Recently, I came across this beautiful historic home for sale in Madison, Georgia. Madison is just an hour or so outside of Atlanta. I’ve been there several times in the past for home tours. It was a Christmas home tour in Madison is where I first spied a table set with Lenox, Winter Greetings and fell in love with that pattern. See what trouble these tours can cause! 😉
This historic home is great for the horse lover since there’s a three-horse stable and fenced pasture. I love the beautiful landscaping. As I was touring this home online, there were two things I noticed that we’ve talked about recently here at BNOTP, that immediately made me know I had to share this house with you…more on those in a sec.
Have a really big room in your home and you’ve never been sure how to arrange the furniture? I love the way they arranged this as two seating areas. It’s pretty common to see separate seating areas in long, narrow rooms but this is a great way to deal with a larger square-shaped space. So much better than lining the furniture up around the walls and having a big hole in the center room.
What’s really neat about this arrangement is the plaid chair there in the center could be turned to face either way, depending on which conversation the person was participating in. So when placing furniture in a room, throw away all your old ideas and just for fun, see if there’s another option that will give the room a lot more function and personality.
Love the colors and patterns of the fabrics…I love green!
Another beautiful room! So many great ideas to take away from this space. First off, note the arrangement of the pictures on either side of the gorgeous Federal mirror. Notice how they placed the two larger pictures above the two smaller ones. I’ve seen that done by a lot of decorators and I do love. It draws the eye downward away from the ceiling and to the mantel where you can enjoy the pieces displayed there.
I’ve always loved pictures grouped like the arrangement we see on the large wall to the left. Makes such a dramatic display when pictures are framed in matching frames and arranged in a grid this way.
Finally, notice the lamp closest to us. Besides the adorable shade, you can tell they took a pretty ceramic piece and had it made into a lamp. Looks like they did it for the lamps on either side of the sofa. Remember when we talked about that in this post: Make a Lamp from a Beautiful Vase or Figurine? Such a great way to get a lamp you love that’s special to your home.
Beautiful kitchen! The door leading outside caught my eye because I’ve been contemplating a door or possibly a storm door like that for my front door. There are companies online that make custom doors in “historic” designs with glass inserts or screened inserts. I don’t especially care for the look of a regular ole storm door, but I do like storm doors designed in this 6 panel design, having glass where wood panels would normally be. Have you seen those? You can Google “Wood storm doors” and I think you’ll find some sites that custom make them.
Isn’t it interesting how we can’t wait to move away from the “old ways” and then always end up right back there because often they were the best. That thought hit me as I took note of the plank walls and wood ceiling, both of which have gained popularity again. I know we we’re doing it right back then with the beautiful wood floors and wonderful old porches.
Beautifully appointed dining room…
Okay, here’s the other thing I noticed as I toured this lovely home…the master bedroom has our mystery chair! Remember when I posted about that mysterious chair I would occasionally see in some homes, the one that sits facing back toward the head of the bed? You guys are so smart and helped me figure it out in the comments left on that previous post.
For a detailed explanation of the original purpose of that chair, visit that previous post and check out Theresa and Joyce’s comments at the end of the post. They both gave really great explanations for why it was common to see a chair on the lady’s side of the bed, facing back toward the head of the bed. You’ll find that previous post here: The Mystery Chair
To see more of this beautiful historic home, visit Old Houses dot com HERE. (Pictures above are from Old Houses dot com)
Love touring historic homes? You’ll find many more here: Historic Home Tours
Oh my goodness Susan, I love EVERYTHING about this house! It’s gorgeous and exactly the decorating style I love! I agree with you about the “old ways” — so much better in so many ways. About the storm door; my in-laws have had one like that for years, and I’ve always thought it was so handsome. Their home is built in the Williamsburg style, and that storm door looks just right on the front of the house.
I’m glad you shared this with us; I love to peek inside beautiful homes. 🙂 Hope you have a great weekend!
Denise
It has a mystery chair!!! 😀 Haha. In all my years in real estate, I have never seen a mystery chair like that. How fun that you found a real live house with a mystery chair.
Gosh, Susan, you really have an eye for picking out beautiful homes to share. Like you, I really love the green in that first room. And I like the way the used those short, wide pictures – one on top of the other above that low chest. And I like that they have two chests with drawers in the room. It’s always wonderful to have extra storage space for afghans, games, the odd extra dish set or soup tureen. 😉
I also love the transom windows and that they have a fireplace in the dining room. So many beautiful vignettes and every room seem so warm and welcoming. I’ll have to check out the listing to see more. 🙂 Thanks, Susan.
my dream home.. sigh
I have to laugh about that chair. I have one positioned the same way! Why? Because my antique bed is too tall for my “antique” cat to jump up on, so I put the chair there for her ease of getting on/off the bed. I had no idea it was a classic design element. 🙂
Awww …. antique cat. 🙂 Sweet.
That chair wouldn’t last long. The first time I stubbed my toe it would be gone. Love the stove with the hanging pot rack.
Was hoping you’d share a picture of the Lenox settings…
Here are a few tables I’ve set buy my photography didn’t do it justice, so the last link is to the Lenox site where you can see it better.
https://betweennapsontheporch.net/colonial-williamsburg-christmas-centerpiece-welcome-to-the-174th-tablescape-thursday/
https://betweennapsontheporch.net/winter-greetings-by-lenox-welcome-to-the-20th-tablescape-tuesday/
http://www.lenox.com/dinnerware/winter-greetings/lenox?A=7646&An=1651&Au=p_pattern_id&cmCatid=e1651&code=96210&cm_mmc=ChannelAdvisor-_-PaidSearch-_-Google-_-generic&utm_medium=plm&utm_source=adwords&utm_campaign=Collection_Winter+Greetings&CAPCID=24753956842&cadevice=c&gclid=CKWk8Pu3-boCFUgS7AodmHEApQ&CA_6C15C=530008570000038444
Beautiful home. I wonder if that’s wallpaper or painted stripes in the living and dining room?
Yup, everything old is new again (Brass IS Back!) 🙂 franki
I enjoyed seeing all the beautiful homes last year on the “Christmas Tour of Homes” in Madison!
Hi,Susan,
What a great post. Every room is more stunning than the previous one, but stunning in a warm and inviting way. Thank you so much for sharing and giving us looks to inspire. I already feel an urge to re-do the pictures I have on one of my walls!! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! When is your grandbaby due again? My daughter is expecting in April and it’s such an exciting time!!! Rosie
What a beautiful home – I have been angsting about picture placements & thanks to you pointing out the placement of larger above smaller, it has given me an idea. I also love the two long images above the sideboard – it just finishes it off nicely.
That chair – oh dear, I just couldn’t do with it not serving any purpose other than to trip over in the dark ….
Oh my goodness, what a house! That would be my “dream house”. I have noticed in a lot of post that people have a chair beside the bed and I have no idea for the reason of that. Do you have any information on that, it would be interesting to know why they do that. Thanks for sharing with us.
Kathy, I didn’t know either but Joyce and Theresa left great explanations in their comments on this post: https://betweennapsontheporch.net/design-element-place-a-chair-beside-and-near-the-foot-of-the-bed/ So click over to that post and just scroll down to the comments and you can read what they said. It really is fascinating…another way of life for sure. 🙂