If there was ever a time when best-laid plans go awry, it's during an old house restoration. The first time I embarked on renovation of a home, I thought I knew what I was doing. My grandfather was a carpenter; I practically grew up on construction sites. I even had my own little hardhat, just my size, and I was driving nails about the same time I was learning to write ...

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Some houses are owned by legends. Then there are the houses that become legends in their own right. The gorgeous Biltmore estate in Asheville, NC is an example of a house that became larger than life. Fallingwater, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is another. Some houses have a quiet fame that is attached to their owners. One of those is the "Lake House," once owned by Johnny Cash. Cash was first ...

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For many years I lived in a historic home in Tennessee. Built in 1901, the home had a good share of problems, just as any house that has stood for over a century will. I knew I lived a charmed life in that house, but I didn't realize just how fortunate I was until the first annual inspection of my 1950's Georgia rambler. Termites? Check. Carpenter ants? You bet. Powderpost beetles? Sure. (At ...

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