Finding the perfect retirement home doesn't usually result in the creation of two businesses.
That's what happened when Shirley and Bob Kelly found the 1830 farmhouse of their dreams in Carleton Place.
Not only is this industrious couple renovating their log farm homestead, Mrs. Kelly has also grown her life-long passion for antiques into a business, opening a shop on the family compound. And the couple's son, Scott, 25, has turned his love for building and restoring log homes into the Log Farm Building School.
How did it happen?
In 1993 Mrs. Kelly, a former realtor at Royal LePage, and her husband, retired superintendent of chiefs of police in Ottawa, started their quest for a country residence.
"Bob knew he was home the moment we drove up," notes Mrs. Kelly. "Imagine our surprise when, as we looked through the owner's photograph books, the two men realized their mothers were best friends."
The coincidence meant that buying the log homestead and 30 acres of land quickly became a formality.
Even though the former owners had completed several renovation projects, there was ample room for the Kellys to make their mark. One of their first moves was to plant gardens and buy animals to keep the home's farm status.
"I discovered all about Ottawa Valley stone farming," says Mrs. Kelly ruefully, acknowledging her battle with the bedrock while digging her first gardens. "Then we got beef cattle, horses and, in the spring, 50 chickens. We didn't know what we were getting into.
"I'll never forget the time Big Mama, our cow, jumped the fence and ran past the school to visit a neighbour's bull. I had no idea where she'd gone, so I went out in the pasture in my business suit, calling her name. Can you imagine? That cow made the local kids' day at school. Everyone in town knew who the new folks were."
The Kellys abundant sense of humour has kept their transformation from town to country mice reasonably smooth. Together, they are learning the joys and challenges of renovating the hand-hewn, dovetail-notched log homestead.
The family decided a wrap-around porch would provide shade from the sun and shelter from the elements.
Helping his parents gave Scott some of the basics of working with wood. Completed in 1994, the veranda's well-proportioned width of seven feet, three inches allows several people to walk about, or sit in groups, without feeling cramped. As well, it softens the look of the home.
But as every homeowner knows, love affairs with houses are not all sweetness and light.
Today there is a lot of light as Mrs. Kelly gazes around her kitchen, cosy with heat cast from their rebuilt Findlay Oval wood cookstove from the now-demolished Carleton Place foundry.
It wasn't always so.
They have redone some of their early projects, including the renovation of the downstairs bathroom, which proved unsatisfactory. "The chinking on the log walls wasn't tight, but we didn't realize it. After installing the shower, the grout expanded and contracted, and some fell out," notes Mrs. Kelly.
Not many homeowners relish redoing a job. Fewer admit to it. But because Mrs. Kelly's elderly mother came to stay for a while, the family redid the bathroom to suit her. Today the spacious, well-lit room services guests and family well.
The adjoining kitchen posed challenges because one corner was sinking into the shallow crawlspace below. "We spent $3,000 fixing this floor," notes Mrs. Kelly. Today, the kitchen's black-and-white linoleum floor tiles, red brick walls and pine cabinetry enhance the charm of the pioneer home.
A generous opening leads visitors from the kitchen into the living room where Mrs. Kelly's love of antiques becomes apparent. Beside the central staircase, a "plum pudding mahogany," Empire style chaise-lounge beckons. A 1766 pewter beer tankard sits nearby, as do several pieces of cranberry glass, which twinkle richly as they reflect sunshine cascading through the windows.
Work on the interior continues. Scott points to the living room's cedar log walls and talks about chinking. "You can tell it needs redoing because the wire lathe is showing," he says.
Mother and son exchange looks. They don't seem overly keen to start. "It's such an upheaval," Scott concedes.
"Let's go outside," he suggests. Beyond the verandah, the farm yard is dotted with log buildings. He points proudly to his mother's quaint-looking antique shop, Log Farm Antiques.
"Originally it was the dirt-floored pig pen!" he says. He gestures toward two adjacent log structures. "Over there is a one-and-a-half storey, 16x20 foot guest house I restored."
Scott grows increasingly animated while discussing the log buildings, for these are "his babies." They give the farm a new lease on life, for now it contains a growing complex of restored outbuildings.
Striding to a 16x16 foot tool shed, he touches its dove-tailed corner lovingly. "This is the first building I restored on my own. You can tell it was never a dwelling because there are no windows. I found the building collapsed, in our woods so I dragged the timbers here and rebuilt it."
Stepping inside, he grasps a broad axe, saying "When I give my courses, I instruct people how to use the old equipment." After apprenticing with a British Columbian master log-home builder who came to work with the family, Scott now teaches people how to build log homes. He prides himself on using traditional methods and tools.
Glancing about, you cannot help but feel the love and the pride the three Kellys have for the land once settled by Scottish pioneers in the 1830s.
It's not known why the Stewart family left their original homestead many decades ago, but their pioneer energy and dreams are matched by this enterprising family.
Log Farm Building School is found on the web at http://www.logfarmbuilding.com/
Log Farm Antiques is found on the web at http://www.logfarmantiques.com/
Katharine Fletcher is a freelance writer based in Quyon. If you know of a pioneer home with a story to tell, please call Homes Editor Sheila Brady at 596-3709.
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John Major, The Ottawa Citizen
Exterior of the Kellys log home on their Carleton Place farm. The family has spent hundreds of hours restoring the buildings.
John Major,The Ottawa Citizen
Bob and Shirley Kelly in their antique shop on their Carleton Place farm.
John Major, The Ottawa Citizen
Outside Shirley Kelly's antique store near Carleton Place.
John Major, The Ottawa Citizen
Scott Kelly with some of the tools he uses when building or teaching the art of restoring old log buildings.
John Major,The Ottawa Citizen
The Kellys are restoring the log buildings, including their cosy kitchen.
John Major, The Ottawa Citizen
Bathroom shows a balance of the modern and old. |
