In their early seventies, Dr. Charles and Susan Titus decided to build their dream house rather than downsize. And rather than opt for a new mansion or a condo, they opted for new, “old” log cabins. The couple has been married four years, although they have known each other since high school. Susan’s interest in 18th-century America runs deep, while Charles’s passions are baseball and fishing.
It was fishing that led him to the land for their cabins on the Rappahannock River that he purchased five years ago. An old house on the 29-acre piece of land had to be torn down before construction of the main log cabin and the “company” cabin could begin. The “company” cabin was the first building on the estate to be built.
Although Susan and Charles moved into the cabin only four months prior to our visit, the charm of the home was apparent. The colors of the rooms added much to the charm.
It was the search for the perfect colors for the kitchen in the main house that prompted Susan on her journey to Old Village Paint. “I looked and looked and when I saw this red, I knew this was it,” she said, referring to Rittenhouse Red.
With her worn color cards, a trademark of “Old Village diehards,” she called her friend Bill Flynt, director of the museum in Historic Deerfield, MA. He pointed her to Old Village.
Susan said, “You have to find a company with quality products and a palette that pleases you. Then you sit with the color chart and select the colors that you like, usually colors or variations of colors that are in your clothes, your pictures—colors that you like to live with—and then you play those colors into the rooms of your house. It worked for me!” Further, she noted that her painter, quite particular in his craft, liked Old Village Paint immensely and only had to use one coat as the coverage was so good.
The woodwork throughout the kitchen is painted in Rittenhouse Red. A hand-painted rug Susan bought over 20 years adorns the floor near the hearth. Still in excellent condition, the red in the rug matches well with the red in the kitchen.
The living room walls are the old beams and white mortar, and the woodwork around the windows and doorframes, the railing to the second floor, the base of the steps and the hall in the 2nd floor are painted in Antique Sage Green. The second floor has a bathroom and two studies. Both studies and the bathroom are painted Antique Yellow.
The main entrance and foyer are painted in Rittenhouse Ivory. Book shelves line the walls of the library, off the foyer, from top to bottom and the Antique Sage Green woodwork makes the room comforting. Through the window in the library, you see a screened in porch at the back of the house.
The master bathroom has both a huge bathtub and a beautiful tiled shower. The woodwork throughout the bathroom is Soldier Blue. The large master bedroom is painted Antique Sage Green, while the baseboard is painted in Philadelphia Brownstone, a new Old Village color.
Landscaping is perhaps the next major hurdle. Once the landscaping is done, Charles will have more time to enjoy fishing on the Rappahannock, while Susan will enjoy living in their 18th-century-style home, writing and cooking in her beautiful old/new kitchen.
Old Village Paint thanks Susan and Charles for inviting us into their home and sharing their lives with us.
