New" house made of wood over 300 years old

I have written quite a lot about recovered wood, but I continue to believe that using wood salvaged from old, abandoned and demolished buildings or wood salvaged from other such sources is a rational way to use wood. As for the objects or buildings in which such wood has been used, they take on the patina of time, they are filled with stories and history and become much more valuable.

There are many who think this way about reclaimed wood. Take Julie and Jimmy Cash, a couple from Birmingham, Alabama, USA. They have always been in love with the mountains, the forests and the old houses or cabins they came across on their walks. When they decided to make their own vacation home, they chose the Lookout Mountains in Georgia as the location, and their biggest wish was to look like the old cabins they admired so much. They even said that if they couldn't find old wood for the house, they'd rather not do it.

The help came from a local company whose business was reclaiming wood from old mills, tobacco drying barns and other derelict buildings that were continually deteriorating. It was from this company that Julie and Jimmy got most of the lumber to build their house, about 80% of all the lumber they used.

They used over 300-year-old pine, cedar and hemlock wood salvaged from barns in Tennessee and Virginia and a mill in South Carolina. Julie says the wood is steeped in history, it has its own story, and every time she looks at it, it's like she sees something else. On the wood used to build the patio posts, you can still see the nail holes made in the past. These posts were once used to dry tobacco leaves.

In the kitchen not only the beams and floor are old. The cabinets and the center table, although built at the same time as the house, are made from wood salvaged from old barns. The floor is made from beams salvaged from a 300-year-old mill.

There is a dining area in the house, where an old bench, Indian rug and German chandelier are reminiscent of old farmhouses. The house also has a seating area where, in addition to an old coffee table and 2 armchairs, there is a bookcase, basically book poles made from poles salvaged from the tobacco barn. At the bottom is a reproduction of the 'Z' design characteristic of country house doors.

Access to the upstairs is via a rustic staircase made of poplar logs. The staircase is finished in washed gray and decorated with a lantern and posters Julie found in an antique shop in Birmingham.

Upstairs are the master and guest bedrooms. In the master bedroom is perhaps the only new piece of furniture in the whole house, as they couldn't find an old piece as they would have liked.

The guest bedroom is also decorated as rustically as possible. The wood of the walls, old reclaimed wood with all the marks of time on it, is exposed, the beds have boards and slats made from old poplar trunks, and the windows are framed in wooden frames. Light is provided by a bulb hung above the beds from a nail driven into the wood.

The two say they treasure the old wood, which has lived other lives before coming to them. And will most likely continue to exist after they're gone. Which is why they consider themselves only temporary caretakers of the wood in their home.

(source: countryliving.com)