Rather than going for the typical American farmhouse, Ken Pursley's inspiration came from an old icehouse that he spotted on Cumberland Island in Georgia. The unusual double-decker roofline and loads of windows, give the house both unique character and an airy modern appeal. The interiors take advantage of the light with an open floor plan filled with relaxed rustic details like the reclaimed wood shower door on a barn door track.
To learn more about the amazing details of the house and property, check out the full story at Garden & Gun.
(Images: Garden & Gun)
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Garden and Gun?
I prefer the "typical American farmhouse." But I agree, much better than a McMansion.
This is absurdly charming. I'd love to make myself right at home!
Garden & Gun reminds me of the scene in Notting Hill when Hugh Grant's character sneaks in to talk to Julia Roberts' character and says he's from Horse & Hound magazine. Why Horse & Hound wanted to interview her, and why Garden & Gun would profile a house are equally perplexing :P
Garden and Gun- Great magazine! love this farmhouse!
"The three-thousand-square-foot house can easily accommodate the Belks and their five children."
Cute enough house, but agree that finding content from Garden and Gun on AT is really off putting, especially given the timing.
This is a great house. Even if it weren't great there is no comparison between any architect designed house and a McMansion.
Interesting house, if rather cold and prickly for my comfort (the rough rope stair railing is an odd choice, not inviting to the touch). The "McMansion" thing is a spurious comparison, and rather a cheap shot coming from AT since any largish home that doesn't pass the design test here is deemed a McMansion. There are plenty of architect-designed, custom homes that are unoriginal and in poor taste -- McMansion by definition.
@Valhalla, do you mean that 3k square feet is a lot of space for seven people, or too little space, or that they have too many children?
It can be small. It can be big. I can deal with any house as long as it has lots of windows/lots of light, which this one does. Kudos!
Maybe I'm the only one that doesn't notice or really care where the feature came from? And what does the "timing" have to do with anything? If you are referring to the shooting in Aurora, Colorado; there are plenty of online news articles you could comment on.
Anyway! Its nice to see people out there that chose to use old farmhouse design in their construction. There's a lot of white, but the materials are so interesting it keeps the white from being boring--gives off a nice relaxing country vacation vibe. ;)
Though I don't particularly like G&G's elitist version of the South, the magazine doesn't have anything to do with guns, per se. It's named after a bar in Charleston, SC and is a lifestyle magazine. So home features are quite typical for their magazine.
This is a lovely home in a style that I for one am happy to see being copied. another style is the low country dogtrot that is coming back.
Garden and Gun is a great magazine about all things southern from architecture to food and gardens to hunting. Despite the name it is a very well done magazine that has content well worth reading here on AT.
@Rural and Rueful, I disagree about architect-designed homes being no different than a McMansion. An architect designs a house for a specific client, a McMansion is an off the shelf one size (big) fits all design.
Sure some of these architect-designed homes are in bad taste but I suspect that is what the client wanted.
It's not my style, but it's still quite a lovely house.
My only complaint is that there aren't MORE pictures. I very much like the style of the home and what it takes from the building that first inspired it while still containing a sleekness that makes it current.
Comments on the source of this post are absurd to me. Why does it matter? If the source hadn't been cited, you may have swooned over the house. As many have pointed out, Garden & Gun is a southern lifestyle magazine and covers many things (including gardening, hunting...and homes, among others). No one seemed to raise a complaint that this is a single family home, and by its name alone a site called 'Apartment Therapy' shouldn't even cover it ;)
Very good points AJ17
This house looks like an amazing family home. Love the rope stairs.Super love the donkeys.
My first reaction was, that is so American. In a good way.
@Rural and rueful, Though that is the average home size in the US, it just seems counter to the mission of Apartment Therapy to feature what is to my mind a very large house--no matter how well-designed. I also get bored reading about the homes of the wealthy. I wonder if it was not their second, weekend home if it would be much larger.
Just reacting to the inclusion of a "garden and gun" lifestyle magazine, three days after a mass-shooting. Not expecting everyone to agree! As I said, cute enough house!
WONDERFUL HOUSE!!
Just pretend it's from 'Fartin' & Fun' magazine... and enjoy the photos. Cripes.
is this an NRA design magazine or something? topiaries and pistols? heirloom tomatoes and semi automatics?
@Bredlo - LOLZ!!!!! and thank you. Gunz ain't got nothin to do with anything. They are tools. Just because another psycho used one doesn't....just forget it.
@valhalla, I asked because I live in a 3k square foot home -- my only home -- with one other person (my home is considered average to smallish for my area). The thought of having five more humans of any size living here makes me itch. We use every inch of the house and, in fact, I wish I could build a small studio out back for me and just me. Some of us need our space.
Now, there have been proposals for 14k square foot and 9k square foot homes near here, and I was apoplectic over those (the first was denied, the second may be approved). We all have our ideas of "too big".
@Duane Hill, I see your point. However, there are some affluent communities near me that are brimming with expensive, custom, architect-designed homes that are called -- by snarky locals like me -- McMansions because they tend to be oversized, over-ornamented architectural mish-mash pastiches. Yeah, the clients want that. Sad to say.
@ValHalla - I think you lump in "large home" with "wealthy" when the two aren't hand in hand. Many of my family members who are middle class have large homes. Some of my much wealthier relatives have small homes.
@PI, I am speaking to the specific family named in the article. I am from SC and know Belk's department store quite well. I am not begrudging their success, but there are so many places to read such aspirational materials, and I prefer AT to be more grounded in average people's homes.
@ValHalla given some of the apartments and house tours I have seen on this site, I doubt a lot of what is on this site is for the "average" person.
@Bredlo too funny!
@Carollann, as someone whose community has been through such an ordeal, I understand the concern. However, one has to recognize the difference between a gardening magazine with a kitschy name and something with more radical intent.
I don't love every element they've chosen, but it's a lovely home that looks like it would be quite pleasant to be in.
A lot of the comments here regarding the source or the appropriateness of showing such a large home are plain silly. AT tries to bring us ideas that might inspire us, and a large weekend home can inspire ideas just as well as a tiny studio. Maybe you'll be inspired by a lamp, by a chair, or by those compact bunks. It strikes me as overly snarky to reject ideas immediately just because you can't imagine them in a smaller space or because they are ever so tenuously associated with guns.
Thank you, akay.
Can we have a full house tour please???????
Ohhhhh so that's what my house is supposed to look like. We currently live in a McHome. One day our dream is to own something like that.
Night, that's so cute!
You're absolutely right - no matter how much social baggage a house carries, or rubs everyone the wrong way (I'm hugely not a fan of big and bland) when a dwelling is filled with love and special memories, even a McMansion can be a McHome.
I love the simplicity & style of a modern farmhouse. It sits well with my Scandinavian roots & love for pioneer homes.
I find the exterior of this home very inspiring & pleasing. (I actually pinned it to my exterior inspiration board on pinterest quite a while ago.)
I had to chuckle at the comment, "super love the donkeys." They are horses. And given the home & the magazine & the south... I imagine they may be expensive horses of good blood lines. :)
The donkeys first appear at picture 36.
for a house tour just click the link to the magazine provided and there is a full 40 picture tour provided.
As Aceyx mentions, pages 36-38 have very cute donkeys.
I do have a question about the rope railings on the second floor now that I see them. They are not connected at the top of the stairs on page 35. Wouldn't that be a building code violation or some sort of hazard with small children?
Beautiful.
why is this in the outdoor section of the site?
@CarollAnn What is off putting about Garden and Gun.
Woo, a local boy makes good! Go, Ken Pursley! :)
Oh how pretty. Thanks for sharing AT!
I see the donkeys, now! Thanks! My apologies on that one. :)