A-plus: an aging A-frame lake house is rehabilitated and reborn as a light-filled country retreat.

When a real estate agent drove Julie Grissom around the lake at Hickory Hills in Purvis, Julie knew this was the kind of place she and her husband, Edgar, had been searching for.

They had talked about moving to the mountains when Edgar retired from his career as a physician, but this place reminded them of a mountain lake house in the forest.

"We didn't have an appointment to see the house," Julie recalls, "but at that point, I didn't care what the house looked like. We bought the property, not the house."

The property was a deeply wooded hill sloping down to an inlet of a fishing lake. Neighboring houses were masked from view by stands of pines, hollies, tulip poplars, hickories, and cypress.

The house was a reconfigured dark A-frame that was difficult to see because of overgrown azaleas and too-close pines, one of which had actually grown through the wood deck. Additions done by previous owners effectively disguised the A-frame structure that had initially formed the living area of the home. Inside, the Grissoms discovered slanting floors, some on oddly differing levels. The wood--floors, ceilings, and beams--looked as dark as the exterior siding. Windows were dated. Later, the Grissoms discovered termite damage in the decks and foundations of the additions.

"We debated for a long time about tearing everything down," Edgar admits, "but the original A-frame had been well-built." It also had a soaring stone fireplace that would have cost tens of thousands of dollars to re-create.

Working with architect Jim Paterson of Oxford and serving primarily as their own contractors, the couple gutted the A-frame, taking out the tiny kitchen and overhead loft, and demolished the dining room addition. They totally reworked the foundation, floors, and roof overhangs of the older bedroom wing.

Beams salvaged from the old addition became lintels above doorways to the new dining room, laundry room/pantry, and hallway. Jimmy Hollingsworth of Hollingsworth Hardwood Floors in Hattiesburg convinced Edgar and Julie to keep the A-frame's original heart pine floors and ceiling. "I thought it was some cheap yellow pine," Edgar says. "It's so soft."

"All we did was clean and seal the wood," Julie says, explaining the room's rejuvenated and lighter appearance. Complementary canary wood floors were laid elsewhere throughout the home.

The sloping hillside created its own challenges. In order to match the roof pitch of the new construction with the older A-frame, the master bedroom became an airy new A-frame with a 25-foot vaulted ceiling. Located on the lowest level of the home, the bedroom is accessed by walking down a wide flight of stairs from the main hallway or down a wrought-iron spiral staircase from the study above.

The staircase, a work of art in its own right, and a wrought-iron balcony off Edgar's study were the work of Richard Bowers of Staco Decorative Iron in Hattiesburg, a craftsman whom Edgar calls "meticulous." From the balcony, one can now look down into the master retreat to find one of the Grissoms' four cats' favorite resting spot on the king-size bed.

French doors in the master bedroom were split from a single door found at The Bank, an architectural salvage company in New Orleans. "We're a little embarrassed because it came out of a Yankee Civil War hospital (from Pennsylvania)," Edgar laughs, "but you take what you can find."

Ceiling-high bookshelves flank the bedroom's gas fireplace and climb the wall beside the spiral staircase. A gilded mirror discovered at a New Orleans auction hangs above a simple wood-block mantel. Twin mid-century English leather chairs face two walls of windows and doors opening onto the lower deck, where the Grissoms spend a lot of time enjoying the lake view. An avian enthusiast, Edgar has identified 72 species of birds on the Hickory Hills property.

A guest bedroom, bath, and Edgar's study are situated a half-story above the main level of the original A-frame and living area and are reached by a short staircase off the hall. The study ended up wider than planned due to another challenge. If the air-conditioning system had not been properly planned, rain could have seeped inside due to the high ceilings. Chuck Taylor of American Air Specialists in Hattiesburg told the couple he had experience in solving that problem because it had rained in his own home. The solution was all in the way the air vents were arranged, Taylor explained, and after careful calculations, the Grissoms now have no stormy-weather worries.

The main entrance was revamped with grand glass and Spanish cedar doors. "I showed Larry Bennett (of Bennett Millworks in Bassfield) a picture, and he matched it," Julie says. Bennett used cypress for doors and moldings throughout the rest of the home.

The front doors open into the west side of the original A-frame. The lake-side wall is dominated by a massive stone fireplace flanked by ceiling-high windows. The adjacent open kitchen, with its Juperana Classico granite-topped bar, forms an inviting gathering space for guests. The light maple cabinets were built by Leroy Reed, as were all of the home's new bookshelves.

A Sub-Zero refrigerator, Dacor ovens, and a Wolf range were selected from Riverwood Home Appliances in Jackson. "San Sebastian brown" counters give the countertops and island a sleek appearance. "We both love to cook," Julie says, so the island's roomy surface area and second sink give the couple plenty of room to work together.

Small tiles of "Desert Sand" tumbled stone form the backsplash with a decorative woven mosaic behind the range. Angie Calhoun from the Marble Place in Puckett helped with the selection of stone surfaces, including using "Dark Emperador" marble counters in the master bath to complement travertine floors from Anderson's Carpet One in Hattiesburg.

The front guest room in the old addition features a silver- and gold-painted iron bed with acanthus leaves topping the headboard's posts. The bed is positioned beneath an elliptical fanlight. "It's the only window we kept from the old house," Julie says.

With the help of Jeff Petro of 12 W Jones Antiques and Interiors in Savannah, Georgia, the home is furnished with an eclectic mix of English-country casual antiques, reproductions, and rustic pieces. A simple coffee table was modified and upholstered into a leather-studded ottoman for the living area. Petro also helped the couple select a 19th-century English mahogany linen press for the master bedroom and an English mahogany cabinet, repurposed as a sink basin cabinet in the guest bathroom. The cabinet's Greek key motif repeats on the crown over the guest bed.

"Julie made the furniture selection easy as she shared magazine photos and color choices," Petro notes. "Her visits to Atlanta to the Scott Antique Market, where my business partner, Kevin Johnson, and I exhibit each month, also helped. We were able to walk the show and share opinions on different ideas. The master bedroom chandeliers, although not antique, were also selected there."

Moving into this dramatic, almost-new lake home has given the Grissoms enough space to finally hang some treasured pieces. A splashy floral painting by Jacksonian Debbie Wyatt complements the early-1800s French pub dining table with its walnut parquet surface. "This is the first time it's been hung," Edgar says, explaining that the painting had been passed around among his children. "It works here."

Another treasure is a solid pewter chandelier with 48 lights, a purchase Julie made before her marriage. "It must weigh 500 pounds," Edgar surmises.

"Not that much--maybe 150 pounds," Julie retorts. And hanging it? First it was too low, then too high, then some of the light branches wouldn't work. In the process of having it cleaned, some seemingly insignificant bits of cardboard in the bottom of each candle were discarded. "That's what creates the ground for the light," Edgar explains with a smile. Another lake house lesson learned.

RESOURCES

Architect, renovation: James Paterson, Oxford; 662/234-0743.

Wood floors: Hollingsworth Hardwood Floors, 808 N. 30th Ave., Hattiesburg; 601/261-3098.

Wrought-iron staircase and balcony railing: Staco Decorative Iron, 5243 Old Hwy. 11, Hattiesburg; 601/264-0064.

French doors, master bedroom: The Bank Architectural Antiques, 1824 Felicity St., New Orleans, La.; 504/523-2702.

Air-conditioning system: American Air Specialists, 199 Sullivan Kilrain Rd., Hattiesburg; 601/583-2575.

Front door: Bennett Millworks, 228 Faithway Rd., Bassfield; 601/731-9797.

Kitchen appliances: Riverwood Home Appliances, 645 S. Pearson Rd., Pearl; 601/932-6900.

Stone surfaces: The Marble Place, 922 Hwy. 13 S., Puckett; 601/825-5203.

Travertine floors: Anderson's Carpet One, 515 W. Scooba St., Hattiesburg; 601/545-7198.

Antiques: 12 W Jones Antiques and Interiors, 12 W. Jones St., Savanna, Ga.; 912-231-0622.

RELATED ARTICLE: Lake house lessons.

Edgar and Julie Grissom share some renovating tips based on their own experience:

1. Find a competent architect who can understand your desires and is able to execute them.

2. Consider subcontracting the work yourself. "If you're new to an area and don't know anyone, you're at a loss. Interview contractors and subcontractors, and ask friends for recommendations," Edgar says.

3. Decide whether renovating is really right for you. "It's often cheaper, quicker, and easier to tear everything down and build new," Edgar says. "Having said that, we wouldn't have done it differently. It was in our hearts to preserve as much as we possibly could. It was an emotional decision."

4. Repair any major structural problems first. "We had to correct the old mistakes before we could do anything new," says Edgar.

5. When decorating, select the rug first and then match the wall colors to it.