I am excited to share with y’all an absolutely stunning house that’s perhaps the most inspirational story yet. Everyone, welcome to The Farm at Clover Hill, situated in Front Royal, Virginia.
The story of this cool old farmhouses’s renovation is one of the sweetest. Greg & Susie Huson were government employees with careers in northern Virginia, where they raised their three kids. Upon their retirement, they moved to Front Royal. There was an abandoned farmhouse for sale they drove by all the time that Greg joked about fixing up. After convincing Susie that he needed a project to keep him busy in his retirement, they bought The Farm at Clover Hill– and the two of them have been at it ever since!
The current kitchen and room above it in the back of the house dates back to 1781, but the main portion of the house was built in 1820. In 1850 the detailed Queen Anne style addition was done (with the fancy windows you can see jutting out in the front of the house). Susie and Greg live right around the corner from this incredible property, which they’ve been renting out on AirBnB since 2018.
Front Hallway at Clover Hill
When you first enter the hallway, you immediately feel at ease with the generous size of the room. The ceilings are tall, the paint is crisp, and it feels squeaky clean (which I’ve got to say is really impressive because I feel like old farmhouses are pretty much always dusty!).
I love this door going under the front hallway staircase because it has a legitimate, true mousehole in the bottom corner and that cracks me up.
(I especially love that Greg & Susie preserved the mousehole, too!)
Yellow Living Room
Susie chose all the paint colors because when they bought the place, the walls were all varying shades of beige. It’s hard to imagine that now, seeing how vibrant each room is. I love the historic yellow she chose for the living room you enter when you come in through the front hall.
I love the floor-to-nearly-ceiling Jefferson windows at the front of the living room. (They originally looked out to a front porch that has since been enclosed.)
Susie and Greg found this portrait in the basement and figured it had some meaning to someone who used to live in the house, so they hung it up. Isn’t that such a typical thing we old-house-owners do? I love the respect to the house’s history and past and acknowledging that while we don’t know everything about who used to call the house “home,” it was loved dearly at some point by some people, and we can appreciate that shared love.
Brown Game Room
Susie told me that right after they bought The Farm at Clover Hill, they got to work renovating it right away, and then her son and his fiancee asked to have their wedding there. (Multiple weddings have been held there since, and as you can see it would make for a gorgeous wedding venue.) Susie said she absolutely burned out when decorating each of the rooms inside and she set up a family-wide contest with all of her kids: given a budget (provided by Susie and Greg), who could decorate the best room?
The brown game room was the work of one of her daughters-in-law who happens to work at the Patent Office, and the theme for the room started with hanging up patents to some well known games like Monopoly. How cute (and tied into the family) is that?
This room is that Queen Anne’s addition room to the side of the house with the pretty windows. It’s got great light, which is probably why a dark brown works so well on the walls.
Look at the awesome vintage doorknob in this room, too:
First Floor Bathroom
I don’t often include bathroom photos in the tours I show of Virginia farmhouses (I mean there are always far more interesting rooms to see) but I just wanted to include this because of the cute antique cupboards built into the wall.
I really love the paintings Susie used to decorate this home. It shows how quality artwork can really amplify a space.
The Dining Room
A few steps down from the front hallway is a sunken in dining room. It is such an incredibly charming way to enter a dining room. You feel like you’ve been invited into a special, perhaps secret even, getaway.
Don’t you want to gather around this table with your family and spend hours there?
The Kitchen
Directly behind the dining room is the recently renovated kitchen.
The sweet butcher block island is so simply and farmhouse-y.
My favorite part of the kitchen is the super old staircase going up behind the kitchen cabinets:
Upstairs
This house is huge– there are many many bedrooms upstairs. Of all the spaces up there, my favorite was actually the hallway.
Here is the doorway going to the staircase that leads up to the attic:
(And a close up of that door handle because wow does this house have some fabulous door handles!)
Again, the artwork all over this farmhouse is just amazing. It is beautiful and so tranquil.
Blue Master Bedroom
I’ll showcase the largest bedroom upstairs, the blue master bedroom. It’s impressively large with that same great light as the brown game room (directly beneath it).
Be sure to notice one of my favorite details– the circular air vent in front of the fireplace mantle allows the hot air from the fireplace underneath to circulate up into this room. Isn’t that so cool? I also really love this painting by Greg & Susie’s talented daughter-in-law (check out her art shop on etsy here!).
Checking Out the Basement
Last but not least, I wanted to show a particularly fun room of this old farmhouse: the basement.
I feel like this is the ultimate, ultimate man cave. Huge stone fireplace. Stone walls. Wood beams. Poker table. (Not pictured are the fridge/ little area for beer!)
Susie casually mentioned that Greg built this barn door. because he “loves fiddling around doing things.” I mean… WHAT! It’s perfect. I’m just so in awe of what fiddling around in retirement has brought this couple.
Leaving the basement to go out to the exterior of the house are these cool old steps. Susie also mentioned they bartered a lot of work in the renovation– when they purchased Clover Hill, they got a good amount of land with it as well, and they found skilled craftsmen (such as a mason who helped with these stone walls) who was willing to work with them in exchange for hunting rights on their land.
Houses and Cows and Flowers, Oh My!
Since apparently Greg and Susie have more energy in their retirement than I’ve ever had in my life, they haven’t stopped with “only” the renovation and upkeep of a 1700s/ 1800s farmhouse. They have cattle and started a flower business on the side too (because why not?). You can check out the pick-your-own-flowers info on their website here >>
It’s an absolute treat to get to see their dream pay off into a beautifully restored farmhouse. They have done this house (and its outbuildings!) a huge service through the love they’ve poured in. If you’re ever in Front Royal, I highly recommend stopping by and seeing– or staying at– Clover Hill in person. 🙂
To see more tours click here >>