WILMINGTON — There’s not much better of a way to get in tune with your surroundings than building your home right in nature. For homeowners Bob and Kathy Fullerton, that’s exactly what they did, building their Farm Road home from the ground up with their own hands.
This week’s “Where We Live,” located at 4201 Farm Road in rural New Hanover County, surrounds you in the quiet natural beauty that is Fullerton home. This four bedroom, five bathroom house is the definition of efficient living, to a point where the power company actually offers the Fullertons a discount on their electric bill.
Built in 1991, the home is on the Pender County line, but still technically carries a Wilmington address, and is served by the New Hanover County Fire Department.
The idea for the home actually came from the Fullerton’s son, who was attending Laney High School in the early 90s.
“My son, who’s now 40 years old, was going to Laney High School, and he was in shop class. He brought home some drawings for a house, and this house’s drawings came from the Northwest, Oregon, Washington State, some place like that,” Fullerton said.
“That home was built on a slope, where it went up in the back. So, as a result everything on the first floor on the back side was underground,” he added. “So, Kathy goes, ‘how are we ever going to do that, Wilmington is flat.’ And I said, ‘no problem, we’ll just walk up the front, and we’re here.’”
A lighthouse view
Fullerton said that, while many people would argue you cannot “live” on the second floor of your home, it’s his favorite thing about it. The home features a second-story front entry way, flanked by gardens on both sides of the steps. With large windows featured throughout the house, and a double back porch, this home offers expansive “lighthouse” views of the 3.6 acre lot.
“I can sit right here at my dining room table, and I can see every single thing that’s going on on that road out there,” Fullerton said, pointing out their kitchen windows. The second side of that, is I can sit right here (on the back porch), and look that way, and that way, and see everything.”
“There’s not another house around like this, I built it myself, it’s one of a kind,” he said.
The back porch view showcases a meticulously maintained lawn, and overlooks Island Creek and the surrounding woods.
From here, according to Kathy, you can see many of the home’s 100-150 Azalea Bushes, as well as the large vegetable garden, and blueberry bushes.
Fullerton says that he picks the blueberries every three days in the summer months, yielding over a quart of blueberries each time.
One of their favorite things to do, is sit on the screened in porch and view the plethora of woodland neighbors that frequent the property.
We’re completely enclosed, either by water, woods or by road. There’s a lot of nature here, you can really hear the birds,” Fullerton said. “We’ve had foxes in our backyard, and just tons of deer. We see deer every day, they’re out in the field out front. We’ve seen as many as 30 wild turkey in the yard, so for somebody like me who was looking for privacy, this is it.”
Built for efficiency
The Fulellertons designed the home for maximum efficiency, placing exactly 42,000 bricks on a massive concrete slab to insulate the house.
“People worry about slabs because they think it’s going to have water problems coming in on it,” Fullerton said. “But, if your slab is 20 inches above grade, there ain’t gonna be twenty niches of water out there ever. We’re not in the 100 year flood plain, and the water has never come out of the creek past the tree line.”
Fullerton has built the home like a “tank,” and intends it to last a very long time. Every part of the home is insulated, even the garage doors. It also features “low-e” windows, efficient lighting, and three air conditioning units to lighten the load.
“The power company, because this house is so well insulated, has given me 5 percent off of my power bill every single month for 27 years,” Fullerton said. “After 27 years, that adds up. Nobody likes paying electric.”
Another useful feature, especially with so many questions about our water supply in the Cape Fear region, is that the home runs off of it’s own well and septic system.
“Water’s getting expensive. I have a water softener, and just normal salt covers it. We don’t have to treat it anymore than that,” Fullerton said.
Indoors, the home is the epitome of quaint southern living. With an open floor plan, and large kitchen, the natural lighting seems to welcome you from one room into the next.
Each bedroom is a “master suite,” and features it’s own bathroom. All but one of the baths are located inside their respective bedrooms.
Upstairs, the Fullertons have built a billiards/game room, that houses a wet bar, complete with a working beer tap. Bob Fullerton, who collects antique beer signs, uses the room to house much of his collection, with many being worth well over $1,000.
One of the families favorite interior features is the large stone fireplace, adjacent to the kitchen and backed up to the master bedroom, offering warmth and light on the second floor in the winter time.
“Another thing people in Wilmington don’t have is a fireplace. And it’s an inside fireplace, because our bedroom is right behind it. I’ll tell you what it is, it’s just wonderful. We love fire, and I don’t have gas, I burn real wood, because I’m a man,” he said with a laugh.
Being a jack of all trades, Bob included plenty of space for projects on his home. The house features five garage parking spots, three in the attached garage, and two in the detached shop. The main garage includes a large “workroom,” and project storage space, where Fullerton used to house rare car parts for his collection.
The detached “shop” has housed his rare collection for many years, but could be easily transformed into a workshop, or “man cave” to the proper owner.
The Farm road home is zoned for Castle Hayne Elementary, Holly Shelter Middle, and Laney High School. It has been on the market 367 days, and is currently listed for $499,500.
Where We Live is a weekly feature looking at the homes and unique places to stay in the Cape Fear Region. Do you have a home, on or off the market, that our readers may be interested in seeing? Let us know at PCD@localvoicemedia.com.
For more information about this week’s home or to view the property, contact Craig Stinson REALTOR with Intracoastal Realty at (910)524-2679. For more details, visit craigstinson.intracoastalrealty.com.
