With their search underway, the Fiennings narrowed their focus to The Point,
Beaufort’s most historic area of town and also one of the most coveted for its central
location to shops, restaurants, and other activities. The house hunting didn’t take long, as the Fiennings happened upon an 1840s two-story home in the heart
of The Point district and were smitten. “We fell in love with both the history and the coziness of the home,” Molly says. “It’s a really happy home with happy energy.” Like the neighborhood they were searching in, the home boasted a wealth of
history: the original owner was Robert Smalls, who was a slave in Beaufort pre–Civil War. After commandeering a group who captured a Confederate ship during
the Civil War, Smalls moved up in the ranks of the Union forces and went on to
serve in the South Carolina House and Senate and was a United States
Congressman for five terms.
The home, though, had changed hands several times over the last 170 years and
thus had lost much of its character and charm. Renovations and additions by
previous owners left the home in disrepair and in serious need of a historic
restoration, which the Fiennings happily took on. “We really liked the idea of doing a little restoration project,” says Molly.
To help tackle the restoration, the Fiennings reached out to architect Michael
Frederick of local architecture firm Frederick + Frederick. Frederick conducted
painstaking research on the property before addressing the homeowners’ needs; his research, which included interviews, found that a two-story porch
likely once existed on the front of the home. At first the Fiennings wanted
simply to restore the double veranda porch on the exterior façade, which had rotted off in the 1960s. But after further assessing the
originally 1,194-square-foot home, which consisted of dining and living rooms,
two bedrooms and one bath upstairs, and a kitchen addition (which had brought
the home’s square footage to 1,800), the couple chose to restore the property throughout
as well as add bathrooms, bedrooms, and a modernized kitchen, while also
repairing the crumbling foundation. “We knew our goal was to restore it to the original footprint with the porch but
to also give guests their own space,” says Molly.
After hashing out the design, the team began the two-year-long process (which
included a nine-month approval process by the Historic Landmark Commission) to
restore the home to its original splendor while complementing it with modern
amenities.
Off the back of the home, the Fiennings added a second story above the existing
kitchen area. This addition provided a master bathroom and closet as well as a
guest suite and bathroom, making the home a more functional three-bedroom
house. Original heart pine flooring was restored throughout, and salvaged heart
pine was installed in the addition to keep with the home’s original look.
Through their research, Frederick and the Fiennings found that the existing
kitchen (above which the second-story addition was added) was originally a back
porch, which had been enclosed and turned into a kitchen. “There were all of these different layers of development over the 170 years by
each owner,” says Molly of the cramped space. To create a more spacious and modernized
kitchen space, they knocked down a wall to a small room, which the previous
homeowner used as a bedroom, and expanded to create an eat-in kitchen. The
appliances and cabinetry remained the same, but the Fiennings added white
Carrara marble to the existing island and an L-shaped banquet, which looks out
to the courtyard. “What I love about that room,” says Molly, “is looking out the window and all of the green space coming into the room.”
In the end, the restoration turned the home into a cozy 2,200 square feet and
the sanctuary that the Fiennings had always hoped it would become. “Sometimes you visit an old house and it feels old and smells like mildew,” says Molly. “But this home feels fresh. You always come home and it feels happy and cozy.” 
