P Allen Smith’s Garden Home Tour

A few weeks ago we made a trip to Arkansas to visit P Allen Smith’s Moss Mountain farm to tour the farm and the Garden Home. I loved every minute of it inspite of temperatures near 100 degrees. I have watched P Allen Smith’s television shows on Saturday mornings on PBS for years and it was great to see his home in person. I love his collected style of decorating. I could move into the Garden Home today and not change one thing! I have been on many, many home tours but I always have a list of changes I would make if I lived there. That is not the case with the Garden Home. It is relaxed yet elegant with a lived in look instead of looking staged for a magazine shoot. My husband and daughter felt the same way. That is the highest compliment in my opinion. Grab a drink and a refill and enjoy the pictures! (Some of the pictures are a little wonky because I was trying to take them without getting other members of the tour in the pictures and had a very limited amount of time!)

Moss Mountain farm lies on 600 acres along the Arkansas river and was purchased in 2006. The Garden Home was built in 2007-8 in the Greek Revival style to reflect the original home that was built there in 1840. The exterior has a lime wash finish and colors were chosen to blend indoors and out. The home is about 4000 square feet and has two floors, a finished attic area, and a finished basement. We were told that there are beds for 18 people!

Let’s step inside.

The foyer runs all the way to the back of the house. The stairs are on the left and to the right are doors to the living/dining room and another door to the den. The door straight out the back leads to the screened porch. A door to the left behind the stairs leads to a potting/mud room and powder room.

The foyer is wide enough for some seating and a few other pieces of furniture.

This secretary and comfy slip covered chair are immediately to the left of the entry just before the bottom of the stairs.

The home is filled with wonderful finds and details like this pedestal and bust at the base of the stairs.  You can see the floors a little in the photo above. The floors are all pine harvested from the farm and finished with tongue oil.

Even the walking sticks have character!

The first room to the right inside the foyer is the living room dining room combination that stretches across the front length of the house.

Double sofas are in front of the fireplace which is the focal point of the room.

Another seating area consists of a sofa and two chairs with a path between this area and the fireplace sofas. This is a great example of how to decorate a large, elongated room by dividing it into several zones.

In the photo above you can see that there are doors on either side of the fireplace. They both open to the den area with the kitchen being to the right of the door on the right.

The formal dining area is at the far end of the living/dining room.

There were two of these pieces pictured above, one on either side of the living room door looking back toward the foyer giving symmetry and balance to the area.

I don’t know what the piece shown above is, but there were also two of them, one placed at each end of the sofa. They were shaped like giant tea caddies and were made of beautiful wood.

Let’s move down toward the formal dining area.

On the day we were there, the dining room was laden with beautiful books instead of dishes.

In the photos above and below, you can see the doorway leads to the den/kitchen area and another that leads on to the screened porch beyond.

The chest at the end of the table holds a silver samovar and a vase of pussywillow branches.

Dried hydrangeas piled on a silver pedestal create a stunning centerpiece.

The photo above shows a detail of the doorway between the living/dining room and the den/kitchen area. Notice the vent in the top. A tremendous amount of thought and planning went into every detail of this home.

The all white kitchen was obviously designed to be a workhorse with marble countertops, a large stove with potfiller, and 2 farmhouse apron sinks.

The refrigerator and freezer flank a door leading outside.

There are pocket doors between the kitchen and den dining area.

In the photo above you can see the pocket doors from the den side.

Of course the den is very cozy and welcoming too.

Notice the tall case clock in the right hand corner of the photo above.

A closer view reveals a door hidden in the wall!

The hidden door is the door to the pantry.

The den fireplace is directly behind the living room fireplace, saving the building cost of an additional chimney. The fireboxes are Rumford style for efficient burning of wood. He did a feature on Rumford fire boxes on one of the tv shows. One person on the tour who happened to be male asked where the tv was and was told that there is not a tv in this house! Quite interesting for someone who is in the television production business.

I love the chicken coop coffee table.

A dish closet is tucked into one of the doorways between the den and the living room.

I love the giant print of the Indian chief over the sofa table in the den. The colors of it coordinate with the drapery fabric and the colors of the rug in the seating area.

The bust on the sofa table is of Allen.

This curved settee was tucked into one corner of the den.

This antique corner cupboard was in another corner of the den.

Across the foyer from the den are the potting/mud room with a door that leads outside and also a powder room.

The only other area on the main floor is the screened porch and it is also wonderful.

There is a stairwell on the porch that leads down to the basement porch. The stairwell is behind the table in the photo above. The view goes down to the river.

There is a dining area at one end of the screened porch.

Two small buildings bookend each end of the croquet lawn beyond the porch. The one to the right pictured above is the summer kitchen. Some of the television production takes place in this building.

The building at the other end of the lawn  is an art studio.

The photo  above shows the view to the river as seen from the screened porch.

Let’s go back to the foyer and go upstairs.

The walls of the stairwell are treated as an art gallery.

I love the busts displayed in the stairwell. I believe that they are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. The large paintings are of the sun rising and setting on the Arkansas river.

A powder room is at the top of the stairs.

The landing area is used as a library. It is a spectacular use of space.

A bear hide is stretched out over an antique chaise.

I especially love the light fixture in this area. This area is also the central hallway for the second floor.

The antique bed in the master bedroom was once owned by the last territorial governor of Arkansas.

The master bedroom has a spacious seating area and an office area.

I love the chandelier over the writing desk. There is also a guest room and bath on the second floor.

The spacious guest room has two queen beds.

A trunk is used as a table between the two beds.

A desk and chair are in the corner of the guest room.

The guest bath is divided into three areas. The center area has the lavoratory.

Another area has the tub/shower and an additional sink.

The third area has the toilet and another sink. All three of those areas are done in classic white subway tile with black accents.

The other area on the second floor is the sleeping porch, a screened porch that stretches across the back side of the house.

The sleeping porch has three beds and a copper soaking tub.

The last area for us to see is the attic area.

This colorful stairway leads up to the third floor.

The third floor is divided into a seating area and a sleeping area.

The sleeping area has four single beds. I am sure that the nieces and nephews love this area.

A tiny bathroom is tucked in the third floor area also.

There are wonderful views out the third floor dormer windows.

This view is looking toward the chicken house.

I hope that you enjoyed the tour as much as I did!

I’ll do another post of the garden tour.

I’m linking to Wow Us Wednesday, to Thoughts of Home on Thursday and to Grace At Home. Be sure to click the link for lots of inspiration.