Rolling hills view of the Edmandses vineyard
When Bill and Vicki Edmands became emptynesters, they decided to leave Washington and start a new enterprise—a vineyard in the rolling countryside near Middleburg, Virginia. A vineyard suited Bill’s technical background (he’s a retired electrical contractor) and Vicki’s passion for gardening. The Edmandses began to search for the perfect property that would be conducive to grape growing and finally found it in the tiny hamlet of Rectortown. The landscape has gentle rolling slopes, a train track wending its way through a valley trough, and a most unusual home—an old barn.
The barn, which is actually several barns cobbled together, originally came from a farm in New Hampshire. The property’s previous owner moved the barns to Virginia in the 1980s to create a fun weekend getaway house.Like the previous owner, the Edmandses bought the place for the prospect of the property, but the house itself did not suit their lifestyle. The couple has seven children between them, over a dozen grandchildren, and three dogs. The family leads an active lifestyle and the agrarian nature of the vineyard means that the house needed to be rugged yet comfortable.
“We bought the property for the vineyard, not the house,” Vicki explains. “It seemed to me to be an awkward house.”
“We both really love porches and we naturally live an indoor-outdoor lifestyle,” she continues. “The house was flat with little architectural interest.” The Edmandses were well on their way to developing their vineyard, Vintage Ridge Winery, and deciding what to do with the house when they happened to meet contractor Delbert Adams at a crab feast in Baltimore. Although the couple had some plans to remodel the barn, the initial drawings just weren’t right.
“They basically had an old barn that had great bones and great potential,” says Adams. “They needed to bring more modern conveniences to it without losing the charm.”
Through Adams (then of Ilex Construction, currently of Delbert Adams Construction Group) the Edmandses connected with Tim Clites, an architect working in the Middleburg offices of Barnes Vanze Architects, Inc. Through a family friend, Vicki met and instantly befriended Meredith Scott, an artist cum interior designer. Along with Mike Orndorff of Ilex’s Middleburg office, the homeowners embarked on a close collaboration to revitalize their barn home.
Clites’ plans added porches to the barn to provide the family with many outdoor living spaces. A large porch on the south facade that features a sweeping roof in an arts-and-crafts style also helps to mitigate solar gain through a wall of windows. The front entry was originally nothing more than solid, sliding barn doors that made for a dark entryway and provided no coverage for guests arriving in inclement weather. They, like the rest of the barn, were painted red and white in a style Clites describes as “candy cane-ish.” A new covered entrance and welcoming front door soften the previously harsh entry. The homeowners prefer to enter the house through a screened porch that leads into a much-needed mudroom, so an additional small covered porch was added at that entrance. Together, the new porches give the barn the architectural interest it lacked.
With the help of Ilex Contruction and Barnes Vanze Architects, what was once several barns is now a livable home.
A loft-like space on the second floor that was previously shut off with a wall was opened to the main barn volume and is now a favorite place for the Edmandses to play music. Vicki calls it “the minstrel loft.” Opposite the loft is a comfortable reading room with built-in bookshelves tucked under the barn’s eaves. A doorway cut into the shelves creates a frame through which guests walk to get to the new guest bedroom.
“We started out with a quirky, cobbled together series of barns and we ended up with a quirky house that programmatically and practically functions,” says Clites.
According to Mike Orndorff, the on-site contractor, the barn did provide some unique challenges. “You are trying to fit things around huge timbers that you can’t change and that may not be completely level,” he explains. “We were able to take a barn that looks like it’s been there for 100 years and complement the structure while making it more livable so it can really function as a home.”
The renovated home retains its eccentric charms. There are places where a tall visitor needs to duck to avoid getting bumped by a low beam. The basement in the kitchen is accessed through the floor where an old bell activates a pulley system to lift the trap door. A second floor guest bathroom has exposed wood beams in the shower. Vicki describes the barn as, “a house of nooks and crannies, which is what makes it fun.”
It was also a home of opposites. Prior to the interior design makeover, the barn had many windows (especially facing south) but was still dark and uninviting. The house had amazing wood beam details and fabulous rustic floorboards, but still seemed uninspired. “We understood there was a challenge but we didn’t know how to articulate it,” Clites recalls. “But the designer did.”
Meredith Scott laid down the law: “NMW—No More Wood,” Vicki recounts with a laugh. What made the barn unique—wood doors, wood floors, wood beams, wood trim—was also what made it dark and featureless. Immediately the plans for cherry cabinetry in the kitchen were scrapped in favor of white cabinets. Scott also introduced more color to the home. These contrasts against the deep wood tones brought out the character of the barn’s beamed construction.
Scott and Vicki were fast friends after their initial meeting. “I think the mutual sympathy we developed and the joy we experienced while working together is part of what make the house and the winery such a warm and cozy spot and such a successful project,” says Scott.
The color scheme of the house was established by a GP & J Baker fabric for the living room curtains that Scott found on eBay, one of her favorite places for scoring unique fabrics that may not even be available any longer in stores. The fabric features an orange medallion on a buff background. Initially they drew upon the orange in the fabric’s flowers for the wall color in the living space. When that didn’t work, Scott and Vicki opted to match the softer background shade and go with a brighter shade in the kitchen. Scott and Vicki (who has a background as a sculptor) glazed all the walls themselves. “I like the glazes because they have a depth and a richness you cannot find in a solid paint color,” says Scott.
As Vicki and Scott worked together on the house, Vicki developed the reputation as “the queen of color swatches” as she determined what colors went best in what rooms with Scott providing direction to Edmands’ creative impulses. “[Vicki] has wonderful taste and had a general vision for her home and winery,” Scott explains. “I helped her realize her vision with ideas for color, finishes, furniture, and fabrics.”
The low beams of the second floor—although a bit of an obstacle for taller guests—add undeniable character to the house.
The master bedroom tested everyone’s boundaries when Scott recommended a deep russet tone called “Navajo Red” for the walls. Coupled with textured pillows and set against the low-slung beamed ceiling, it makes for an extremely intimate room. “I love the textures in this room, the materials and the colors,” says Vicki.
The Edmandses moved from their DC home with the all the trappings of a lifetime of collecting. There was furniture and family heirlooms and fun accessories garnered over years of travel. Although they now lived in a barn, the Edmandses felt no compulsion to toss their sophisticated yet comfortable style in favor of something country kitsch. Instead, Scott helped Vicki vet and place their eclectic collections. For example, Vicki kept her formal dining room set but opted for a new, rustic leather sofa in the living room accompanied by plush chairs she and Scott uncovered at a regional overstock store.
Everyone agrees the unique nature of this project was not that it was a barn being revitalized into a home, but that the collaboration between homeowner, architect, contractor, and designer was so complete. The Edmandses embrace do-it-yourself projects, as evidenced by the success of their winery, which they began in 2000 before they’d fully moved into the barn. Seven of their 44 acres are planted in rows of meticulously maintained grape vines that are pressed each year into cabernet franc, syrah, and meritages of vidal blanc. When the winery began, the Edmandses produced their wine (about 1,500 cases a year) in the garage. Now visitors who stumble across this hidden treasure are treated to tastings at a sleek bar glistening with pristine glassware or they can relax with their tasting glass and charcuterie in the wine tasting room fancifully decorated by Scott with images of jesters.
There’s little to entice wine aficionados to Vintage Ridge Winery but a modest sign on a country lane at the foot of a driveway that disappears over a hillside. And the Edmandses like it that way. As with their home, the Edmandses want to welcome visitors to their vineyard, but they want to keep it low key—about family and friends and good wine and pleasant living. “Living here is very personal,” says Vicki Edmands. “We’re not trying to put on a big show.”
Christianna McCausland is a Contributing Editor for ChesapeakeHome.
Contacts:
Barnes Vanze Architects, Inc.: barnesvanze.com or 540-687-5577
Delbert Adams Construction Group: dacgllc.com or 410-583-7575
Ilex Construction: ilexconstruction.com or 540-687-8553
Meredith Scott: 410-377-5755
Vintage Ridge Vineyards: vintageridgewine.com or 540-364-3371
