W.C. Smith House

05/15/2026

As Marc likes to say, sometimes you have to take a small win to keep going. Stripping the paint from the Parlor surround and hearth tiles was a recent small win for us that really lifted spirits during this hectic time of year in which we feel pulled in so many different directions! We knew there was a lovely yellow field tile buried under layers of paint for us to enjoy someday. No, it isn’t as jaw dropping as the majolica tile we have on some fireplaces, or what we’ve discovered during our restoration, but the elegance and beauty is undeniable and resonates with us all the same. Apparently, the Victorians, including the guilded age lot felt the same, placing these gorgeous field tiles on fireplaces in the most formal rooms, as I’ve shown in some photos from interiors I’ve taken in Jekyll Island (Hollybourne Cottage) and other homes around the state during tours. All total, this project was probably 20-30 hours of setup, labor, and cleanup time- a very small project as restorations go as a 6 month to one year timeline or more seems to be the window for most of our projects. We discovered that we are missing about 6 tiles, more or less, in a row at the very top of the surround. We will need to hunt some matches down one day to put back when we are able. All in all, definitely a great feeling to enjoy viewing the entire field of tile exposed for us to see.

04/22/2026

I would like to thank the Elbert County Historical Society for inviting me to speak about my restoration journey with the Smith House. Thank you so very much to all the members who attended and asked questions and came to our home to see our preservation in progress. We were so humbled and grateful to everyone!

02/17/2026

Stained Glass Part 1: Do you love antique stained glass as much as we do? Recently, I acquired just the right window for the dining room, from of all places, Facebook Marketplace. I routinely search antique stores, markets, auctions, ebay, etsy, etc. for the missing architectural components on the house. Tile is a big one I routinely search for, among other things like lighting, for example. I digress… When we embarked upon this restoration we knew a lot was here, that the house was a time capsule from the 1890’s, but we also faced the uphill climb of searching for missing parts, as time and the conversion of the building into 4 apartments for a considerable amount of time in the early twentieth century (20’s/30’s) until the 1980’s/early 90’s had taken a toll. We are missing stained glass in several places, such as 2 doors in the dining room. In October, we took a stained glass class so we can begin to grasp the process of collecting antique windows and learn to make repairs where needed.
Photo 1: newly acquired antique stained glass window. Photo 2-3: closeup of beveled glass in wreath design with jewels and closeup of art nouveau design. Photo 4: corner of dining room, showing door to the sunroom during paint stripping sessions (unfortunately the dining room oak woodwork was painted many years ago). Photo 5-7: our class, Mom (she is the most skilled out of the 4 of us that took the class and has a busy workshop that she produces beautiful pieces in daily!), myself and Marc.

02/01/2026

Abundant sunshine today and a very cold 15 degrees this morning after yesterday’s snowfall.

01/20/2026

01/17/2026

We accomplished a lot last year on the front porch restoration, with the masonry work for each brick pier and infill sections performed along with an overhaul of the joists and new flooring and finally total restoration of the upper sections through the summer and reinstallation in October. Over the winter months I have set a goal of completing the restoration of the lower porch handrail sections prior to spring so that we can finish this porch! There are 9 sections in total to restore before reinstalling in a few months. I have labeled each section with a number, beginning with the most west facing section and going around the porch eastward to the driveway. It takes many hours to prep and restore a section, starting with photographs and measurements, labeling, then mechanical scraping of old latex paint (I painted the house 20 years ago, and there was no paint or barely any paint on these sections at the time) and burning all of the paint off that doesn’t come off with a light scraping, taking apart the handrail from the big box store balusters that were installed all those years ago (we have invested in new balusters turned jn the original pattern to replace these) and also taking apart the handrail section all the way to the individual components where needed to repair or replace. Photo 1) Front porch in winter of 2024, prior to any restoration.
Photo 2) closeup of the exterior of the handrail sections with significant paint failure. Photo 3) and other pics and video show the handrail sections in the workshop with some measurements taken and the paint removal process.

12/28/2025

MAJOR UPDATE: After extensive repairs, repointing, and rebuilding of the front porch foundation we learned that the best way to protect the bricks and lime mortar composition of this foundation going forward was to lower the front yard, which had been raised in the mid twentieth century. This was a major project involving heavy machinery to move countless truck loads of dirt, our water and gas lines, and relocating the brick path for us to reuse next year when we put it back, along with more steps up to the front and side porches. Marc got me a GoPro camera for Christmas, to keep my hands on the ladder while working, and I linked GoPro’s app to my photo library and it created this little video of the front yard project. We are very pleased to see the house sitting up as it was intended, instead of nearly level with the ground, with the front yard now lowered to the original height when the house was built.

12/17/2025

This is really great! Excellent reminder with $ tight these days and these ideas really make the best gifts!

Keep these guidelines in mind as you do your holiday shopping. We wish you all a happy Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or even Festivus! (You know...it's for the rest of us.)

11/05/2025

Körners Folly continued: more pics of the interior, a meandering space chock so full of details thank goodness they allow one to take pictures so that I was able to go back and study them to try and absorb all of ornate woodwork, art, plaster and tile!