One Man's Folly: The Exceptional Houses of Furlow Gatewood

Four houses, fourteen acres and forty peacocks, along with a sweet menagerie of cats and dogs, gardens, and outbuildings (including a peacock hospital) compose Furlow Gatewood's compound in Americus, Georgia. Furlow bought his first antique treasures, milk glass chickens, from his paper route earnings eight decades ago and hasn't stopped collecting since. This book features the splendor of his collections. His homes have been built to house his treasures including antique furniture, salvaged doors, mantels, windows and shutters. Furlow's four "follies" which we visually tour in this book include:* The Barn or Carriage House ~ on the property initially and first renovated by Furlow beginning in 1950 when he was home from NYC visiting his mother, and foraging for antiques, and noted her carriage house was disintegrating. Original layout was a large center room with two wings. Furlow added porches, bedrooms and a dining room. This is Furlow's home base where he sleeps and dines with a view of dogs and peacocks.* The Peacock House ~ started out as a house built around a fabulous door with Gothic window Furlow had found. So, obviously to accompany the door, you need a house. Furlow's carpenter Joe added a bedroom, bath, kitchen and back porch. Makes sense.* The Cuthbert House ~ a mid-nineteenth century Gothic Revival dwelling formerly located in Cuthbert, Georgia. It was going to be demolished to make way for a church parking lot. Furlow moved it in two pieces to this property and added a kitchen, bath for first floor bedroom and back porch. We have seen some of the rooms in this home in magazines. Enchanting.* The Lumpkin House ~ found in 2010. Furlow says he bought it for the front door and gingerbread trim. It was a one story cottage with center hall and two rooms on each side. Furlow created a kitchen on the left, and a bed and bath on the right side of the center hallway.Bunny Williams who is a great friend of Furlow's - Furlow was her husband's business partner and they all go around the world antiquing and foraging for beauty - deconstructs Furlow's design style for us at the end of the book in the "Lessons Learned" section. She notes what she believes makes his style beautiful and original. His "grand sense of scale" is one element of his style says Bunny. Large frame sofas with an array of diversely framed chairs around them is another feature of his style. Fascinating to read the many things Bunny believes we can learn from Furlow's original style.Some of what I noted regarding design ideas perusing this book: have a painter paint a painting based on antique wallpaper panel, use the backsides of fabrics for more muted colors, put mirrors in French door frames to reflect light and add sparkle to a room, paint old furniture white if the wood isn't in good condition, if you have a carpenter friend copy antique tables, and ask a painter to paint floor designs from antique estates on simple wood floors.If you like classic salvaged architectural pieces, antique furniture from around the world, blue and white china, a mix of global fabrics, canopy beds, painted floors, delft tiles, dhurrie rugs, stripes and checks, gilt frames, and dogs, cats and peacocks, you will be enchanted by this book. Everyone wants to know how to combine eclectic elements gracefully - this book demonstrates how. There's a little narration at the beginning of each chapter by Julia Reed, and then the glorious images by photographer Paul Costello dominate. The pages are thick, the colors are true ~ it is one of my favorite design books of all time. You can study Furlow's rooms for hours.

I purchased this splendid book a few years ago on the advice of a good friend. With an extensive library of books, this is the one I pull down from the shelves over and over again. ONE MAN'S FOLLY is a book to sigh over as you turn the pages and explore the stunning homes, structures, and gardens of Furlow Gatewood's estate in Americus, Georgia. If you love beautifully composed, originally styled rooms stuffed with an eclectic mix of antiques, beautifully painted, with unique architectural touches, than this is the perfect book for you. Among the things that stood out for me, includ the jaw-dropping estate entrance with large, blue, and purple hydrangeas in huge, magnificent terra cotta pots that frame the driveway. The large trees form a canopy over the hydrangeas, which do not like sunlight. The view is imposing, delightful, gobsmacking! Furlow is clearly taken with windows and there are frequent examples of floor to ceiling windows with architecturally detailed shutters. Sometimes antlers adorn the tops of doorways when Furlow wants to take a break from decorative pediments. Blue and white porcelain plates, jars, teapots, urns, garden stools, etc., are displayed on and under tables, and wall corbels. Furlow, who has been collecting since he was a child, delights in enchanting the eye no matter where you look. A ceramic umbrella urn is filled with antique canes. Or an antique bird cage has three hand-painted wood birds inside. A painted antique china cabinet houses large service of gorgeous Paris Porcelain that serves 40! . One kitchen drawer holds "piles of American coin silver" in mostly two patterns that are favorites of Mr. Gateway. Floor to ceiling bookshelves have special wood shelves to hold lamps, which make browsing easier and give the room a warm glow at night. Antique linens, blankets and quilts adorn each bed. Each structure on the estate has it's own distinct personality. Hand-painted floors, a spiral staircase, wall-sconces with crystal hurricane lamps, statues, an elaborately carved wood pagoda sits one dinging room table while tall wood cranes explore in a round dining room with a walkway above and a brick floor. Each window is adorned with Gothic fretwork. My jaw hit the floor viewing this photo. In the same building, is housed a dining room with light green stained walls a natural wood ceiling and a brick floor. The enormous round table could easily sit ten. The chandelier is a rustic yet airy gray wrought iron. The tall glass French Doors have transit windows above. The sheer airiness of this room is captivating.Bunny Williams, the celebrated decorator and author of one of my favorite books--AN AFFAIR WITH A HOUSE, has written a chapter on the lessons she's learned from Furlow Gatewood. ONE MAN'S FOLLY is a book to get lost in. I often take it down from it's place on my bookshelves and display it on my coffee table, where it is often picked up and ogled over. One could call Mr. Gatewood obsessive. His non-stop pursuit of creating beauty never fails to delights me.

Very happy to explore the beautiful pages of the author's life time work.

Livro lindo e cheio de detalhes. Amei!

Great design ideas and collections

This man can do it all, decorate, design, garden, cook, rebuild. Unbelievably inspiring. Keep what you own, get this book, and see what you can achieve with your treasures. I'll be digging up a bunch of my blue hydrangea and potting them up along my walkway that leads to the front door. This book was worth it, just to see that. You will not be disappointed.

I cannot express the awe that I have for Furlow and his life's collections, his work, his gardens - all of it! Thus book is a magnificent look inside his private world.What a legacy! I covet nearly every piece he has. The epitome of great taste.