Story by Sadie Fowler | Photography by Brian Packard
When you’ve lived through what Reda and Danny Tabor have lived through you quickly realize the value of living life each and every day to its fullest, and a great bit of that enjoyment starts in the home.
The Tabors have been married for eight years; each of them had previously been married and both of them lost their first spouses before discovering renewed life in each other. While it took a long time for both of them to heal from their individual losses, life is now focused on celebrating their time together. Part of that celebration has been building their dream home together, which is located in the countryside of Scottsville, Kentucky on a beautiful 200 farm.
“We both know how fragile life is and want to enjoy life,” said Reda Tabor.
Both Reda and Danny had lost their spouses (Reda’s first husband died tragically after suffering fatal heart attack 11 years ago; Danny’s first wife lost her battle to kidney cancer 10 years ago) before meeting each other online and marrying about a year later. Both had lived in country settings most of their lives, with Danny being a native and well-known figure in Scottsville and Reda hailing from Mt. Washington, Kentucky.
Prior to marrying and deciding to make their home on Danny’s family farm land, Danny had been living and working in Glasgow for 40 years as a businessman and owner of the local radio station while Reda made her life working at a manufacturing company south of Louisville, Kentucky.
“We both have always liked country living,” Reda says. “He has cows, I have cows …we have cows. After Danny’s mom passed away, she deeded him this 200-acre farm. He had been living in Glasgow but it wasn’t really enough land to have all our cows, and he got tired of having to go back and forth between here and there. One day he just said, ‘Why don’t we just build a place here on the farm?’”
Prior to his own parents living on the farm, Danny’s grandparents lived there as well, having moved into the original home on the property around 1920.
“Danny will one day leave this property to his own children, so that will be fourth generation,” said Reda, who also has three grown children of her own. (Both of them have several grandchildren.)
Upon deciding to build their home together on the property, the Tabors began the long process that’s nearly come to fruition with their dream home as the end result. The process began by cleaning out the original home, auctioning off furniture and tearing down the old home. Several elements of the original home and barn were used in the new, which they moved into in May.
Reda, who has an artistic and creative side, did much of the planning and design work herself. Later in the process, Bowling Green Home Furnishings and Embellish helped fine tune the process and bring the details together to complete the Tabor’s vision.
“Throughout the process, we tried to do justice to the farm and honor it,” Reda says.
For example, near the original home, there was a barn, made predominately of chestnut wood — a rare and endangered tree — that was tore down with the would being recycled for flooring in the new home.
Leftover clapboard was used for the backsplash in their kitchen; the mantle in the living room, created by Embellish, was made from a beam found in the original barn.
Reda says her and Danny’s vision all along was to create a home that was open, rustic, classy and eclectic. Bricks on one wall of Danny’s office provide a more masculine look to the vintage-style home, with the kitchen featuring white and washed out cabinets to provide a weathered look.
“Everyone’s asking us, ‘When are you going to invite us over?”” she laughed.
“People can’t wait to see it but we are just working so hard to get everything finished and the outside complete before the Parade of Homes in October.”
The invite to participate in this prestigious parade came about when the Tabor’s builder, Tim Graham approached the couple shortly after they moved into the home.
“We were hesitant at first because we were already living in it, but we are very proud of it and its history,” she said. “We think it offers something very different from the typical home in a subdivision. We think our home speaks to those who like rustic and tradition but also wide open spaces.”
The Tabor’s haven is conveniently located about 15 minutes outside of Bowling Green; about seven miles outside of Scottsville.
“We don’t have any neighbors on either side and across the road is another 300-acre farm owned by Danny’s cousin that has more cows and mules,” she said.
In speaking about the biggest challenges of their building process, Reda says she didn’t expect it to take as long as it did. Reda’s number one bit of advice to first time builders or someone about to embark on the great journey of creating their perfect home is to be prepared.
“This goes beyond picking out the blue print,” she said. “You need to think of how to make your home function best for you … Be prepared by knowing the colors you like, the fixtures, flooring, cabinets, and everything else.
Start out knowing what you’re doing so when you get into the process you’re prepared and not having to make last minute decisions when the builders asks you what you want.”
The Tabors are grateful to Laura Childers from Bowling Green Home Furnishings and to Embellish.
“Laura came in and measured all the rooms and worked really well with me in terms of deciding what sizes to get, where to set things and at what angles,” she said.
Embellish worked with the Tabors by getting to know what type of décor they wanted and then went shopping for them at market in Atlanta. About 90 percent of art on the walls comes from Embellish.
“I love my home and don’t think I’d change anything,” she said. “I’m the type of person who loves to please so I really hope people on the tour love it too. We did a lot of work and I think it was good work. It’s sort of nerve wracking knowing that a lot of people are going to be here looking at it because even though we love it and I’m proud of the work I did, I’m not a professional … although I would love to work at a place like Embellish or Bowling Green Home Furnishings when I retire.”
In either case, the Tabors are proud of their home and delighted to be nestled in their new-old place in the countryside of Scottsville.
“I’m proud of it, and so is my husband,” she said. “It’s been a really big thing for him to come back to where his roots are after being going for 40 years.”