Page 166 - South Mississippi Living - August, 2016

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1960 Ocean Springs house with water view gets an update
story by Lynn Lofton photos by Katherine Sowers
It takes a special couple with a vision — and
a sense of humor — to live in a house while renovating it and not get discouraged. Such is the case with Kennedy and Mary Smith who purchased their Ocean Springs home in 2013 and made numerous changes and updates.
“When we looked at this house, I thought ‘we’re so not getting this house because it needs too much work,’ but Kennedy loved it,” Mary Smith recalls. “He wanted a project and enjoys creating things.”
The location with 300 feet of waterfront was a major selling point even though the water couldn’t be seen for the thick growth of trees at that time. The Smiths cut 28 trees and now have a gorgeous view of Fort Bayou, plus still have an abundance of trees including mature oaks and magnolias. The lawn slopes toward the water where there’s a dock so visitors can come by water. Kennedy
Smith points out that the house had no water damage from Hurricane Katrina even though it’s near water. “And it’s about two minutes to the bay,” he added.
A patio with a raised brick border was added to the outside of the house, which was built in 1960. It’s a different story inside where the Smiths planned for about four months aided by architect Dennis Cowart and Brooks Hellmers, an interior designer and friend. “We lived here during construction and tackled it in three different chapters,” Kennedy said. To which Mary added, “What’s fine about that is you can see what’s going on and what you really need to change. We became very close to our UPS delivery guy.”
Cased openings were created in the spacious living and dining area, oak flooring was put down, a coffered ceiling was added in the dining room, the arched ceiling in the living room was lifted and beams were added, >>
166 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • August 2016
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