Historic Chapel Hill Home Renovation: Welcome to Dogwood
A big project has taken off behind the scenes here at CFD, and we are SO EXCITED to share it with you. We’ve started a full renovation and restoration of a classic historic Chapel Hill home, and the massive transformation ahead is going to be so glorious. This house is a full-on treasure of a property that’s tucked away in a private alcove of the historic residential area just adjacent to the UNC campus. Built in the 1930’s, this (surprisingly) spacious 2-story classic Chapel Hill residence was a family home for decades, and is now ready to be lovingly restored for a brand new chapter.
A classic Chapel Hill colonial revival, this home is on the national historic homes register. Beautifully built, it has served as a much-loved single-family residence since the 1930’s, with minimal changes/updates in the interim.
The Possibilities
We’ve all heard the phrase “it has good bones” when it comes to a house that’s older or dated- but what does that mean? Sometimes it means looking past the immediate to see the possibilities. And sometimes, it means seeing the deeper value even when there’s work to be done- which is a big part of our job when guiding clients through renovation work. So, we’re going to talk about what it means for this historic Chapel Hill home. The first thing to know is that this house is deceptively large. We’re going to show you the first floor today, and the second floor in another post (it also has a massive basement, and we’ll get to that soon too!). The lot is shockingly big- as in, we could hardly believe it. So much space in this part of the city is nothing short of mythical in this day and age. The front of the property is protected from the street view by shrubbery, and green space surrounds the house and borders of the lot. Despite the fact that it’s 70+ years old and has been basically untouched, the architectural style is timeless, and it has many features that are still sought-after today. We’ll get to the craftmanship and millwork here in a moment. But truly, talk about a hidden gem, y’all! This one has the magic in it’s bones. It needs a LOT of love and attention to bring it back to it’s full glory, and that’s exactly what we’re here to do.
We’ll start with the kitchen- in the photos, you’ll be able to see that this one came to us just as it was- and that’s ok. We can see all the potential and beauty of this home, and we have so many plans to make it shine again.
The kitchen sits tucked into the back of the house, and leads out to a beautiful, large screened porch with original brick flooring, which you can glimpse through the doorway on the right. The green space surrounding this house is so gorgeous that it’s easy to forget you’re right in the middle of Chapel Hill.
Historic Preservation in Action
Those of you that know us well are familiar with our long-standing love of historic preservation- i.e., restoring or renovating a historic space and making it fit for modern living, while also preserving as much of the original features and craftsmanship as we possibly can. This home is incredibly beautiful and holds some of the most lovely historic craftsmanship we’ve seen- right down to the original horsehair plaster walls. Honoring the historical architecture and unique character of a storied home like this one takes more planning, expertise, and work to restore. And that being said, it comes with big challenges too- but we love it all. A home that has seen decades (sometimes more than a century) of life and love and and family memories is truly something special. For us, it’s so worth the investment of time, skill, and dedication to give it a second chance to be someone’s perfect home.
The screened-in porch features beautiful original brick flooring and beadboard ceiling, and leads out to an extended patio and large backyard.
All the Good Bones
And now we can dig into more specifics about where we see even more of the “good bones”. Architecture and quality are huge factors when looking at an older home’s potential, but sometimes it’s also in the smaller details. There are a lot of unique things about this house, one of which is the abundant windows throughout the main level. It’s not always common to see that in homes of this age, but many of the rooms in this house are SO full of natural light, especially on the first floor. The historic moldings and craftsmanship are a consistent thread throughout the house, and are absolutely stunning in this home. There are built-ins everywhere (everywhere!) with gorgeous classic detailing. This built-in hand-crafted corner china hutch in the dining room seen below gives us all the joy. The arches! The detail on the drawer front! The absolutely seamless fit into the corner and the peaked top! We can’t help but be excited about the craftsmanship and care that went into the details of this home.
The dining room with original light fixture and drapes, original hardwoods, built-ins, AND picture rail molding. Note that O.G. radiator on the left- we’ll come back it!
Living Room Love
So here we come to the main living room, connected to the dining room by that opening you see on the right and connected to the entryway on the back wall (behind us). It’s a large space and holds the original fireplace and mantel along with two gorgeous picture windows (plus the one by the fireplace). Back to the radiators (they’re in every room), you can see one on the left that’s already housed in a wonderfully vintage decorative casing, which is in good condition. Radiators are something we commonly run into with historic homes, and we’ll be talking more about what we do with them as we go along in the reno (including a lovely educational video from Cat!).
Classic Charm
And that brings us to the first floor bathroom- which we LOVE because it is just so classic that you can’t help but be smitten with the charm. And, there is yet another built-in (we still aren’t even close to the end of them, y’all) which is tucked into the wall here by the shower. It was a happy surprise, because it’s such a unique placement and is a genius use of space for storage in what is a relatively small space. This bathroom will be fully renovated, likely with a new layout. The window is gigantic, and it will be such a dream to design this room knowing we will have so much natural light in the space. There will be so much joy in creating a modern, functional bathroom here that will still feel perfectly right with the historical features of the home. We cannot wait for the transformation.
A Cozy Corner Study
Now y’all we really try not to play favorites, but the cozy little corner study/library pictured below is so sweet that we really couldn’t help but fall in love with this room. Tucked into the front corner of the house just across the entryway from the living room, this space feels a little secret and hidden away. And again- the built-ins! They are floor to ceiling with cabinetry underneath for extra storage. They are also perfectly framing the window overlooking the front yard, which is just so visually pleasing. It’s a yummy space, and we are so excited to bring it back to life. Even in it’s current state, this room has a very quiet, indulgent feel to it that makes you want to just settle in and stay awhile. We’re imaging it as a hidden library that would be perfect for stacks of favorite books and comfy chairs, or a spacious, private work-from-home setup.
The office/library, where you can see floor-to-ceiling built-ins framing a central window looking out over the private front lawn. This is a corner room set apart from the rest of the first floor, and is so lovely and cozy.
A Vision of Home
That’s a wrap on our overview of the main level rooms, but we’ll be going into each room in more detail as we go along. We have so much vision for this home, and we want to share it with you. There are many considerations and steps necessary for a successful renovation of a true historical home of this age, and we’re thankful for the experience of our team that makes this process a well-worn path we can walk with confidence. We’ll be talking a lot about the historic home renovation process throughout the coming months as we take you along with us for this journey. Soon we’ll be showing you the rest of the house, chatting about the design plan for the renovation (and just all things historic homes in general), and bringing you behind-the-scenes for a live view of the progress. We’re so excited you’re here, and we can’t wait to show you more.
We’re so glad you came over to hang out with us on the CFD blog today. We’ll be showing you more of this historic cottage renovation soon (there is so much more to see!). Until then, if you’re looking for more CFD design work, take a tour around our Portfolio page. Curious about our process? Check out more about our full-home design process here. Curious about our team? Check out our decades of design experience and how we make your home one-of-a-kind here.
Have questions about designing your own dream space? We’d love to help. Start here at our contact page. Or, feel free to just give us a holler at hello@catfrenchdesign.com.
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