CityViewNC.com | 15
Between the kitchen and living area is
nestled a rather elegant laundry room. A
modern chandelier illuminates the space,
neatly designed to accommodate a washer
and dryer and utility sink with space to
spare. A few rust-colored imperfections
dot the hardwood floor, but Tom chose
not to sand them out. "I told the man to
leave it. It's part of the story. is is where
the refrigerator was. It would leak," he said
simply.
As Tom stands on the front porch
reminiscing, he points here and there. So
much of his family history is within the
distance of a nod or a gesture. He went over
his bike handlebars "right there" in the
middle of the street, and his dad, as a child,
accidentally started a fire "down there" in
the basement. He reveals his grandmother's
favorite hiding places, the nooks and
crannies that held Astor coffee cans filled
with coins and cash, unearthed by the
renovation team.
When the Hatch men made the trip to
Huske Hardware to buy materials in 1937,
they set out to construct a house, and now,
Tom and Eileen are profoundly home.
Eileen fused timeless elements, like the original glass doorknobs and Tom's grandmother's china, with spunky, modern finds
from Wayfair and Home Again in Wilmington.
