Delaware Today

HO
E STYLES
The Best Of Both Worlds Doug and JJori Small didn~t sacrifice modern convenience
when builcling their 18th-centm), reproduct.ion home.
by Drew Ostroski
T
hey tried to go about it the old­
fashioned way, but it just wasn't
working.
"We had been looking for an old house
for quite awhile," Lori Small says. "We
really love old hou ses, but we just
couldn ' t find anything anywhere."
For Lori and husband Doug, finding
the pelfect old house in the perfect place
for the pelfect price was impossible.
"Most of the old, nice houses that are
in a nice location were taken long ago.
And they have been taken wonderful care
of and people treasure them, so finding
the raw material to do that with was pretty
difficult," Doug says.
When they did find something close, it
was either in the wrong school district or
too close to the road or had development
118 November 1997 DELAWARE TO DAY
all around it or it would cost more to reno­
vate than it would to buy a new one. So
the Smalls did the next best thing.
They built their own old house.
The S malls constructed their rustic
18th century replica from a combination
of recycled structures and modem mateli­
als made to appear old . The bulk of the
stone and wood came from two old barns
and a Baltimore granary.
One barn. located at Route 7 and
Brackenville Road, was rescued by the
Delaware Historical Society after it was
donated to a fire company for firefighting
training. The University of Delaware
studied the history of the barn - part of
which dated to the 1700s - then gave
the Smalls permission to dismantle it
with the promise they would grade and
seed the land. Wood for the Smalls' Ii\­
ing room floor came from the oldest ba
in Chester County.
Stones from the Delaware barn's fou n­
dations form the home's southernmo, '
section, a retaining wall and a cavernotL­
living room fireplace. The hearth's center­
piece is the barn's 1825 date stone.
Exposed wooden beam s and wi d:c
floorboards also hail from the razed ba
while the granary contributed 17-in
planks for the dining room floor.
Other ideas, such as cornice detru
window placement and an offset br i~
chimney came from homes the Sm
had seen and worked on through tbe
business, Waterbury Design Associate ~
Kennett Square.
The Smalls' creation is an architect _
Above: The dining room-kitchen is the Smalls' favorite liv·
ing area. An antique fann table is the first thing guests
see when entering the home. A television is hidden in a
cabinet behind the wainscoting that sulTOunds the func­
tional fireplace. The kitchen features an Aga Cooker and
a large refrigerator covered with wooden panels.
Far left: The 18th-century reproduction home was built
in three sections, just like the real thing. Staggered
window placement, copper pole gutters and an offset
brick chimney help complete the look.
Left: A large kitchen island is surrounded by modern
amenities that are cloaked by hand-planed doors and
panels complete with distressed paint finishes. The coun­
tertops and sink are made of soapstone, which takes on
a charming worn look as it weathers. Lori hung dried
flowers and ash baskets from the wooden ceiling beams.
November
~997
DELAWARE TODAY
117
oxymoron. A genuine imitation. It ' s a
new old house and an old new house.
Modern amenities such as televisions, a
stereo system and refrigerator are cloaked
behind clever cabinets and attractive
wainscoting.
But one section, the cabin-like struc­
ture to the north, breaks from the motif. It
houses a laundry room, powder room and
a classy sunroom. "all of the thin gs that
were inappropriate for an earlier house,"
Lori says.
"This is perfect because you get the old
house feel and the old house look and you
can actually use old mate rials, yet you
have brand new plumbing and good insu­
lation. You get the best of both worlds."
Atop a steep driveway off a winding
country road in Kembl esv ill e, Penn­
sylvania, the Smalls' new old world is
revealed. There , carved out of woods and
farmland are two acres of rolling coun­
tryside - the perfect canvas for their
masterpiece .
" We ' re five minutes from Newark, but
we're far enough away from Kennett and
Route 1, so it really feels like the country
when you get here," Doug says.
If not for a hubcap-si zed satellite dish
on a tree and two shiny vehicles in the dri­
veway, one might think a machine turned
time back to the 1700s.
"The setting is just so important to
the way it feels when you drive in,"
Dou g say s. "If there was a two-story
Colonial up there, it just wouldn't feel
the same. And if yo u put a house like
thi s in th e middle of a subdivision, it
just sticks out like a sore thumb and you
really lose all the charm that you tried
to put into it. "
The property is bordered by a farm on
one s ide. 200 acres of state bird sanctu­
ary on the other and the giant Fair Hill
Natural Resources Area at the end of the
driveway. Dee r travel daily along the
winding creek behind the home while
pileated woodp ec kers nest in rotting
trees. Flying squirrels often raid the bird­
feeders after sunset.
Like the wi.ldli fe, the hou se thrives
in its natural surroundings. It seems to
hav e s prout ed like a mushroom from
the Penn sy lvania countryside.
" In the 18th century, the foundations
were dug with a shovel and hou ses con­
formed to th e land ," Doug says. "We
tried to g ive that feeling here with the
stone built partly into the hillside and
with the retaining walls. "
The Smalls also created a distinct
appearance by dividing the house into
thirds. "We designed the house to make it
look like it was built in three different sec­
tions, which old houses frequently were,"
Lori says.
Bars on the basement windows, a row
of bricks between the stone walls and pent
roof, staggered window pl ace ment and
copper pole gutters built into .the roof help
pull the look together.
But Doug is especially proud of his
garden pond , which resembles a crum­
bling springhouse. He arranged and
cemented his dwindling pile of barn
stone s to form the 3-foot-deep square
pond. "When I do my best masonry work,
it looks like a ruin," he jokes.
Lilies, a shy koi, well-fed goldfish
and neighborhood frogs call the pond
home . Water spills over into two small­
er plastic garden ponds that will eventu­
ally drain into a marsh garden, complete
with cattails.
Doug often enjoys a quiet cup of cof-
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118 November
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DELAWAR E TODAY
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fee on a nearby bench. He smiles, "Those
crickets are abo ut as noisy as anything
you ' ll hear here. "
Bo)ido-.yParti~,s Gracious 8e"~ee
Two dogs, a laid-back, 7-year-old yel­
low la b named Tess, and a spunky 6­
month- old choco late lab c all ed Le ro y
Bro wn , snooze on the sun-dre nc he d
doorstep. They politely rise to greet a guest.
The m a in e nHan ce o pen s in to the
Smalls ' favorite living area - the long.
dinin g roo m-kitc he n. "We wa nted th e
floor plan to reflect that of an early house.
You don't walk in the front door and see a
powder room and a closet and whatnot,"
Do ug says . "The earlier, more primitive
houses were one-room houses, and when
you walked in the front door, you' re in the
living space."
An antique farm table and pine cor­
ner c abinet are the d inin g. room 's o nly
furni s hings and therefo re attract the
most attention. These are Lori's fav orite
pi eces. " In the past, they were stuck in
dining roo ms that yo u never we nt into
ex c e pt fo r Chri s tma s and Thank s ­
giving," she say s. "I reall y like the fact
that the fumiture is here and we actua ll y
use it every day'"
The sturd y oak table. with dozens of
nicks and dings, supports a vase of fresh
flowers from Lori ' s garden and sets a visi­
tor at ease. "It ju st has so many marks
from throughout the years, you can pi c­
ture the farmh ands all sitting around thi s
table and having lunch," she says.
The Sm a ll s pr efer to take cas ual
me a ls a t their thi c k - topp e d ~it c h e n
i s land . The is la nd is s urr o unded b y
mode rn applian ces clev e rl y hidden by
hand-planed d oors and panels with di s­
tre ss ed-paint finishes. All of the stain s
are hand-rubbed.
The countertops and sink are made of
soapston e, which is softer than granite,
but takes on a charming worn look as it
weathers. Lori treats the soapstone with
minera l oil when it du lls. "The sink is
great," she says. " You can throw a pan in
there and no t ha ve to wo rry a bo ut it
scratching. Thi s is going to look good 200
years from now."
An unassuming Aga Cooker in the cor­
ner is read y to bake, boil or even bum at a
sec o nd' s noti ce. The cas t-iron cooker,
made in Engl and, requires gas for fuel and
burns continually for just $ 1 to $2 a day,
Lori says. Four separate ovens bake at dif­
fe rent temperatures, frol11 150 degrees to
Jino@noti,r8 Pre.~el1tatioll
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450 degrees. The range top features a
boiling plate for pots and a simmering
plate for pancakes and grilled cheese.
Lori says the Smalls normally entertain
informally, with no more than a dozen
guests, so "this [dining room-kitchen]
really lends itself to that."
The adjoining living room is fumished
for practicality, reflecting the Small's use­
every-room philosophy. The stone fire­
place and its surrounding woodwork dom­
inate an entire wall, but a daybed painted
the same color as the molding (Rally
Tavern Red) steals some of the attention.
Doug made the piece after a search for an
antique turned up beds that were too short
and too narrow.
"Doug has a bad back so he comes
home from work and he needs to lie flat,"
Lori says. "He made it a little larger
because he wanted to be able to stretch
out, plus have one dog there."
A television mounted on a swivel is
hidden in cabinets to the left of the fire­
place, along with stereo equipment. To
the right of the hearth, an imitation bee­
hive oven is used to store firewood and
kindling. Lori muses that she's the only
person around with ashes in the fireplace
in summer, "If it's just a little bit nippy,
Doug will build a fire."
All of the home's hardware is antique
reproduction done by Mike Coldren of
North East, Maryland. The strapped hinges
and latches are attached with original nails
and leather washers. The deep-silled win­
dows contain individual glass panes and
are secured by old-fashioned sa~n locks.
"We double-frame the wall so it gives
you a thick wall and they're packed with
insulation," Doug says. "It gives you the
deeper window sills that old houses have."
Doug hid outlets in the sills and put light
switches and other outlets in the chair rail
and baseboards. The outlets and switches
are painted the same color as the trim, pri­
marily Rittenhouse Ivory. The paint
throughout the house comes from compa­
nies that specialize in historical colors.
The window sill outlets are connected
to one switch so the usually monotonous
task of turning on each electric candle by
hand can now be done in a flash. Lori
says candles were used to light the way
for guests in a time when there were no
street lights, but they are a signal to Doug
that it's time to relax.
"After a hard day, you drive up the dri­
veway and you see all the candles and it's
just like the hard day goes away."
•