Rebuilding a deserted wooden house

I have always loved old houses and admired those who try to save them by keeping their appearance, if not identical, at least as close as possible to the original. I know from experience that it is very hard to maintain an old house and I can imagine how hard it must be to try to bring back to life a derelict wooden house that was built in 1820. This is what one family in Mississippi, USA, has managed to do quite well.

The house, a farm residence in Fayette, Mississippi, was known as Laurietta. Terre and Mac Thomas fell in love with it the moment they saw it and set out to restore it. It was a very bold decision considering the foundation was totally destroyed and it didn't look very good inside either.

In order to rebuild the foundation, the 260 square meter house was lifted with a crane and put on temporary supports for one year. During this time the foundation was worked on, the house was insulated and all the necessary wires, pipes and routing for the electrical, heating, bathroom and kitchen installations were laid. Once all this was completed, the house was put back on its new foundation and the renovation began. Very helpful was a diary, kept by the daughter of the original owners, from which they learned not only about daily life on the farm, but also about the house and its furnishings. And so, in the end, the house looked like this:

The presence of 2 entrances makes you think of a duplex, but it is not. In the period when the house was built there was this custom of making houses with 2 entrances. The exact reason is not known, but there are several theories. Symmetry, better ventilation, renting a room with a separate entrance, guest entrance are just a few of them.

And inside, the Thomases have worked wonders. The entrance and staircase to the first floor looked like this:

There was also a door halfway up the staircase separating the two spaces, probably to better keep in the warmth. After the restoration, the entrance looks wonderful and the decoration has been done with great taste and attention to detail.

They put a lot of hard work into restoring the living room, removing layers and layers of paint until they were able to restore the original look of the house.

So they saw that, in addition to a marble plinth, there was a cladding made up to the level of the chairs with panels of rosewood. Fortunately, they were saved and restored.

Unfortunately, we don't have photos of the kitchen before the restoration, but after the restoration I can say that it looks great.

Terre Thomas turned a small bedroom into a "laundry room" by putting in a washing machine and other such necessities. What links the place to the past, however, are the two scrubbing boards that Terre inherited from her grandmother and which have been placed on the wall.

The upstairs space for children's bedrooms also needed a lot of work.

Immediately after the makeover the bedrooms were identical, but the color of the furniture, the linens, the decor elements made the difference. The girls' bedroom is warmer, with light colors, pink is also present, a light look shabby chic.

In the boys' room, the furniture is dark in color and the pink of the linen turns red, but without covering the "boyish" elements of the room.

Terre and Mac Thomas have a large family - 4 children and 8 grandchildren - so they decided to build 2 other guest houses next to this property. And that's because they love having their children visit and spend as much time together as possible. Which is what they want, because they really are a beautiful family.

(source: betweennapsontheporch.net)