Welcome to the Leyland Ridge Farm
Photo Journal of our renovation
The house was built in 1926 in a small farming community in Southwest Virginia by the Hale family. It was originally a 300+ acre farm but all that remains with the house and barn today are five acres. It has always been known to locals as the "Hale House".
One of the first things we did was plant a row of Leyland cypress along the top of the back ridge and side property lines to create a screen between the farm and a housing complex behind us thus the name, Leyland Ridge Farm.
We bought the house late in the summer of 2005. I had been near by on business and thought I would take the "scenic" route home. I passed this beautiful old house with a "for sale" sign in the yard. I whipped into the drive, called Gary and told him I'd found our dream house and proceeded to put the for sale sign in my trunk. I knew I had to have this house.
We did something we always said we would never do. We bought a house while owning a house. We had to sell in 60 days or we would have two mortgages. We put our first house on the market after extensive staging. The house showed twenty two times in eight days and sold in less then two weeks. We got lucky!
There were no improvements made to the property or the house in almost fifty years. The last ten years the house and barn had been neglected so our work was cut out for us. To make the major changes we have planned affordable we'll live in the house while it's being renovated, do the majority of the work ourselves and pay as we go.
We've been working on the house for four years and have made great progress but we have a long way to go. In these past four years we've only fallen more in love with this old place.
To date we've finished renovating the entry by adding a partition to divide the entry into three spaces, a foyer, a small alcove which serves as my office and a coat closet. and added crown molding.
We've stripped and painted the stair way and added a carpet runner. We gave one another an antique newel post for Christmas in 2007 for the stairway that hasn't been installed yet. It's still sitting in the same place it was when we purchased it. I have hopes of it being installed in it's new spot before next Christmas.
The dining room is competed with wainscoting and crown molding. A partition was added to divert the bathroom from entering directly into the dining room. This added a few additional square feet to the the down stairs bath. We will renovate the downstairs bath as soon as the new master bath on the second floor is finished.
A utility closet was built on the second floor landing where a washer and dryer was installed. Central heat and air has been added, the original red oak floors have been stripped and refinished on both levels, all the windows and doors have been replaced and the original antique oak fireplace mantel in the living room has been stripped, refinished and a LCD TV and gas logs have been added.
In late summer of '07 we started adding the new master suite on the second floor. In July of that year we removed the kitchen roof preparing to add a second level that would include a walk in closet and master bath. When we removed the roof from the kitchen it began to rain. There was water running through our cabinets and puddled in the floor threatening our newly refinished hardwood floors. With pans, buckets and every towel we owned we saved the floors. We hadn't planned to remove the old plaster ceiling in the kitchen but the water soaked plaster began to crumble and fall to the floor.
To date we're almost half finished with the entire project. We estimate we have another year to completion but we're patient. When I start getting discouraged I think about what we'll have when everything is finished. I know it will be a beautiful old farm house and the work we've lovingly done here will save this beautiful place for generations to come.
Upon completion of the house and barn restoration we plan to establish an equine inn offering over night accommodations for horse and rider alike. Amenities will include a 6 stall barn, washing pad, paddocks, full hook-ups for two haulers and a room with kitchenette, hot tub and riding arena on five acers within one mile of I-81 between Roanoke and Knoxville.