barns and mills and resawn into tongue-and-groove planks. “We left most of the rustic holes and saw marks as much as we could and only did a light buffing on them to finish them, instead of a full sanding like we’d normally do on new oak floors,” Blake says. The planks are a random mix of 5- and 6-inch widths, and the edges of each were “knocked down,” or distressed, when the boards were milled, for a more rustic look.
One benefit of this worn-edge detail, Blake says, is that any movement in the floorboards during seasonal temperature or humidity changes isn’t visible, as it is with regular floor planks.
Wall and ceiling paint: Soft Chamois, Benjamin Moore; faux antler pendant: Cabin Place
The pantry door, seen here, as well as all of the interior doors are new pine and were stained dark to feel like old oak.
Reclaimed pine flooring installed throughout the home was obtained from old barns and mills and resawn into tongue-and-groove planks. “We left most of the rustic holes and saw marks as much as we could and only did a light buffing on them to finish them, instead of a full sanding like we’d normally do on new oak floors,” Blake says. The planks are a random mix of 5- and 6-inch widths, and the edges of each were “knocked down,” or distressed, when the boards were milled, for a more rustic look.
One benefit of this worn-edge detail, Blake says, is that any movement in the floorboards during seasonal temperature or humidity changes isn’t visible, as it is with regular floor planks.
Wall and ceiling paint: Soft Chamois, Benjamin Moore; faux antler pendant: Cabin Place
The Shaws chose a fresh light blue for the kitchen cabinets rather than a neutral. Solid black walnut tops the island. Catherine recovered the bar stools.
Honed Carrara marble counters blend softly with a backsplash made from half-inch veneers of the same hand-thrown bricks used on the fireplace and exterior. Catherine wanted the brick not only on the backsplash area, but all around the cabinets and window so that entire wall would appear to be old brick.
Kitchen cabinets: Kingdom Woodworks; cabinet paint: Silken Blue, Benjamin Moore; island cabinet: Millworx; island cabinet paint: Soft Chamois, Benjamin Moore; copper pendant lights: Lade-Danlar Lighting
Kitchen cabinets: Kingdom Woodworks; cabinet paint: Silken Blue, Benjamin Moore; island cabinet: Millworx; island cabinet paint: Soft Chamois, Benjamin Moore; copper pendant lights: Lade-Danlar Lighting
The porch, an ideal spot for an icy glass of sweet tea on a hot summer day, sits between the dining area and master bedroom and is fitted with fixed louver shutters. “The lots in this area are pretty small, so features like this work great to keep the breezes flowing but add privacy,” Blake says.
A hallway between the kitchen and entryway hides some storage beneath the stairway.
Cypress milled in a V-groove tongue-and groove pattern is installed horizontally in the hall and staircase area, distinguishing it from the vertical boards in the entryway, seen here on the left.
Wall and ceiling paint: Soft Chamois, Benjamin Moore
Cypress milled in a V-groove tongue-and groove pattern is installed horizontally in the hall and staircase area, distinguishing it from the vertical boards in the entryway, seen here on the left.
Wall and ceiling paint: Soft Chamois, Benjamin Moore
This “drop zone” is Blake’s architectural equivalent of a junk drawer. It serves as a mudroom, but it’s named more appropriately for its function as a spot to abandon bags and shoes. It’s just off the great room and porch.
Wall and ceiling paint: Soft Chamois, Benjamin Moore
Wall and ceiling paint: Soft Chamois, Benjamin Moore
The den opens to the hallway with two sliding pine barn doors. Blake found handles from old train car doors at an antiques store.
Stained 12-inch cypress planks cover the den walls. Black pipe and fittings from Home Depot and repurposed floor joists form shelves.
Barn door hardware: Tractor Supply Co.
Stained 12-inch cypress planks cover the den walls. Black pipe and fittings from Home Depot and repurposed floor joists form shelves.
Barn door hardware: Tractor Supply Co.
Simple 5-by-5-inch beams from a salvage yard create newel posts and pair nicely with plain cast iron ballusters.
An open loft area at the top of the stairs is a hangout space for watching TV and reading.
Blake decided to leave the entire ceiling open to the attic roof line to show off the interesting angles of the roof. Cypress finished with clear sealant on the ceiling keeps the loft light and airy.
Pendant: Sugarboo & Co.
Pendant: Sugarboo & Co.
The Dutch door to the master bedroom allows the Shaws to shut both halves for privacy or just the lower half, to keep their dogs out while still being able to hear the kids at night.
Dutch door: Millworx
Dutch door: Millworx
Vertical cypress wood painted soft green covers the bedroom walls. Custom plantation shutters with substantial 3½-inch-wide louvers provide light control and privacy.
Wall paint: Homestead Green, Benjamin Moore
Wall paint: Homestead Green, Benjamin Moore
Custom cabinetry in the master bathroom matches the exterior paint color.
Sconces: Hudson Valley Lighting; wall paint: Early Morning Mist, Benjamin Moore; cabinet paint: Amherst Gray, Benjamin Moore; cabinetry: Kingdom Woodworks; vanity tops: Carrara marble
Sconces: Hudson Valley Lighting; wall paint: Early Morning Mist, Benjamin Moore; cabinet paint: Amherst Gray, Benjamin Moore; cabinetry: Kingdom Woodworks; vanity tops: Carrara marble
In the shower, subway tile is combined with elegant liner tiles, ogee tiles and a classic gray and white basketweave floor tile.
Shower wall tiles: Fog Gloss, 6th Avenue Collection, Walker Zanger
Shower wall tiles: Fog Gloss, 6th Avenue Collection, Walker Zanger
The second floor underwent more design changes during the building phase. Space was added over the dining area, indicated by the handwritten note here, and the rooms were made a bit larger.
“Our favorite things to do in the fall and winter are to have a big fire in the fireplace and something good cooking on the stove,” Blake says. “The house feels very comfortable and cozy, especially when it’s colder outside.”
Team: Project architect: Mark Ash of Element; builder: Blake Shaw of Blake Shaw Homes Inc.; interior tile-color selections: Studio 21 Interiors; millwork: Millworx
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“Our favorite things to do in the fall and winter are to have a big fire in the fireplace and something good cooking on the stove,” Blake says. “The house feels very comfortable and cozy, especially when it’s colder outside.”
Team: Project architect: Mark Ash of Element; builder: Blake Shaw of Blake Shaw Homes Inc.; interior tile-color selections: Studio 21 Interiors; millwork: Millworx
Browse more homes by style: Apartments | Barn Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Floating Homes | Guesthouses | Lofts | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Small Homes | Townhouses | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | Vacation Homes | Homes Around the World
Who lives here: Builder Blake Shaw and his wife, Catherine, and their daughters, Mary Josephine, 4, and Langdon, 2
Location: Brookhaven, Georgia
Size: 3,100 square feet (288 square meters); four bedrooms, 3½ bathrooms
The existing foundation had some problems and wasn’t in good enough shape to build on, let alone carry the weight of the second-floor extension that homeowner Blake Shaw and architect Mark Ash had already planned. So they demolished the house and started fresh to build a new “old” dream home.
Although Blake and wife Catherine ended up building an entirely new house on the lot, they liked the layout of the former house and reused much of its floor plan, adding extensions where needed.
As a homebuilder, Blake says, he had always wanted to build a modern farmhouse, and was interested in the shape of the home telling a story — as if it had been added onto over the years.
Front door paint: Oval Room Blue, Farrow & Ball