In this farmhouse, past and present peacefully coexist
123 Pleasant St., Raynham
Price $469,000
Style New England farmhouse
Built 1870
Square feet 3,600
Rooms 10
Bedrooms 3
Baths 2 1/2
Sewer Public
RAYNHAM -- Standing on the narrow farmer's porch on the breezeway of this New England farmhouse a visitor has choices: left heads into the past, right to the present.
Left takes you back to and into the living room of the original house, with its welcoming fireplace and floor-to-ceiling windows that draw in light like a sun sponge. Knots abound in the original wooden flooring and current owners have kept the country-living theme. A small bedroom and full bath are off the living room. Upstairs is the master bedroom and a third bedroom, which now houses bunk beds for three rambunctious boys. A half-bath completes the floor. Closets are adequate, but not large.
At the other end of the renovated breezeway -- which is heated by a pellet stove -- what was once the attached barn is now a kitchen big enough to be a small restaurant. That's not surprising because current owner Nuno Sousa has his own Taunton restaurant, the Off-Broadway Diner. At home, he has a six-burner gas stove, and dark-honed granite counters line one wall of the large room, making preparation space more than abundant.
Pale paint, white cabinets, wooden floors, and light-bringing windows make the kitchen the place in this house to gather. When they renovated, Nuno and his wife, Susan, zealously maintained the farmhouse atmosphere so much so that the exterior wall of the kitchen looks like two barn doors. Above the kitchen is a large loft now used for a family room. The driveway, with a fieldstone wall, leads to a one-car garage underneath the house. The left side of the house features a deck and fenced-in area with a fire pit. Upgraded utilities include a five-zone natural-gas heating system, and central air in the renovated portion. Pleasant Street is a main road, but the house is well back and surrounded by mature trees sufficient to preserve the country atmosphere on the 1-acre lot.
Diane Parker of Realty Executives Advantage in Raynham has the listing.
JOHN ELLEMENT 
