The siding, window patterns and trimless detail-ing are consistent with old photos of the mill.

Photo by James West

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www.newsobserver.com/home

EThe News & Observer

Home&GardensatURDay, NoVembeR 24, 2007

Notions: Reader shares vintage Workbaskets. Page 5E.Top Drawer .................................2EScapes ........................................3EGarden calendar .........................4ETelevision....................................8EMovies ........................................9E

Ballet review: “Cinderella” charms; “Peter” stumbles a bit. Page 9E.

h o m et h e m o

on

ft h

November’s profile of a well-designed living spacetake a look at a photo gallery at www.newsobserver.com, search home&garden.

Walnut Hill Cotton Gin caught Jim Smith’s eye long before he imagined he might live there.

Photo coURtesy of Jim smith

before after

Yesterdays revealed

after reading your letters, a couple of things are very clear. one, many of you have rooms in need of a makeover. (i know the feeling.) and two, many of you truly deserve a makeover.

that makes our job of select-ing a makeover recipient really difficult. but we will, and some-time after the first of the year, the winner and the makeover will be revealed.

thanks for writing, and stay tuned.

Debra Boyette

A Fresh Start is in the offing

the projectwalnut hill cotton ginarchitect Jim smith, aia, hagersmith Designproject location Raleighsquare footage 3,400 heated, 1,300 unheatedbudget $250,000key attributes historic preservation, adaptive reuse, sustain-able design principles and personalized living

By Katie WaKefordGUest colUmNist

t’s as if they were meant to be to-gether — architect Jim Smith and the Walnut Hill Cotton Gin, that is.

Smith first noticed the cotton gin while on hiatus from his under-

graduate studies. The abandoned structure caught his eye as he drove the rural roads of southeastern Wake County to visit with co-

workers from a local construction site.Once back in school at N.C. State Univer-

sity, Smith made the cotton gin and its works the subject of a photography project. Strik-ing black and white images document those early encounters. Smith says he would have laughed if someone had tried to tell him the gin would one day be his home.

Years passed. Smith became an architect, and the cotton gin sat empty. Then, in 1992,

when Smith was involved in local preserva-tion efforts, he learned that the cotton gin’s owner had only weeks earlier donated the structure to Preservation North Carolina.

Smith and his wife, Pam Troutman, bought it and immediately began stabiliz-ing and securing the property to prevent further deterioration. By 2003, they were

Home of the Month, a collaboration with the N.C. State University College of Design, shows possibilities for constructing a living space with homeowners’ living patterns and preferences in mind. Each month we profile a different home, selected by an expert panel from designs by area architects. The goal: to offer inspiration and knowledge that can be applied to any living space.

isee coTTon gIn, PaGe �e

Spanning beams play shadow games across the living area. In a graceful pairing of old and new, a very steep wooden staircase, which served the building for decades, stands beside a steel and wood alternative.

Photo by James West

the living area

By Joel M. lernerthe WashiNGtoN Post

WASHINGTON

Gardens can make you feel relaxed or energized, de-pending on their design.

Do you know how to balance the energy flow in your landscape design to ensure that it will be comfortable and harmonious with your surroundings?

The ancient Chinese estab-lished a code for creating com-fort in the garden that can also guide Western gardeners. The

discipline is known as feng shui.

Harmony in the gardenFeng shui was developed to

bring balance, harmony and se-renity to people’s lives. Its theo-ries are applicable everywhere: workplace, home and garden. In

the garden, it gives you an op-portunity to take advantage of your environment, ameliorating energy-flow problems that result from the way your house and property are situated.

Feng shui principles can be ap-plied to a formal, traditional, cot-tage, prairie, naturalized, wood-land, rock or any other kind of garden. You need not adhere to all of the principles. Decide which ideas make sense for you.

Cultivate feng shui in the garden

The element earth is represented in this arrange-ment of rocks, container and plants.

Photo foR the WashiNGtoN Post by saNDRa leaVitt leRNeR

whAT’S ThiS ABOUT?A guide to some of the key concepts in the ancient discipline known as feng shui. Page 4e

see FEng shuI, PaGe 4e

GROUND FLOOR FIRST FLOOR SECOND FLOOR

The News & Observer

BedroomStudio

Closet Closet

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Living

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Future deck

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your chateau will never be the same.

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To order by credit card, call 919-836-2829 or order online atnewsobserver.com (search: store). Posters also available at TheNews & Observer, 215 S. McDowell St., Raleigh, 8:30 a.m.-noon and 1-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.. Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.

MONET’S NORMANDYANDMONET’S GIVERNY$15.95 EACH; $25.00 PER SET

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Home & Garden6EThe News & Observer

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2007

ready to transform the utilitarian farm structure into their home.

As the Home of the Month selection panel commented, the Walnut Hill Cot-ton Gin “reveals several yesterdays.”

Alonzo T. Mial built the cotton gin in the 1840s as part of the 2,700 acre Wal-nut Hill Plantation. It was active until the 1930s and is tattooed with dates, tal-lies and the names of those who worked there. Local Rolesville granite piers and mammoth timbers of hand-hewn South-ern yellow pine are reminders of con-struction methods and materials long since abandoned or exhausted.

Animals originally powered the gin, walking in circles on the ground level, to turn the gears one story up. In later years, part of the interior structure was cut away to make room for larger ginning

equipment, and some of the original heart pine flooring was reclaimed and installed in a house down the road.

Today the gin is a bright and airy residence. Smith and Troutman re-placed some of the beams to assure the building’s integrity, but Smith says he is grateful to those who did the earlier deconstruction, unintentionally creat-ing a dramatic openness where span-ning beams play shadow games across the living area and keep the space from seeming cavernous.

The adaptive reuse of existing struc-tures is an important strategy for sus-taining our cultural histories. Trout-man and Smith renovated the cotton gin in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabil-itation of historic buildings in order to

satisfy the property’s restrictive cove-nants and to take advantage of state tax credits.

Restoration specialist Pat Schell su-pervised the challenging project. The appearance of the exterior is intention-ally true to the original. The siding re-quired careful repair and protection. The window patterning and trimless detailing are attentively consistent with old photographs. Nearly invisible large glass panes guard openings that were once used for loading cotton, maximizing light and views from the inside. The old red tin roof remains.

On the inside, Smith took inspira-tion from urban loft living. The plan flows freely with few doors or parti-tions, an aspect of the design that Smith and Troutman admit might not suit everyone, but it fits their lifestyle and personal aesthetic.

Smith adopted a palette of simple contemporary materials for the added elements of the house. For instance, a very steep and crude yet sturdy wood-

en staircase served the building for de-cades, but the couple chose to insert a handsome steel and wood alternative for easier climbing. Now the two stair-cases stand side by side in a graceful pairing of old and new.

Adaptive reuse is also a prudent ap-proach to green building, conserving materials and embodied energy. Sus-tainable design principles were a prior-ity throughout the renovation.

To insulate the exterior walls, Smith specified a spray foam product that uses rapidly renewable soy oil in place of petroleum. With its high efficiency heating and cooling system, the well-sealed building envelope minimizes the home’s energy consumption.

Other eco-friendly material choices in-clude strawboard cabinet doors, lino-leum countertops and cork flooring. To replace some flooring that had been pre-viously removed, Smith milled local trees blown down by Hurricane Fran.

The home’s medley of maple, white oak, red oak and ash is a tribute to

low-impact design and construction.PhOTO BY JAMES WES T

Cotton GinCONTiNUED fROM PAgE �E

SEE MonTh, PAgE 7E

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Home & GardenThe News & Observer SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2007 7E

Smith added elements made from simple contemporary materials. The new staircase makes for easier climbing.

PhOTO BY JAMES WEST

By Ralph and TeRRy Kovel

Fast food, frozen dinners and ethnic dishes have changed the way Ameri-

cans eat. And with the change in food came a change in dish-es. In the late 18th century, dishes were on the table when guests sat down. The first course had to be soup or fish, served promptly by the host, hostess or servant. Soup was served from a large soup tureen that usually had a matching un-dertray and ladle.

By the 19th century, din-ner sets in-cluded not

only dishes and cups, but also tureens for soup or gravy and covered vegetable dishes. The wealthy ordered sets of dishes with the family crest as part of the design. There were many types of plates and bowls need-ed in a set, because a dinner party had as many as 14 cours-es, each with its own dishes and silverware. Soup tureens are still used at large parties, especially for holidays like Thanksgiving. But today, the tureen rarely matches the other dinnerware.

Q: I inherited a wooden rock-ing chair that’s at least 50 years old. The paper tag on the bot-tom says “H. Conant and Sons.” I can’t find any information on the company. Can you help?

A: Take another look at the tag. It probably says “F.H. Conant’s Sons,” the name of a chair manufacturing business that operated in Camden, N.Y., from about 1876 until the De-pression. The business, found-ed in 1851 by Francis H. Conant, made chairs, tables and hall racks until the 1870s. When Francis’s sons, Eugene H. Conant and George F. Conant, took over the business in 1876, they decided to limit the factory’s production to chairs. All of their chairs were

well-made, but collectors favor Conant chairs in the Arts & Crafts style popular in the early 1900s. Depending on the style and condition of your chair, it could sell for $200 or more.

Q: I started in 1987 and still collect California Raisin fig-ures. I just found a 10-inch cloth doll with suction-cup hands to add to the collection. Is it worth much?

A: Your doll was one of many California Raisin items made popular by TV commercials. There were small, bendable plastic figures, plush toys, cos-tumes, lunchboxes, radios, sta-tionery and even puppet raisin people. You have a toy that was made to stick to a car window. Since it’s not too old, it’s still inexpensive — less than $15.

Q: I have a plastic Eugene the Jeep. He’s about 12 inches tall but is missing his tail. Can you tell me what the toy is worth?

A: Eugene the Jeep first ap-peared in the Popeye comic strip “Thimble Theatre” on March 3, 1936. Eugene is a lit-tle yellow animal that walks on his hind legs, eats orchids and has a “fourth-dimensional

brain.” He always tells the truth and can predict the future. Val-ue with a tail: $200-$300. Without a tail, he’s worth about half that.

Tip: If your old tablecloths have yellowed, try the old-fash-ioned cure: a vinegar rinse. Mix one part white vinegar with four parts warm water.

For more information, visit www.kovels.com. Write to the

Kovels in care of King Features Syndicate, 888 Seventh Ave.,

New York, N.Y. 10019.

Dining dishes changed with the times

This mid-19th-century soup tureen and tray were made in Staffordshire, England.

There is a heraldic crest on each piece. The tureen, 11 inches high, and the tray

sold for $588 at a Skinner auction in Boston.COWlES SYNDiCATE iNC.

Prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary because of local economic conditions.

Sterling-silver cake server, First Colony pattern, pierced han-dle, Oneida, 1975, $25.

Steiff plush turkey, Lucky, stuffed, mohair, tag, 1950, 4 inches, $95.

Corn King pottery pitcher, Shawnee, No. 70, $110.

Pressed glass spooner, West-ward Ho pattern, frosted, 6„ by 3‰ inches, $135.

Cheyenne armband, beadwork, buffalo hide, sewn with sinew, 1900s, 2 by 8 inches, pair, $350.

Sleepy Eye butter crock, blue and gray, village scene, “Old Sleepy Eye,” 6 inches, $375.

Tin candle mold, two tubes, tapered, strap handle, 1800s, 5 by 1‰ inches, $400.

Shaker spinning wheel, walking wool wheel, birch, oak and maple, Alfred, Maine, 1800s, 59 by 46 inch-es, $925.

Door of Hope doll, Rice Farm-er, cloth body, wooden head and forearms, blue trousers and tunic, grass shawl and skirt, wicker hat, 12 inches, $1,610.

Harvest table, softwood, drop leaf, drawer, green paint, tur-nip feet, 1700s, 28 by 53 inches, $2,535.

CURRENT PRiCES

Antiques

the staircase

The resulting medley of maple, white oak, red oak and ash is a stunning tribute to low-impact de-sign and construction.

When asked what their favor-ite feature of the house is, Smith and Troutman do not point to its

preservation agenda or its green attributes. Instead they focus on the joy of having a home that is designed for their hearts and not for resale value.

While many around them did not wear the rose-colored glass-es necessary to see the cotton gin’s potential, they made their dream home a reality. Despite its long and hard-working histo-

ry, the Walnut Hill Cotton Gin lives gracefully today as a home meant for Smith and Troutman.

Katie Wakeford is an intern architect with the NCSU Col-

lege of Design’s Home Environ-ments Design Initiative and a 2005 graduate of the master’s

program at the NCSU School of Architecture.

MonTHCONTiNUED fROM PAgE �E