Untouched by Time
A chance encounter led a Georgia antiques dealer and her husband to purchase a Victorian farmhouse and complete its award-winning restoration, creating a perfect showplace for their treasured collections.
After a chance encounter lands a Georgia antiques dealer and her husband a Victorian farmhouse in need of restoration, the duo shape it into a showplace for their primitive furnishings.
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Lynda Hughes’ home found her, rather than the other way around. One fortuitous day nearly 30 years ago, Lynda was minding her antiques shop when a customer engaged her in casual conversation. He told her he was preparing to auction off his great-grandparents’ home, an 1850s vernacular Victorian farmhouse in Carroll County, Georgia.
Intrigued by the story, Lynda arranged to preview the auction contents ahead of the sale, but once she set eyes on the charming Victorian structure, a grander plan began to emerge. “That was the beginning of my love for this home totally untouched by time,” says Lynda, recalling her reaction as she walked over the threshold. “I was smitten. That immediately began our journey.”
Soon afterward, Lynda and her husband, Clifford, found themselves in the throes of a massive yearlong renovation, which, incidentally, netted them a restoration award in 1993. When they purchased the home—which had undergone a previous renovation around 1920—it featured a dogtrot entrance, hardwood plank flooring, and a back porch with an original pulley well contained within.
The couple gutted the rear of the house and removed the back porch, leaving the exterior walls—all original pine shiplap— and the well intact. They then built a large, spacious den around the well, plus an adjoining breakfast room and rear foyer. Next, they added another bedroom, three new bathrooms and a laundry room, and they completely refurbished the kitchen, installing hardwood planks to match the original pine hardwood in the rest of the home. New countertops and cabinets were part of the transformation, but they did manage to salvage and reface some of the original cabinets. Elsewhere in the house, they removed layers of old plaster to reveal beautifully preserved original shiplap and beadboard, which they restored to their natural splendor.
When the restoration was complete, Lynda went to work outfitting the interior to her taste. “My love is primitives with old paint, and I love handmade pieces from the 1800s,” she says. “My styles have changed through the years, according to what I could use and afford, but I’ve never strayed away from great old pieces of primitive furniture.”
Indeed, primitives take center stage in Lynda’s home, where layers of quilts, Early American baskets, old jugs, pottery, Shaker boxes, vintage books, antique game boards, and unique folk art punctuate exquisite handcrafted primitive cupboards, chests and tables, plus slipcovered furnishings. “I love slipcovers!” Lynda enthuses. “Every piece of [upholstered] furniture I have is slipcovered. I love neutral-colored fabrics because they’re easy to keep clean, and they create a classic look that doesn’t go out of style. Neutrals are cottage, coastal and country.”
Although Lynda no longer operates an antiques shop, she and Clifford still host several shows a year, in addition to a pop-up barn sale, on their large property, which also features two 150-year-old barns. When Lynda thinks back to the circumstances that led them to their home three decades ago, she marvels that a serendipitous moment could lead to decades of enjoyment. “We have been truly blessed to own and save this wonderful old home from destruction.”