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‘Not too rustic, but not as formal’: Athens couple makes new home, old 

Caitlin Farmer

By Caitlin Farmer

Details around each corner of Nancy and Dave Woodruff’s home were meticulously considered in order to make it their dream house.

“We wanted it to have some unique features, but just feel at home too, we wanted it to be very comfortable” Nancy said. “Not too rustic, but not as formal as the one (house) we had before.” 

Years of careful thought and planning went into the 8,500 square foot Athens home, such as two years picking the lot and nine months deciding on the hardwood flooring, Nancy said. Dave and Nancy mixed new and old in the design and decor.

The mahogany doors pushed them $70,000 over their door budget and glass doorknobs added an antique touch. The hand-crafted details include the stair rail posts and pantry door Dave made from piles of wood from the attic of Nancy’s childhood home. 

Residents: Nancy and Dave Woodruff

Location: Five Points

Size: 8,500 square feet

Year built/bought: 2020

Design team: Tyler Davis of Athens Building Co.; Katie Lloyd, Interior Designer

Architectural style: Craftsman 

Favorite architectural elements: Natural lighting

Interior design style: Antique, comfortable 

Favorite interior design elements: Heirlooms 

Favorite rooms: The three-story woodshop for David; the sitting room for Nancy.

Resources: They used a pinterest board to decide exactly what they wanted.

Decor tip: Don’t stack too many items on furniture; books stacked under flowers catches dog hair, creates dust and requires more cleaning, Nancy said. 

The house is in Athens’ Five Points neighborhood.  A smaller house was on the property but  moved in 2018 to Watkinsville, Georgia. Every architectural and design choice was ]made to bring an old home feel to the new build and incorporate pieces from loved ones or found throughout their lives, whether it was made from old wood in Dave’s three-story woodshop or from their travels  (Photo/Caitlin Farmer)

Old and new 

Nancy Woodruff explains her childhood home that featured a first-floor dentist office her father ran, and the other pieces in the room with family significance, such as the sewing machine that once belonged to her great-grandmother, that she and her mother were later taught how to sew on. Nancy said most of the furniture and decor pieces in the home were once her and Dave’s parents and they didn’t buy many new pieces of furniture for the home because they had already acquired them, such as the glass art in the display cabinets built into the foyer and living room of their home. (Photo/Caitlin Farmer)
The guest bedroom on the first floor of their home features a painting of Nancy Woodruff’s childhood home in Savannah, Georgia, above the bed. Nancy said she was walking past an art gallery when she spotted it, and at the time wanted to purchase the home, chose to buy the painting, which was made by an artist with ties to Savannah, Athens and Colorado, where they own a vacation home and instead decided to incorporate it into their new home. (Photo/Caitlin Farmer)

Top to bottom details

Dave, whose passion for woodworking is evident in his woodshop with industrial equipment from Austria, wanted to go with a high-polish wood floor, but Nancy said the dogs scratched them too much in their previous home and wanted something that wouldn’t show wear and tear.  (Photo/Caitlin Farmer)

“The floors are all mixed hardwoods that came out of barns in Ohio and Pennsylvania,” Nancy said. 
The floors in the closet of an upstairs bedroom even feature someone’s initials visibly scratched into the floors. Nancy said she requested they weren’t buffed out when the large holes were being filled and the wood was sanded to be smooth.

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