Private Quarters: Former WSB-TV anchor's home in Big Canoe

Home and Garden

Private Quarters: Former WSB-TV anchor's home in Big Canoe

Former Channel 2 Action News retires to his mountain home affectionately named "Bear Pause."

Bears fill retired news anchor John Pruitt’s home, from artwork and sculptures to stuffed animals and lamps. So many bears that they dubbed the place "Bear Pause." When homeowners John and Andrea Pruitt renovated their Big Canoe home, they put new fronts on their cabinets, added bead board to them and added beams on the ceiling.--Text by Lori Johnston

In the kitchen, stained glass purchased at AmericasMart Atlanta provides privacy because the window overlooks the driveway. The stained glass still allows light to enter the kitchen and the animal figures can be seen from inside and outside.

Andrea Pruitt likes to bring evergreen clippings from the trees outside their Big Canoe home and incorporate them with fresh cut flowers to give the house a lived-in look.

Wicker furniture and rockers provide a comfortable setting in a screen room that offers mountain and valley views through large windows. On the ledges are hand-crafted birdhouses.

Retired Channel 2 Action News anchor John Pruitt and his wife, Andrea, say they never grow tired of the views their Big Canoe home provides. The home is at 3,000 feet.

John and Andrea Pruitt never get tired of the views from their three-bedroom Big Canoe home, which offers scenic vistas. They decorated the home in a rustic style, using new and family pieces.

Two chairs provide the perfect place for homeowners John and Andrea Pruitt to soak in the views from one of the decks on on the back of their second home in Big Canoe.

Two levels of decks nearly surround John and Andrea Pruitt's three-bedroom, three-bath home in Big Canoe. They increased the size of the decks in a renovation after buying the home in 2003.

Bears are the predominant theme the Big Canoe home that John and Andrea Pruitt call "Bear Pause." They often challenge their six grandchildren to count the bears on lamps, sculptures, paintings and carvings throughout the home.

The antler chandelier was already in the home when John and Andrea Pruitt bought it in 2004, but they installed a rough-hewn cedar mantle and refinished the built-in bookcases.

New railings made from mountain laurel were added to the stairwell during the home's renovation 10 years ago.

The Indian-style drum from Lakota Cove, a furniture gallery in Jasper, also serves as a coffee table. The Pruitts renovated the Big Canoe home, which was built in 1986, in 2004.

John and Andrea Pruitt added hand-hewn heart pine beams when they renovated their Big Canoe home in 2004. The beams are supported by restored metal brackets are from the old Hershey chocolate plant in Pennsylvania and they replaced the stairwell banisters with ones made from mountain laurel.

Half of a canoe, appropriate for a home in Big Canoe, was turned into a bookshelf. It's on a sun porch that connects the main house to the screen porch.

John and Andrea Pruitt love having their six grandchildren and plenty of other guests stay at their second home in Big Canoe.

The colors of John and Andrea Pruitt's master bedroom were inspired by the painting by Ann Young. The bed features a burlap headboard and a Cardinal-themed quilt is from Crate and Barrel.

The wildlife theme continues on the tile surrounding the fireplace in John and Andrea Pruitt's master bedroom. Bear, deer and raccoons in wildlife scenes can be seen on the tiles.

A carved patriotic bear joins many of other bear lamps, sculptures, paintings and carvings in the Big Canoe home John and Andrea Pruitt call "Bear Pause." (Christopher Michael Oquendo/www.ophotography.com)

A built-in bunk bed forms "The Cave" for the Pruitts' six grandkids in the downstairs playroom.

John and Andrea Pruitt turned an antique chest of drawers, which had belonged to Andrea's grandmother in Sweden, into a vanity for their powder bathroom.

John and Andrea Pruitt's three-bedroom, three-bath Big Canoe home, built in 1986, now features a mountain rustic style. They bought the 3,800-square-foot home in 2003 and spent a year renovating it before they moved in.

Retired Channel 2 Action News anchor John Pruitt and his wife, Andrea, are joined by granddaughter Sara Mundy, and their three golden retrievers, Cassie, Sandy and Toby at the Big Canoe home they've owned for 10 years.

The mission-style rocker in John and Andrea Pruitt's great room also is from Lakota Cove, a furniture gallery in Jasper. They spent a year renovating the Big Canoe home, with help from Wayne Bruce of Bruce and Burkett, to give it more of a mountain feel before they moved in.

An antique cabinet that was brought from Sweden at the turn of the 20th century includes wonderful details, Andrea Pruitt said. It fills a hallway in the Pruitts' three-bedroom, three-bath home in Big Canoe.

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Bears fill retired news anchor John Pruitt’s home, from artwork and sculptures to stuffed animals and lamps. So many bears that they dubbed the place "Bear Pause." When homeowners John and Andrea Pruitt renovated their Big Canoe home, they put new fronts on their cabinets, added bead board to them and added beams on the ceiling.--Text by Lori Johnston

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