Front of the 1950s farmhouse, white siding with a brick chimney, among tall conifers
Restoration proposal · Verdi, Nevada

The Garson Farmhouse

Bringing a 1950s ranch house, built from a magazine plan on what is left of a longhorn cattle ranch, back to life for its next chapter.

Built1950s
Land2 acres
OriginCountry Gentleman plan
DirectionHeritage ranch revival
The history

A house ordered from a magazine

The Garson family ran a large longhorn cattle operation in Verdi, Nevada. When they built the farmhouse, they used a "Build-it-Yourself" plan clipped from Country Gentleman, the magazine "for better farming." The clipping and the magazine itself survived with the house.

Two acres are all that remain of the ranch. This restoration keeps what the family built and tells why each design choice was made, so that people can follow the project from the first photo to the last.

  • 1950sThe Garson family builds the farmhouse from a published plan: three bedrooms, a work room, a dining area off the kitchen, and a front porch.
  • Later decadesOpen living space, a brick fireplace, new flooring and appliances are added; the birch cabinets and plank windows stay.
  • TodayTwo acres, mature cottonwoods and conifers, and a view to the Sierra foothills. The house is ready for a considered restoration.
Torn newspaper clipping with a sketch of the house and its floor plan
The original plan clipping
Worn Country Gentleman magazine cover
Country Gentleman, saved by the family
Sheet A-0 · Estate

Two acres, planned as a working landscape

The grounds keep the ranch memory: a heritage orchard, a rail fence line where the pasture used to run, and native hillside planting that matches the slope behind the lot.

Estate concept planSchematic · not to scale
Aerial view of the property with a winding drive and hillside

    Drawn from the aerial photographs. Boundaries, drive geometry and tree positions are indicative until a site survey is available.

    Sheet A-1 · Floor plan

    From the 1950s drawing to the restored plan

    The footprint stays exactly as built. Rooms are redrawn from the original plan with the dimensions as printed, then given their new roles.

    Original plan, as published45 ft × 29 ft overall

    Redrawn from the published plan. Dimensions are as printed on that plan, not field measured. Confirm on site before ordering.

    Sheet A-2 · Orthographic set

    The building in six views

    Four elevations, a roof plan and a building section, all drawn to the same scale from the 1950s plan. Plate height, roof pitch and window positions are assumed from the photographs and need to be confirmed on site.

    Elevations are named by compass direction. The front elevation faces south. Section A-A is cut through the kitchen and living room, looking west, as marked on the floor plan.

    Room by room

    Before and after

    Drag across each photo to move from the room as it stands to the designed concept. The "after" is a concept elevation, drawn to show colour, materials and furniture arrangement.

    Sheet A-3 · Elevation

    The front of the house

    The low gable, brick chimney and window group are the house's best features. The restoration cleans up the façade rather than changing it: rich colour, a proper porch and planting that frames the mountain view.

    BeforeAfter · render Front exterior before restoration

    Walls and trim

    • Repaint lap siding in a warm bone white
    • Window trim and fascia in deep saddle brown
    • Front door in Truckee blue, the colour already used inside

    Porch and entry

    • Cedar posts and a wider landing
    • Flagstone walk replacing the poured slab
    • Aged brass lantern and house numbers

    Landscape

    • Split-rail fence along the front, a nod to the ranch
    • Sagebrush, rabbitbrush and lavender beds
    • Keep the mature cottonwoods and conifers
    Sheet A-4 · Schedule

    Finish schedule

    One line per decision, ready to turn into a procurement list. Quantities and pricing follow after site measurement.

    RoomSurfaceSpecificationWhy