New Furniture in an Old House
We bought some new furniture for the Farm this year. A lot actually. Well-made. Classic lines. Beds, sofas, rugs, chairs, porch furniture, etc. After three years of use by our family and guests, it was time for some upgrades. And of course, we’ve kept many of the charming old pieces that have been here for years.
This got me thinking about what it means to bring new furniture into a historic farmhouse, and how to describe the look and feel of the place. The phrase that came to mind was farmhouse eclectic. I don’t mean as in some design trend you can search on Google (“eclectic farmhouse décor”). This is the real deal.
When you walk through an old farmhouse, you are walking through living history. You’re seeing a house that has grown and evolved to meet the changing needs and available technologies of each generation that lived here.
The history of Three Sisters Farm is interesting. We bought it furnished from a descendant of the people who built it, a rare privilege. The original square farmhouse was built in 1850. Based on what we can see of the foundation, the addition that joins to the barn was built in two sections. Pictures from the 1930s show the structure complete. We know that for a while two families lived here, which explains the second kitchen (one of our favorite features). Apparently, they were in-laws, which might explain the sliding bolts on the doors between the two areas.
The house stayed in the Sterling-Morton family until 1943, when it was bought by Everett Russell. Everett is a legend still in the living memory of folks around here. A model of independence and Yankee ingenuity. Among other things, he built windmills out of old car parts to power a machine shop he had in the basement of the small barn across the street. One of the windmills is still standing (the windmill and small barn are off limits because they are not structurally sound, but they are interesting to see from afar)
In 2001 David Henderson, the great great grandson of the last Mortons to own it, bought back the farm. By that time, the house and barn had fallen into some disrepair. He and his partner Paul lovingly restored the old place by hand.
David later passed the farm to his sister Lisa, whom we bought it from. He went on to live in Sicily with Paul, now a successful interior designer. You can see the budding designer’s eye in their work here. They added the delightful back porch and carved space out of the barn for the great room, an extra bedroom and Paul’s pottery studio (which we now use as an office). You also see their hands in the patterned wall in the front hall, the painted windows on the first-floor bath and some of the newer furnishings.
After they took over the farm, Lisa and her husband (a tour producer for a famous rock band) did a lot to modernize the systems, including reworking the heating, hot water, and electric circuitry (a process we have continued).
It’s hard to know the age and provenance of the pieces we found in the house. Many of them were simple, utilitarian furnishings, decorated with the motifs of their era, that had acquired added interest and beauty with the patina of age and use. We’ve rearranged some things and added heirlooms of our own, including pieces that were once in the farm in Morrill, Maine where Mia spent part of her childhood. A collector friend of the family was downsizing and looking for a good home for some of her pieces. We happily volunteered. They’ve added to the sense of play and whimsy that was already present in the house.
And so our new furniture? Yeah, it will fit right in. It serves the function of this old farmhouse now. A place to gather with family and friends, to relax and recharge. A base for exploring the natural world around us and all that MidCoast Maine has to offer. Just another layer of living history. Like I said, farmhouse eclectic.