A historic Fayetteville home begins a new story starting with an interior and exterior renovation

Sometimes life makes a complete circle. For Bill Hardin, that meant coming home to the neighborhood where he grew up. “My son called to tell me that the brick house on the corner was for sale. I had always thought it was an interesting place, so I knocked on the door,” he says. Hardin got the full history of the home from its then owner, whose father founded and chaired the Department of Entomology at the University of Arkansas and built the house. “She was able to give me the original blueprints, so we knew how the house was intended to be,” says Hardin. The circa 1939 two-story house had good bones and a generous yard, but it needed some work to make it efficient for modern life.

To begin the renovation, Hardin called in designer Dale Trice, whom he had worked with on several previous homes. Trice was careful to create a balance by retaining and enhancing the charming details of the home while removing the old-fashioned oddities. Downstairs, he highlighted the original plaster walls and millwork with a fresh coat of paint in a pearl finish. In the den, he painted the cozy—but dated—pine paneling a bold shade of marine blue and removed a set of dingy built-in bookcases. In the tiny powder room, Trice replaced what he calls a “strange little sink” with a custom concrete creation that appears to float on the wall. The home’s wood floors were refinished with an ebony wash, providing a lovely contrast to the light walls. Perhaps the happiest discovery was that a curved plaster wall matching the staircase wall was hidden behind drywall in a spare bedroom. By retaining the most interesting architectural details, the house now feels unique and custom.

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