Coming back home
Published 7:39 pm Sunday, October 22, 2017
The front porch of this house, built in the 1930s, is a favorite spot of its owner.
Kay Noble grew up in the large house at the corner of Grove and Wilson. She remembers walking past her present house every school day to Fourth Ward school.
Today she is back on Grove Street in a 1400-square-foot, two-bedroom cottage built in the 1930s. When real estate agent Greg Wise showed Kay the house, she was not interested.
“It was dark and full of smoke,” she said. “It really turned me off.
This office, sitting room and guest room shows the original shiplap walls — without paint — after the old wallpaper was removed. The doorway was widened and Kay and Roderick decided on a sliding barn door application.
The third look was a charm.
“I knew it was the house for me,” she said. “I can’t explain it. Of all the places I have lived, I have been the most content, had the most peace in this house.”
She especially enjoys the front porch.
“It’s where I spend so much time, with coffee and paper first thing in the morning, with visitors when not too hot, not too cold, in the evening and at 3 a.m. when I can’t sleep.”
The house represents a lifestyle change for Kay. She simplified. She pared down to the necessary and the meaningful and the result is the starkly beautiful.
The natural light, the wood floors and the cotton duck upholstered furnishings create a peaceful living room setting. The beam above is reclaimed from an old Amish barn, and a gift from Daryl Poole. It happened to be the perfect length. No trimming was necessary. In its previous life, the coffee table was the family’s dining table during Kay’s growing up years. She got rid of the multiple leaves that allowed it to seat 18, lopped off the legs and upholstered the top.
She experienced joy and fun in the renovation process. Rod Poole, a lifelong friend of the family, and his nephew Daryl Poole did the renovation with Kay overseeing the work.
“I was here all day every day, Kay said. “It took a year and a half, as we took a lot of front porch watermelon breaks.”
Most of the glass is original to the house. Light streams in through the many windows.
Shown in this photo are the kitchen table created by Roderick Poole and his nephew, Daryl Poole. Floors are reclaimed yellow pine. Countertops are quartz. The centerpiece is a vase of three waterplant stems and leaves from Kay’s yard. The painting is by local artist Heather Kelley and represents the 12-step program.
“The natural light is so, so important to my soul,” she said.
With only so much to adorn, Kay chose to commission certain art pieces. Melinda Antoon created the painting that represents the Calcasieu River where Kay’s cabin is located. Chris Marcello captured the mood of a spiritual experience. Heather Kelley used metallic paint and geometric pattern to represent a 12-step spiritual based program, Roderick and Daryl produced the island in the kitchen.
“Roderick had the old cypress in his barn and Darylwelded the iron base,” Kay said.
Other local artists represented in Kay’s home are Kathy Hebert, Sue Zimmerman, Anita Ahrens and Bill Iles. Susan Arnold, a dear friend, and Kay sculpted stone pieces together a few years ago.
It has been a long time since Kay walked to school down Grove Street. The memories of the past and the memories Kay makes now create the feeling of coming back home.