The Dusenbury home has been in the family since it was built in 1946.  It sits on eight acres of old growth with a winter mountain view and a rushing stream.  A very private setting in the Village of Tryon, NC, at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Philip Dusenbury was an artist who sold at galleries on Martha's Vineyard and some very famous people have bought his sculptures.  It is evident he liked the house just the way it was, not many improvements, leaving a lot of the character intact, which is one of the reasons why we bought it.

I loved the doors, heavy iron cattails.  The main door has one and the back bedroom door, one of the things that attracted me to the house. My friend Ray of Invictus Forge will be giving me advice on how to take care of the rust yet keep the old patina in place.

The courtyard is in wonderful condition, a herringbone pattern of brick.  The moss growing between the bricks looks like it has been there for years, so I will scrub each brick by hand to ensure that the moss continues to grow.   It will be tedious, but worth it.  Thanks mom for the idea! The walkway to the door will someday be replaced, I'm not fond of the "newer" brick, but it functions for now, and there are so many other things to do first.

The wood siding on the house is what is called "Carolina Siding" and just about impossible to find now, unless a house of the same age is being taken down.  Most of our boards are in great shape, so hopefully we won't have to worry about replacing any.  The boards are over an inch thick and were planed to show the shape of the tree.  Many houses in this are of NC have that siding.  You can also see the brick courtyard better in this photo, a lot of cleaning to be done!

And then there is the little guest farmhouse where my friends and family who visit will stay.  There is a lot of work to be done here, too, but this I will enjoy doing myself once settled in the main house.  We also have a boathouse on the lake that supplies the water to Tryon, which is six miles down the road, so plenty of places for guests and their dogs!

This photo was taken to show the location of the farmhouse to the main house, and I didn't do a very good job with the photo, but you can see the roof of the farmhouse down the driveway.  It's close, but not "too close" so visitors will have lots of privacy and won't have to be in a house with six chow-chows!  Renovation will take quite sometime.  A metal shingle roof will be put on with some skylights to brighten the rooms; linoleum and wall-to-wall carpet will be taken up to expose the original floors with the square-headed nails we found digging around.  A lot of ripping out, ceilings coming down to expose the rafters, new appliances, and everything inside and out will be painted.  A boxwood garden is planned for the courtyard with a stone privacy wall.  I will post from time to time showing the gutting and transforming of this old place.  Can't wait for the day everything is clean and decorated for you all to see!