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Learning to love a Civil War basement

Potomac house tour includes replica tavern

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Laurie DeWitt⁄The Gazette Beth Stouffer, of Potomac will open her distinctive home to visitors during the 51st annual Potomac Country House Tour this weekend. All four homes on this year’s tour offer novel ideas for home decorating. Stouffer’s basement was modeled after a Civil War-era tavern.

Built in 1954 of white brick, the sprawling house features dozens of beveled glass windows, a living room lined with built-in cabinets and several bathrooms fitted with original mid-century tiles and basins.

But to step another full century back in time, visitors touring the house this weekend during the 51st annual Potomac Country House Tour simply need to walk down a short flight of stairs into the basement ‘‘Tavern Room.”

‘‘Previous owners [of the house] asked an artist named Bob Norris to recreate a Civil War tavern down here,” said Stouffer, 42, pointing to a black and white photo of the bearded artist that still hangs on a wall. ‘‘He did an incredible job.”

Norris spent 18 months fashioning the room and its furniture. Some walls are wood reclaimed from a Virginian barn, others are stone taken from a creek on the six-acre property. A large stone fireplace is fitted with an iron swinging arm and pot used for fireplace cooking, and Norris handcrafted a large wooden cabinet and eating nook.

Even the bathroom harks back to a more rustic time, resembling an outhouse with a carved, wooden-bowl basin, a hand pump for water and a wooden-lidded toilet.

Pointing out the wavy lead glass windows, Stouffer said she came to know the room a little too well during the two years she devoted to renovating the home after moving into it in 2001 with her husband, four children and three dogs.

‘‘We lived down here and cooked down here, this room was the center of everything during the renovation,” she said. ‘‘It seemed like we were down here forever. So in a certain sense, I’m having to learn to love [the room] again.”

Like the rest of the house, Stouffer altered the room to make the room work for her active family of children ages 13 to 21. A pool table now occupies the center of the room, and a dartboard hangs on the wall.

‘‘I needed to make it a little funky, to make it work for us,” she said.

In the ground and upper levels of the home, she made far more significant changes with the help of architect Jim Rill of Rill and Decker Architects of Bethesda.

‘‘When I first saw the outside of this house, I was less than impressed. But once I walked inside, I could see it’s potential as a warm family home,” she said. ‘‘The beveled windows enticed me in. I loved the built-ins and the way the woods surrounded the house.”

Stouffer added bedrooms and bathrooms, renovated the kitchen and decks and added architectural features like columns and yet more windows to bring the outside in.

Similar to the other three equally unique homes on this year’s tour, her house offers visitors a chance to see how to maximize outdoor living space, said Beth Bagnold, tour co-chairwoman.

‘‘We specifically chose homes that offer alternative living spaces with an emphasis on outdoor rooms,” she said.

Each home offers novel examples of outdoor entertaining and pool areas, guest houses and artists studios that extend family life far beyond the walls of the main house.

The Nevis house, built in 1940, is a traditional center hall colonial with spacious gardens and a guesthouse that reflects Frank Lloyd Wright design. The Greenbriar house is a new home built for entertaining, with an outdoor kitchen and fireplace. The Stanmore House reflects a Southern tradition and also boasts extensive gardens and outdoor spaces ideal for entertaining.

Stouffer added flagstone terraces to her home, that now extend down to a pool and pool house. A new barn across the creek holds a basketball court and batting cage.

‘‘My husband coaches and we have friends that coach, so on rainy days, the kids can come here and use the batting cage,” Stouffer said.

And when it came to decorating, Stouffer said she knew exactly what she wanted to achieve.

‘‘My intent is to make every room feel comfortable but with a touch of elegance,” she said. ‘‘With kids and dogs, you need livable space.”

Overstuffed furniture and paintings and artwork from Asia to Latin America in rich, warm colors make the rooms inviting but also livable. She uses surprising touches, such as a Tibetan screen used as a bed headboard.

Her efforts proved so satisfying that this past summer she opened her own design business called BKS Designs.

‘‘My friends and family have been telling me to do this for years,” she said.

She is currently working with several clients and the home has been featured in several decorating magazines, so her new career is thriving.

But this weekend, Stouffer still plans on visiting the other three homes with their unique decorating styles also featured on this year’s tour.

‘‘I always get ideas from the tour,” she said. ‘‘Opening up my home is a little strange, but it was a labor of love and we’re very proud of it. If it gives people decorating ideas, then it’s worth it.”