By Christopher Oquendo
For the AJC
For years Jane Vandewiele dreamed of living in an older home in the country, but convincing husband Scott wasn’t easy.
“Scott and I have been married 31 years and it took me 28 of them to convince him to look at some of the older houses with a little piece of land I continually seemed to find,” said Jane Vandewiele. “The compromise was this place in Marietta.”
Giving the home the lived in look Jane desired required distressing the pristine oak floors and using stone and plaster to give the brick walls and archways a crumbling appearance.
“I had to get creative and make the home look like it had been around a while,” she said.
Residents: Jane and Scott Vandewiele, children Abbey, 26, and Max, 24. 22-year-old Sam does not live at home.
Location: Marietta
Size: 5,000 square feet; five bedroom and five-and-a-half baths
Year built: 1933
Year purchased: 2007
Style of home: "Who knows?" said Jane. "When I first set eyes on this place I immediately envisioned a cottage because of the shape of the house and the fact that I immediately wanted to put a whitewash of paint over the brick. Now that I have added the rustic-looking craft barn [in the backyard] and some split rail fencing, it may be taking on more of a farmhouse look."
Renovations: "After three years of renovating, it was done enough to finally go ahead and move in," said Jane. "With all my ideas and plans for the place I don't have a clue when it will ever be done the way I like it. When it is, I will probably have to move again so I can start all over again with another fixer-upper."
Renovations included distressing the oak floors, removing part of the third floor to open up the ceiling in the den, extending the rock fireplace, installing reclaimed wood from a saw mill onto walls and ceilings throughout the house and installing custom-built cabinets and new appliances in the kitchen.
Outdoor features: The house is located on 23 acres that includes a soccer field and miles of woods and trails that follow Rubes Creek.
