Cheyenne and Jeff Mease have renovated their home to be a place that energizes and renews.

By BRENDA LANGE
CORRESPONDENT

Bonds of family and tradition as well as respect for the earth and natural elements all run deep in the Mease family and are reflected in the home they renovated together in Springtown.

Cheyenne and Jeff Mease bought the farm in 2001 after his grandmother – who was raised there – moved into a nursing home. The farm had been in Jeff’s family almost continuously since the late 1700s. The farmhouse was built in the early 1800s, and is nestled on 90 acres of rolling hillside and woods, cut by Cook’s Creek and within sight of Knecht’s covered bridge.

Paddocks enclose Pennsylvannia-certfied Angus beef cattle, which the family raises for sale to local markets. Two large red barns, assorted outbuildings, a few horses and two miniature donkeys complete the bucolic setting they call Meadow Brook Farm.

The house is actually a duplex, built in the era when several generations often lived together, yet maintained some individual privacy. The exterior of one side is brick and other side is fieldstone coated with plaster. Using available materials, and whatever they could find, was common among settlers as well.

The couple and their two grown children, Cody and Nevada, lived in the brick house while working to make the stone side livable.

Rotted floorboards were only the beginning. Since the original house was two stories of two rooms each, they added a dormer to the attic to create a master bedroom. They also added a kitchen with a slate roof, removed the plaster and repointed the stone and removed a front porch. Working with a few local craftsmen, friends and family member, the house gradually took on its most recent form over the space of five years.

"I had the ideas and Jeff made them happen," says Cheyenne.

Was there anything she wanted that he could not do?

"No," Jeff said. "Cheyenne would ask me, ‘do you think we can do this?’"

"And he would just do it," she says, finishing his sentence – something they may do often since they’ve known each other since they were 6, and married right after high school.

The front door sets the tone for the natural beauty that lies within the home. Made of reclaimed barn flooring with a heavy iron latch and hand-forged iron strap hinges, it opens directly into the living room. Formerly a combination living room and kitchen, the original walk-in stone fireplace remains in one corner. Today, it’s filled with candles and western memorabilia, as is much of the house.

"We love the West and I’ve always felt a connection to Native American traditions," says Cheyenne. "I used that and the concepts of feng shui to maximize the energy of our home."

A wellness educator, polarity practitioner, yoga teacher, speaker and healer, Cheyenne operates Health, Heart, Soul, LLC, out of her home.

The exposed beams support a second floor of pine planks. In the first level, the floors are of unfinished reclaimed barn wood and are surprisingly soft to the touch.

The walls are of a light ochre plaster, done in the Old World style, where sections are roughened and others are smooth as glass. Most of the windows are deep set, and common in farmhouses like this, many still contain the original leaded-pane glass.

A mudroom and powder room off the living room have horseshoes that were found in the barn sunk into the concrete floor. Hinges on the barn-door closets Jeff built into the walls are of different shapes and sizes.

"We like to use found items," Cheyenne says. "A lot of these elements we found here are from other barns. They add character and sense of continuity."

The steel washtub in the bathroom is one such item. It’s set into an antique table with a tin top.

"The top had a hole in it, and Jeff made it bigger and turned it into a sink," says Cheyenne.

An old kerosene lamp, now wired to provide electric light, hangs from the ceiling. And the door was built from a wooden shed and slides horizontally, like a barn door.

Similar unique touches are found in the other two bathrooms. On the second floor, an authentic copper bathtub in its wooden frame is the highlight. If you’ve ever watched a Western movie where the character soaks in a metal tub… well, this is the exact replica.

And the door to the master bedroom is like a southwestern retreat, done in terra cotta, beige and other earth tones. The plaster chimney acts as a headboard; closets with drawers fill the space under the eaves; and two other closets with old grainery doors store clothes and hide the TV. All the doors use various styles of iron hinges.

The railings leading from the first to second floor are also something you’re not likely to find anywhere else. They are made of dogwood trees from the property, hand-peeled and chosen for their winding, twisting forms – beautiful in their simplicity.

The one area of the home that bows to modern convenience is the kitchen.

One full wall of windows allows views of the covered bridge, and warms and brightens the kitchen most of the day. Radiant heat is built under the ceramic tile floor, and dark granite countertops, a hammered copper farm sink and rustic cherry cabinets allow the couple to cook, bake and entertain in 21st-century style.

Cheyenne’s yoga and meditation studio is situated directly over the kitchen and accessed by a step barn ladder. This room is her private place to regroup, settle her thoughts and approach her life and clients from a personal place of balance and serenity.

"I work with people and with five elements – earth, water, fire, air and ether – and I have found a component of heart in everything I do, too," she says as she gestures around the small space and talks about what she does.

"People often want to change something in their lives but aren’t sure what to do, and come to me for guidance. I help them to find a renewed respect for themselves and a balance in their lives, while increasing positive energy, and many of them have told me how they feel more peaceful and energized by just coming into our home."