I adore this home outside of Charlottesville in Greenwood, VA. The Abbots have called this house, built 180 years ago as the Greenwood School for Boys, their home for nearly twenty years. Their three girls grew up here, as have their golden retreivers, leaving traces of family in every room. A true Living Space in every way, when I visited last December I knew I needed to return to document this special place.

The house itself is dripping with character, from uneven plaster walls to exposed beams across the ceilings, and is adorned with the simple, chic style of a family who loves comfort, nature and art. Each room is comfortably bright even on the grayest of days, nearly causing me to give in to the desire to curl up with a book or magazine on a slip-covered chair in a light-filled corner. With the family dogs pressing their noses to the glass doors, I moved through each room slowly and meticulously, taking moments to sit on a couch, touch a blanket, and observe the art on the walls, trying my best to imagine how the family who lives here inhabits each space.

Welcome to the Abbots'!

Living Space is a personal project inspired by real spaces being inhabited by real people in a very real way. If you know of a home that would be a good subject for this series, please get in touch with me, here.