BY GEORGE!
Stacye Love breathes new life into a Georgian-style home for a young family. Written by Bridget Williams / Photos by Justin Jordan While indulging in sepia-toned moments of nostalgia can impart the kind of cozy comfort akin to wrapping up in a plush blanket on a cold night, too much can grate like an LP looping at a scratch. After Shane Huffman and his wife Kimber acquired "Someday," a grand Georgian-style home resting atop 20 verdant acres, from Shane’s grandmother Ethel Huffman, an emotional tug-of-war between preserving Shane’s childhood memories and creating their own vision of "home" for their six children ensued. Enter builder and interior designer Stacye Love, who helped usher the couple through a spectacular transformation. Originally part of a 1,000-acre farm, the 10,000-square-foot home was built in 1950 and modeled after Mount Vernon, George Washington's home in Fairfax County, Virginia. Neil and Ethel Huffman purchased it in 1974 and made minor modifications over the years, keeping a traditional floorplan and adding lots of wallpaper. "It was exactly what you'd anticipate a grandmother's house would look like," said Love. Love is unique in that she has developed her skill set to be a soup-to-nuts builder, able to be the point person from the drawing board to selecting bed linens in the finished home. Having grown up in the business and hearing it talked about ad nauseam, she resolved to do something completely different as an 66 slmag.net
adult and became an attorney. It wasn't until she came across what she called a "disastrous but incredible" opportunity to renovate a home in Cherokee Gardens that a lightbulb went off. "It's certainly way more fun than practicing law," Love emphatically expressed. She said that as she moved from remodeling to custom home building, it was a natural progression to marry construction with interior design. For the Huffman estate, Love brought in architect Frank Pierce to help the couple create the drama they sought. "Frank really exceeded my expectations by incorporating front-to-back and side-to-side views that take advantage of the vast landscape and respect the integrity of the original architecture," she explained. While they didn't add square footage, there wasn't a room left untouched. "The bones of the house were incredibly giving," Love stated, adding that the ability to gut the ceiling joists enabled removal of the original roofline and the creation of a cathedral ceiling in the new first floor primary suite and kitchen and a dramatic barrel ceiling in the family room that was craned in. In addition, reworking each door and window opening to minimize casement and opting for Crittall-style black steelframed windows and doors lends an entirely fresh look on the outside and enhances the inside's crisp design.
