Inside a Tudor House and Garden in Alabama - Part 2

Foyer

What appears to be a baroque demilune in the foyer was once part of Douthit's grandmother's dressing table; she had the piece cut in two in order to pass it down to both her daughters (Douthit's mom used her half as a vanity). It displays a Victorian-inspired tableau that includes begonias, a fern, even a bird's nest.

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Bedroom

Inside, Douthit relied upon lessons he learned as a boy. "My mom and grandmother knew how to appoint a home beautifully, without spending a fortune," he explains. "Almost everything in my house was found on the side of the road, bought secondhand, or given to me by relatives." In the guest room, for instance, Douthit's childhood bed stands next to a $5 yard-sale nightstand.

In this photo: A peacock-print duvet and shams by Dwell Studio dress the guest room bed—an heirloom from Douthit's childhood. A previous owner hung the black-and-white wallpaper, which Douthit calls "one of the prettiest toiles I've seen."

Desk

"So many people decorate to impress, but my favorite houses have life in their rooms. There are animals. You can tell the owners throw parties," says Douthit. "When people come to visit, they just want to be comfortable. They want to feel like they can sit on the sofa. For me, that's always been the goal—making guests feel at home."

In this photo: The hand-sewn bunny on Douthit's antique rolltop desk is part of his new PD Baby line of organic-cotton toys, bibs, and blankets.

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Inside a Tudor House and Garden in Alabama

It wasn't until stationery designer Prentiss Douthit fell head over heels for a Birmingham garden—and the house that came with it—that he began to appreciate his family's horticultural roots.

Sweet Home Alabama

When Prentiss Douthit says he was born with a green thumb, he isn't exaggerating much. Douthit has been digging in the dirt since the age of 5—not that he always enjoyed it. "My parents owned a flower shop and nursery in Decatur, Alabama," the stationery designer explains. And unlike most florists, his mother and father grew all the roses they arranged. "My brothers and I had to tend those plants until we each left for college. I hated it."

In this photo: Buddy—Douthit's "mutt from heaven"—relaxes in front of the 1937 Tudor cottage, covered in a mix of 'Veilchenblau' and 'New Dawn' climbing roses.

Den

So you can imagine Douthit's surprise four years ago, when he found himself bidding on a 1937 brick Tudor in Birmingham because he'd fallen hard for the garden—planted with more than 25 different roses. "As soon as I pulled into the driveway, I loved the property so much, I would have bought it without seeing the inside of the house," Douthit recalls. "Luckily, that blew me away, too. It's the homiest home imaginable—a perfect little English cottage that just wraps its arms around you. It has a very humble soul."

In this photo: In the den, floral pillows by Louise Body dress up an estate-sale sofa. Douthit created the coffee table by topping a gilded metal base with a flagstone paver. He amassed the collection of 1950s metal fans while still in college.

Kitchen

Antique milk-glass pendant lamps illuminate the kitchen, which sports custom cabinetry and an Anthropologie rug.

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A Home Inside a Former Blacksmith Shop - Part 4

Work Area

James couldn't resist this vintage typewriter, equipped with keys for the Greek alphabet and issued by a company that shares his daughter's name, Olympia. Also on the pine table: a puzzle fashioned from a Vietnam tourism poster.

Bathroom

The master bath retains many of its century-old fixtures, including the tub, sink, and medicine cabinet. A pedestal shelf creates space for toiletries.

Retro Sounds

The family spins 78s on a reproduction Crosley turntable.

The Family

In 2009, James and Anagnopoulos launched Aesthetic Movement, a design and consulting firm. The business thrived, their daughter grew—and they found themselves staying in the city more and more. Instead of longing for a place to retreat, as they had a decade earlier, the family now desired to reach out to the world. It was time to put the Schoharie home up for sale.

The first people who looked at the property stayed for five hours, then offered to buy it with the contents. James and Anagnopoulos were ready to cede things, seeing themselves as custodians of the spaces they inhabit and the objects they love. The two couples have since become friends, spending time together in New York City as well as West Fulton. "We're the guests now," explains James, "but Olympia doesn't really understand that; to her it's all about the new family's dog. It's Monkeybear's house."

In this photo: Jesse James (left), Gus Anagnopoulos, and their daughter, Olympia, pose outside the mid-1800s house.

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A Home Inside a Former Blacksmith Shop - Part 3

Side Table Display

A folk-art sewing box sits atop an Eastlake Victorian table that was "purchased for a song," James says.

Bedroom

The guest room felt complete with little more than a mid-1800s spindle bed, often called a Jenny Lind after the famous Swedish singer of the time who toured America in a P.T. Barnum production. A plant stand merits new use as a side table.

Kids' Room

An upstairs closet was transformed into a snug sleeping alcove James and Anagnopoulos call their daughter Olympia's "secret room." Says James, "There is nothing more peaceful than lying there during an afternoon rain, looking up at the trees rustling against the window, while listening to the rain on the roof." A quilt made of recycled saris brightens Olympia's bed, and thanks to a few simple scribbles, the midcentury electrical diagram above the window serves as an unintentionally witty riff on technology versus handiwork.

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A Home Inside a Former Blacksmith Shop - Part 2

Breakfast Nook

"We didn't think of looking at anything else," Anagnopoulos says, and he and James listened to the home's rhythms, letting it dictate what was added and what was taken away. "No overthinking," declares James. First, they painted every wall a crisp white. Then, they covered the floors of the old commercial space—now primarily one big living-dining area—with sage green. Come summer, when the wide doors (originally built to allow carriages inside) are thrown open, the interiors seem to merge with the outdoors. Upstairs, for the apartment's more private quarters, the pair chose a hushed shade of putty for the floors.

In this photo: Ticking stripes cover a pair of wingback chairs in the original upstairs kitchen, now a breakfast nook. The vintage father's flashcard is a beloved gift from a family friend, and one weekend auction yielded the entire collection of ogee shaving mirrors adorning the wall.

Bright Idea: Upholstered wing chairs bring living room luxury to a dining table.

A Vintage Display

As they poked around area antiques shops, tag sales, even junkyards, James and Anagnopoulos were drawn to pieces that spoke to the age and spare elegance of their home. Whenever the couple spied a three-legged milking stool, it was as good as theirs. But instead of coming off as old-fashioned, these obsolete treasures read as works of art: sometimes displayed alone, as if in a gallery, or gathered with like items to make a single graphic statement. "Put a dozen candlesticks in a line and they look significant, sculptural," Anagnopoulos explains.

In this photo: A vintage biology chart from Belgium hangs above a barn-sale milking bench and a motley crew of old milking stools.

Open Display

James continues to add to the collection of English Staffordshire ironstone and 

American stoneware begun by his grandmother.

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A Home Inside a Former Blacksmith Shop

Pairing a collector's passion with minimalist restraint, Jesse James and Gus Anagnopoulos forged a surprisingly modern home from a 19th-century blacksmith shop in upstate New York.

Spare Moments

"We look for the lost and forgotten everywhere," says Jesse James. The designer—of interiors, products, logos—and his partner, poet Kostas "Gus" Anagnopoulos, have a habit of falling for artifacts others might pass by: scratchy Bessie Smith 78s, soapstone bed warmers, ham-radio postcards. "What we love about old things," explains Anagnopoulos, "is the mystery, the experiences, the people they've lived with."

In this photo: A flea-market find, this charcoal portrait is visible through the large front window. "He guards the place," says James, who inherited the two Hitchcock chairs from his grandmother.

Living-Dining Room

Thirteen years ago, when the pair were still in their 20s and living in a 400-square-foot Brooklyn apartment, they eschewed the activities popular among their peers. Instead of partying in the city, James and Anagnopoulos spent weekends tooling along country roads upstate, fantasizing about a haven where, as James puts it, "we could read, write, and draw. We wanted to turn the world off in short visits, like taking a long nap and having a sweet dream for days."

In this photo: The living-dining area is furnished with a far-flung mix: Indonesian rush-back loungers, tin sconces from Mexico, and a Persian kilim rug. The farm table and its attendant cane-seat chairs, however, are locally sourced antiques.

Kitchen

They found it in New York's remote Schoharie County, a sturdy rural outpost ruled by the seasons and the rhythms of agricultural life. Hard by Panther Creek, in the hamlet of West Fulton, stood a run-down 19th-century blacksmith shop for sale. "A very romantic thing!" says Anagnopoulos. The vacant structure had morphed from smithy to gas station, with an upstairs apartment where the most recent owners had raised five children.

In this photo: "Our mothers warned us about defrosting," jokes James of the kitchen's 1950s refrigerator, "but we love the look." A midcentury stove, an antique butcher block, and a salvaged cast-iron sink magnify the room's farmhouse charm.

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Halloween Decorating Ideas from a Spooky Home - Part 3

Mother & Daughter

Frosch and daughter Isabelle stand at the entrance to the living room, where a Victorian wheel of chance hangs above a new piano.

Cabinet of Oddities

A downstairs hallway, papered in an acorn-themed pattern by Nina Campbell, houses a curio cabinet full of such oddities as an oversize model of teeth. The tightly packed bookcase also serves as the door to a powder room.

Orange Tub

The vintage claw-foot tub in the kids' bathroom got a makeover courtesy of custom-mixed orange paint; bespoke shades of pea green and harvest yellow transformed the floors and walls.

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Bedside Table

In the master bedroom, faux spiderwebs ($1.69 a pack; peanutandmagoos.com) transform a milk-glass topped side table into a spooky still life. Tovin designed the elm veneer headboard.

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