Home Sweet Homestead

Jon and Beverly Winter wanted their new home on her parents' farm in Matthews, Alabama to look as though it had been on the family property for years.

Doors and windows align for cross ventilation, a standard feature of turn-of-the-century structures before the advent of air-conditioning. Architect Bill Ingram and the contractor worked with salvaged materials, made windows the old-fashioned way (by securing the glass panes with putty), and selected a tin roof, another nod to age-old building practices.

Beverly's collection of antique chairs surrounds a table that Jon made from old barn wood.

The screened porch was built to look as if it had been added on at a later time.

The fireplace on the screened porch was built from the same repurposed bricks used to create the home's piers."We hand-cleaned every single one" says Ingram.

The transom and sidelights surround the front door, flooding the interior with light.

The entry foyer, clad in exterior siding and sporting painted floors, was designed to appear as an open porch that was eventually enclosed. The painted floor is a visual trick that extends the porch inside.

A hutch, pine floors, simple cabinetry, and open shelving keep the kitchen classic and airy.

Beverly chose a hutch to put atop a buffet and floated them underneath one beam to separate the kitchen from the living area. "With just two pieces of furniture, I was able to separate the space but maintain the feeling of an open plan," she says.