Photos

Building on the Past

View additional photos and groupings from a custom-built saltbox with plenty of 18th-century style featured in the September 2009 issue of Country Sampler! Written by Donna Pizzi.
updated 09.22.11

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  • Warm Wishes Known for restoring historic homes, Linda and Joe Harris tried their hand at new construction when they built a saltbox-style house with 18th-century looks and 21st-century amenities. Here, a waist-high brick fireplace in their gathering room features an arched well for storing wood. “In all my designs, I’m very detailed-oriented,” Linda says of design choices such as the wood well. “I don’t expect people to focus on that when they first walk in, but it adds to the environment.”
  • Ceiling the Deal Linda calls this primitive bedroom her “play room.” Here, another of her quilts rises toward the cathedral ceiling in contrast with the antique rope bed, which came over the Oregon Trail. Its feather bed is covered with vintage ticking. Linda found the “pouting chair” at left 25 years ago, and now uses it to show off primitive smalls. A punched-tin fixture suspended at a normal height brings the focus down from the high vaulted ceiling to the decor at eye level.
  • Wreath All About It Neutral bed linens featuring subtle plaids and stripes as well as solids, set a soothing tone in the master bedroom. Above the head of the bed, a grapevine wreath framed by canopy curtains acts as the perfect texture-rich addition to the wall.
  • Simple Pleasures A diverse array of accents lend their shine, color and texture to a bedside table in the master bedroom. A small stool gives a boost to a salt-glazed jug turned into a lamp, and a pewter pitcher full of peach dahlias adds a splash of fresh color. Beneath a painted sign bearing a thoughtful phrase, a green-and-white gourd announces the fall season.
  • Hearth and Soul In the master bedroom’s sitting area, a classic buffalo-check wingback chair complements the pattern of the wall hanging at left, known as “Lee’s Surrender.” Above the distressed-finish fireplace, a pair of sconces flank a vertical sampler that dates to the early 1800s.
  • Gourd-eous Display Off-white and mustard-hued gourds intermix with white berries on the master-bedroom fireplace mantel for a seasonal scene powered by natural textures.
  • Great Pumpkins A vintage wagon piled with oversized pumpkins, hay bales, and dried sunflowers announces autumn’s arrival on the Harrises’ outshot porch.
  • Quilting Time Original blue paint on a child’s cradle draws the eye toward two of Linda’s quilts, which hang on the rack alongside one made by a 16-year-old Amish girl in the Grandmother’s Flower Garden pattern. A fall-themed quilt that spreads cheer above the fireplace, and on the mantel a simple arrangement of glass lanterns, a berry garland and a small pumpkin lend more seasonal character.