Fairy-Tale Ending

After reconnecting years later, former high school sweethearts in Virginia enjoy “happily ever after” in a quaint farmhouse brimming with country antiques and creatively displayed collections.

Former high school sweethearts reconnect and enjoy “happily ever after” in a charming Virginia house that plays host to a treasure trove of antiques and collections.

Renee Campbell believes in fate. She is certain that’s what reconnected her to Mark, her high school sweetheart, and eventually led to a new house, a proposal and a fresh start together—in that order, she says with a laugh.

“I had always wanted to refurbish an old farmhouse and had a notebook full of drawings, magazine articles and notes in hopes of realizing that dream,” she explains. But when she picked up a flyer in 2003 about a new home being built near her mother’s house, she was astonished to find someone had beat her to the punch. “There it was, the house of my dreams,” she recalls. While it wasn’t the old home she had envisioned, the farmhouse in Madison Heights, Virginia, was almost a replica of the house she had imagined, sketched and fantasized about for years.

“I was in love,” she says, remembering her first glimpse of the wraparound porch. “It also had a formal dining room and a good-size kitchen with the sweetest of breakfast nooks.” She quickly took Mark, whom she had begun dating again, to see the house. “At that moment, we both knew we were home,” she explains. “Our love for that house and each other gave us the nudge we had been waiting for.”

Renee and Mark married and moved in later that year, and they have been enjoying “happily ever after” ever since. Other than adding a spacious sunroom in 2013, they have spent most of their time decorating—with “the more antiques the better,” Renee notes. “I think old was born in me,” she jokes. “I can’t remember not loving all things old.” Not surprisingly, the house is replete with heirlooms from both sides—from her grandma’s dining room set to the dry sink in the breakfast nook that was passed down through Mark’s side. “Our home is filled to the brim with pieces of family,” she explains.

“I want our home to feel like it hugs you when you walk in and to reflect us and the things we love.”

Renee gathers ideas from magazines and takes cues from her vintage pieces themselves. She’s lucky to have family that includes artists and woodworkers, and fruits of their labor are peppered throughout the couple’s home, along with carefully chosen new pieces that fit the look. “I buy what I like and I treasure what I have, and I don’t change things around much,” she explains. “I love color and light, and I love cozy.”

To create a harmonious decorating scheme, Renee sticks to neutral colors for larger pieces and layers in textiles and seasonal displays for variety and visual interest. Her preferred collectibles include “anything old made from wood”—for example, dough bowls, bobbins, old rulers and yardsticks—as well as crocks, Depression glass, baskets, stone fruit, pewter and vintage Christmas decor.

It’s easy to see why “follow your heart” is one of her top decorating tips. “Be true to yourself and your style,” she recommends. She adds that trusting herself—and maybe a little bit of fate—has definitely served her well. Fifteen years after first seeing the house, it has been everything she longed for—and more.

And she hopes that visitors can sense her and Mark’s affinity for their residence and each other. “I want our home to feel like it hugs you when you walk in and to reflect us and the things we love,“she says.

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Built in 2003, the house and its expansive porch were inspired by classic American farmhouses.

Below: The living room furniture has been with Renee since her very first apartment, but thanks to fresh upholstery, it looks like new. “When I struck out on my own, I wanted furniture that would stand the test of time, just like that of my ancestors,” she explains. Pillows and coverlets in shades of red and blue unite the two upholstery fabrics with color and pattern. A narrow black cabinet stocked with crockery and pewter and an old spinning wheel lend drama to the corner. 38 MARCH 2019

Right: High school sweethearts who reconnected years later, Renee and Mark take their decorating talents outdoors and create a sweet seasonal vignette on their Virginia farmhouse’s wraparound porch.

A rustic gas stove in the all-season sunroom provides warmth, both literally and figuratively. “At Thanksgiving and Christmastime, that room is the one with all the holiday magic,” Renee says. A mantel-style surround gives the piece a more formal look, and a wood box filled with stoneware helps bridge the gap between the stovetop and mantelpiece.

The sunroom, added in 2013, includes a table that expands to seat 10 for the holidays. Renee adorns the table with an unusual multilayered centerpiece assembled from a repurposed enamel basin and pail full of flowers and greens and a crock holding wooden utensils. Stacked boxes and a stool combine to create a low accent table.