Today's Home

Each week, The Augusta Chronicle profiles an area home and subdivision as a front for the Sunday real estate section. These were my favorite assignments, and here are some samples of my work:

July 9, 2011: Happy in her hobby

For more than five years, Cindy Rigdon's home in Indian Cove in Lincolnton, Ga., has been her hobby. It is now her pride and joy.
"A lot of people would tell you once they've built a house, they'll never do it again. I'd do it again in a heartbeat," she said

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/home/real-estate/2011-07-09/todays-home-happy-her-hobby


June 11, 2011: Updating historic area

When Darryl Nettles decided to buy a house about eight years ago, he fell in love with a two-story home on D'Antignac Street in the Laney-Walker Historic District.
He had been looking for a house to buy when he saw the one on D'Antignac Street on his way home from church.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/home/real-estate/2011-06-11/updating-historic-area

May 8, 2011: Ty Cobb lived here

Every now and then, someone will ring Beverly Ford's doorbell and ask to see her house.
It might be a Little League team, or perhaps a curious tourist. They all want to see where baseball legend Ty Cobb once lived.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/home/real-estate/2011-05-08/ty-cobb-lived-here

April 9, 2011: Their peaceful refuge

Roger and Lori Davis' Harrisburg home is their sanctuary.
The world immediately outside has become one of Augusta's less-desirable neighborhoods. Determined to clean it up, Lori has become president of the Harrisburg-West End Neighborhood Association and one of the neighborhood's most outspoken residents.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/home/real-estate/2011-04-09/their-peaceful-refuge

March 12, 2011: Neighborhood of the Week: Olde Town

Rick and Melissa Keuroglian looked at more than 100 homes before they found the prairie-style house on Greene Street they both fell in love with.
It had everything they wanted: an office for her Internet business, close proximity to First Presbyterian Church (where Rick is the director of evangelism and director of community development), space to entertain and a basement.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/home/real-estate/2011-03-12/neighborhood-week-olde-town

February 5, 2011: Dreamy home, dreamy view

Every aspect of the 13,000-square-foot Keg Creek Drive home fits Bill and Traci Smith's concept of what a dream home should be.
Right down to the location.
It sits near the end of a peninsula in Lake Thurmond, affording views of the lake from the front and back of the four-story home.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/home/real-estate/2011-02-05/dreamy-home-dreamy-view


January 7, 2011: Subdivision of the week: The Villages at Rivershyre

When Meliha Amerson first laid eyes on her Evans home in 2000, she cried.
She and her husband, Mike, searched for three years for the perfect house and had already put a contract on a tri-level house when they found their dream in The Villages at Rivershyre.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/home/real-estate/2011-01-07/subdivision-week-villages-rivershyre


December 18, 2010 Today's Home: Carriage Hill

When Richard and Renee Jackson first looked at their Carriage Hill home more than a year ago, Richard fell in love with it.
The three-tiered back deck was perfect for the frequent entertaining the couple enjoys.
Renee was a little more underwhelmed.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/home/real-estate/2010-12-18/todays-home-carriage-hill


October 9, 2010 Room to grow

Two framed menus hang on a wall in the kitchen of Ryan and Stacey Forester's Canterbury Farms home.
One is from the now-defunct Harry Bissett's Bayou Grill in Athens, Ga., the site of their first date.
The other is from the Bonefish Grill in Augusta, which was their second date.
"That was when we knew we were going to marry each other," Ryan said.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/home/real-estate/2010-10-09/room-grow

September 18, 2010 House of many colors

Uyen Griffis wanted color. A lot of it.
When she and her husband, Darrell, lived on Bolin Road in North Augusta, their home's interior was painted in two shades of khaki.
"I said in my future house, I'm going to have every color but purple," she said.
Standing in the living room of their new home in Cooper Place, Darrell said, "I know for a fact we have 11 different paint colors in this house."

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/home/real-estate/2010-09-18/house-many-colors

August 7, 2010 Today's Home: Chastain Place

It's been quite a year for Liz and Brandon Paige.
In June 2009, the couple married on St. Simon's Island. Four months later, they began planning for the new home they would build in Grovetown's Chastain Place.
Liz also moved to the area from Atlanta and began a new job as a pre-kindergarten teacher at Augusta Preparatory Day School.
In February, they moved in.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/home/real-estate/2010-08-07/todays-home-chastain-place

July 16, 2010 Neighborhood of the week: Whatley Place

Cindy Zielinski was torn when she divorced three years ago.
Should she move back to Martinez and live near her family, or should she stay in North Augusta, her home for more than 20 years, and the only home her son, Hunter, 13, ever knew?
She chose to stay in North Augusta, in a townhome in Whatley Place.
"North Augusta's sort of like the little sleepy town, you know. It's kind of off the beaten path, yet you're right outside of Augusta, but you don't have all the hustle and bustle of Augusta," she said.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/home/real-estate/2010-07-16/neighborhood-week-whatley-place

June 5, 2010: Today's Home: Grenelefe Park

One of the first things you see when you walk into Stephanie and David Davis' home in Grenelefe Park in Grovetown is the mice.
They cavort on the risers of the stairs.
There's no need to call the exterminator, though: They're Halloween decorations incorporated into everyday décor.
"People, I guess, put them on their windows or something like that during Halloween. But that's our idea of how to use them," David said.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/home/real-estate/2010-06-05/todays-home-grenelefe-park

May 7, 2010: Today's Home: Water's Edge

From the street, the home of Paul and Janet Foust in the Waters Edge community appears to be a small, cozy cottage on the Savannah River.
Inside, the home seems much larger but still cozy. It's casual and comfortable.
"We enjoy living here. We're the kind of people that you see on the sign, you know, 'Don't dust, spend time with your kids.' That's the kind of people we are," Janet said.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/home/real-estate/2010-05-07/todays-home-waters-edge

April 10, 2010: Today's Home: West Lake

Golf is a big part of life in West Lake, it's not the reason Jenny Caldwell moved her family to the Martinez community in 2008.
She doesn't play the game. She chose West Lake to raise her children, Kessler, 16, and Dru, 14, for its location, because she had friends who lived there and because it is a gated community, which enhances her sense of security.
A guest sitting quietly in the expansive living room will hear the trickle of an unseen water fountain as her eyes take in the shimmering swimming pool just outside of the giant windows.
The sound comes from a small water fountain in the kitchen. A larger, more decorative fountain, is on the patio just outside the back door.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/home/real-estate/2010-04-10/todays-home-west-lake

March 19, 2010: On the river: The Rapids in North Augusta

Robert and Shannon Rollings liked their deck.
Taller than many of the nearby treetops, the back deck of the Rollings' home in The Rapids in North Augusta overlooks the Savannah River.
When a tree crashed through it two years ago, they seized the opportunity to create an outdoor living space they could love.
Now, they have a wall jutting from one side of the house that creates privacy and provides a backdrop for a stacked stone fireplace, which matches a nearly identical one in the home's great room. The couple spends a lot of time relaxing in their new outdoor living room overlooking the river.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/home/real-estate/2010-03-19/river-rapids-north-augusta