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I blog here: http://blog.designpublic.com/ and here: http://thebubbreport.blogspot.com/ I also have a Masters in Landscape Architecture from UVA. I currently live in a 1920s cottage in Atlanta.

Houzz Tour: O'Suzannah Restores Pear Tree Farm (4 comments)

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Original log cabin on the left,, new addition to the right.
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
This back portion is the bright and sunny kitchen.
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
The property is full of beautiful hardwoods, and includes a large field.
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
The ultimate potting shed
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
The studio
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
The view across the veggie garden from the studio.
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
I can attest that this is a perfect beer drinking spot.
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
The style honors the history of the house, but keeping things clean and white makes it modern.
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
Repurposed boards abound. Restoring and refinishing the ceiling was a labor of love.
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
See what I mean about merchandising skills? I could never keep my kitchen cabinets looking this cute!
O'Suzannah's Log Cabin
O'Suzannah's Log Cabin
After the original renovation, this was the only bathroom in the home.
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
The pine boards were reclaimed and restored to form bathroom counters.
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
The tub was one of the big splurges the couple made in their original renovation.
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
Original Log Cabin walls and ceiling beams.
O'Suzannah Log Cabin
An airy and relaxing bedroom.
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
The perfect windowseat.
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat
Suzannah's shop was the first place I ever saw a real live Angela Adams rug in person. It was a turning point in my design life!
O'Suzannah's Country Retreat  
The chicest Airstream in America!
O'Suzannah's Log Cabin
A few examples of Suzannah's merchandising eye shot in her gift store a year ago.
O'Suzannah's Log Cabin
She's a great buyer/curator as well. Suzannah has a passion for handmade items, letterpress stationary and selling prints from artists she finds on Etsy.
O'Suzannah's Log Cabin
O'Suzannah's Log Cabin
When I moved into a townhouse in Charlottesville Virginia fourteen years ago, I hit the next-door-neighbor lottery. When I moved in, little did I know that the cool chick next door was scheming to open her very own shop on The Downtown Mall, or that she was constantly rotating her possessions around and constantly purging them and that I'd be a beneficiary.

Suzannah has run some form of O'Suzannah or another for over a decade now. It started with a small gift store that started to accumulate clothing, then the clothing got to be so much that she moved into another space, then it got even bigger than that so she opened a second location, then she fell in love and wanted to spend more time with family and less time on NYC buying trips, so the shop moved again and she was able to concentrate on her true love, gifts.

Suzannah is probably the best merchandiser I've ever seen, so I've included a few shots from her shop that I snagged when I visited in October 2008. As for the log cabin in the country that she and her husband Todd bought, it is a home unlike any other. They lovingly and painstakingly restored it themselves. Todd spent night after night on his back peeling all kinds of disgusting crud off the kitchen ceiling (check out the result - it's gorgeous!), and they put in special efforts to repurpose materials like pine boards (check out those counters!). Later, when they found out that little Redford was on the way, they added on to their one bedroom, one bath cabin. With Suzannah's mad merchandising skills and collection of antique furniture, paintings, pottery, show-stopping lamps and whimsical doo-dads, the result is that perfect mix of contemporary and antique, and spare yet warm. For this leg of the home improvement journey, their priorities changed drastically. They went from obsessing over the perfect faucet the first time around to running to IKEA and scooping up every fixture they could get their hands on the second time around. The result is a seamless transition from the old part of the house to the new addition. It turns out they were naturals at this stuff all along.

The property also holds significant acreage, a potting shed a studio, and the airstream trailer that they love to take up into the mountains. I am kicking myself for not getting a picture of that Hable Construction-bedecked trailer interior right now. Unfortunately for Suz and her family, the drive from Greene County to downtown C-ville is too long when you need to go back and forth several times per day, so they are looking to move closer to town. Fortunately for some lucky buyer, this means this house is on the market. It also means someone who is much better at taking pictures than I am provided some really good shots for me to share with you. I hope you enjoy the tour!

comments

kimb says:
Love the log cabin. It is just the kind of house I would love to live in. I wish it were a possibility for me. I love a house with history and/or character.
becky says:
Kimb, it's funny, some houses in Virginia have the log cabin exterior hidden after hundreds of years of renovations, and you only realize it once you were inside. They weren't all that hard to find there, and can be affordable if you are willing to put in a lot of sweat equity!
Stunning. I LOVE the "barn" style.
Charlottesville is my idea of the Garden of Eden. Sounds like Suzanne has a great neighbor, too.
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