Although he didnโt set out to, Mark Carnes has proven that you can go home.
Next year, the brick abode he shares with his wife Debbie on Evansvilleโs East Side will turn 100 years old. Even more impressive: it has never left the Carnes family. Built by Markโs grandfather, Robert โRufusโ Carnes, in 1925, ownership changed from his grandmother, Edith, to Mark in 1983 but always had a Carnes under its roof.
โWe liked the area, and we loved the home,โ says Mark, who grew up nearby on Blackford Avenue as one of five children to Paul and the late Marlys Carnes and graduated from William Henry Harrison High School. โWe knew it was sound and sturdy.โ
Four generations of the Carnes family have lived at the approximately 1,800-square-foot residence on the southwest corner of South Alvord Boulevard and Bellemeade Avenue. It served as one of the first homes on the block, something certified by the neighborhoodโs original plat map passed down from Markโs grandfather. In fact, that stretch of Bellemeade was considered out of town until it was incorporated into the City of Evansville in 1927.
Rufus, a practical man and metal purchaser by trade, did not want to fuss with extra amenities. Among the things considered a luxury was an automatic garage door opener โ the handle to manually raise the door worked just fine. Rufus astutely positioned the homeโs front door on Bellemeade rather than Alvord because he was convinced the former โ then a streetcar line โ would be turned into a major thoroughfare. He eventually was proven right.
Markโs grandmother responded to these limitations by throwing her energy into decorating. Walls frequently were repainted or covered in new wallpaper to give things a refreshed look. When the couple moved in, the walls were covered in green and birch tree paper sporting a horse-and-buggy print. She also changed up the flooring, going from the original oilcloth floors to linoleum, then tile. Mark recalls his grandmother sponge-painting the floorโs rough spots by hand.
The home is filled with childhood memories for Mark, who recalls the frequent scent of his grandmother baking apples, being a bit scared by the dark attic, and โ to his eternal chagrin โ not being allowed to leave the breakfast nook until he had cleaned his plate. When Paul and his sister, the late Martha Wiggers, decided to list their motherโs home for sale in 1982, Mark and Debbie remarked that they wished they could buy it. Paul, now 96 and still living in Evansville, retorted, โWe didnโt think youโd want it!โ The couple jumped at the chance and โ diligent archivists that they are โ documented spending their first night in their new home with their only child on Feb. 23, 1983.
Mark and Debbie set to work updating their new home, one room at a time. The original kitchen layout forced the refrigerator to jut out. Mark relocated the pantry and removed a few doors to make it fit better. The downstairs โTV roomโ where the family would watch โThe Lawrence Welk Showโ on Saturday nights eventually became a comfortable primary bathroom with his and her sinks. Fehrenbacher built a mantel for the new fireplace, as well as cabinets in the primary bathroom. They also refinished the attic into a comfortable one-bed, half-bath suite with a sitting room.
Mark โ who studied landscape architecture at Purdue University and is naturally handy with design โ has spearheaded or handled many renovations himself. He owns Decorating Supplies & Equipment Inc., a company founded by his father, Paul, in which Mark works alongside his son, Justin โ another multi-generation endeavor.
The home, though, is far from devoid of traces of the Carnes familyโs legacy. Mark and Debbie saved the original windowpane and shutters from the second-floor dormer โ added by Rufus when his daughter Martha moved back in โ and hung them on the dining room wall. The furniture inviting guests to enjoy the flower-enveloped patio belonged to Markโs mother. And the breakfast nook still stands.
โItโs so funny, to everybody who walks in, itโs their favorite thing in the house,โ Mark laughs. โAnd when I talk about enlarging the kitchen and all this, they all go, oh no, you canโt.โ
Even a neighborhood fixture for a century has a few surprises up its sleeve. Mark and Debbie removed the shutters and two large maple trees from the front yard, painted the homeโs original red brick white, and had Mistletoe & Ivy install yard lighting to literally spotlight the new-look exterior. Passersby often have stopped and gazed upon the house as if seeing it for the first time.
Decorative details, like the scalloped metal awning fashionably protecting the cedar roof, now are more visible. The black, powder-coated metal screens around the patio are no ordinary privacy screens. The six-foot-tall panels sport a floral design sketched by Mark and laser cut by a friend who owns a precision metal-cutting and welding business in Evansville. The daffodil design softens an otherwise edgy element on the wraparound porch, which features a stone retaining wall draped in cascades of flowers and plants.
The enclosed sunroom has become one of Debbieโs favorite spots. A mini-split keeps the space at a comfortable temperature.
โIf Iโm reading or something, I want to be out there,โ says Debbie, a North High School graduate and member of the Wessel family of Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. coaches and teaches.
Mark credits his wifeโs talent for making their modern farmhouse-styled home a comfortable, inviting retreat. Debbie decorates for every season, with hand-selected faux and real greenery and tasteful decor spilling out onto the homeโs walkways along Alvord and Bellemeade.
โChristmas was my favorite when I was a little kid,โ she says. โAnd my mom and dad loved Christmas. They didnโt decorate crazy. But I could still remember when Colonial Classics first opened, going with my mom and dad, and we would go specifically just to see the Christmas stuff.โ
That youthful affection for the sprawling nursery and landscape center changed her life in more ways than one: As a young adult in the 1970s, Debbie was hired by the late Jim McCarty to work at Colonial and subsequently fell for a coworker โ Mark. The young couple often visited Markโs grandparentsโ home for family gatherings. Now, they are carrying a Carnes family hallmark into its centennial year.
โWeโve caught ourselves several times saying, โWeโve done this to grandmaโs house,โโ Mark says. โAnd my brothers and sisters, and Dad especially, have said, โItโs not grandmotherโs house. Itโs your house.โโ
