Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette An antique leaded glass window and clawfoot tub grace the master bath. Click photo for larger image. More information For more information on 210 Jacobs Court, Cranberry, call Linda Polley, Century 21 Town & Country Real Estate, at 724-779-2101 or go to www.century21.com, MLS No. 643665.

Joy Kacik has had a lifelong love affair with older houses.

They're lovely to look at, she says, but inevitably come with one of two problems: They cost too much to repair and maintain or, even worse, have had their architectural details and charm torn out by previous owners.

When the North Hills native decided to relocate in the early 1990s to the Avery's Fields development in Cranberry, she found a way around that predicament: She built a new "old" house.

Mrs. Kacik constructed a home that is rich in architectural tradition (the American farmhouse) yet meets modern-day demands in terms of space, utility and maintenance.

"People assume it's the original farmhouse that the development was built around," she says proudly.

Flash forward 10 years, and Mrs. Kacik and her husband, Perry, have decided to downsize. They have put the 3,500-square-foot house on the market for $429,900 through Century 21 Town & Country Real Estate.

Countless companies offer building plans for reproduction houses. But Mrs. Kacik actually designed her home herself over the course of two years, based on a design she happened upon in Country Living magazine. Actually, only the exterior and footprint are similar to the one in the magazine. She completely retooled the interior on graph paper because the suggested floor plan -- characterized by large, open spaces -- felt too modern.

Builder Frank Pascoe of Pascoe Builders spent four months working on the house, striving to get the details right. Apparently, he succeeded. Visitors constantly tell Mrs. Kacik that it reminds them of the houses their grandmothers had when they were kids.

Among the home's most authentic details are the true divided-lite, two-over-two windows on the side facing the street. Most builders are content to use simulated versions, with muntins on both sides of double-pane sashes. Each sash on these windows has two individual panes. In deference to maintenance, however, the fish-scale shingles and clapboard siding are made from easy-to-care-for vinyl.

The first thing that catches a visitor's eye is the formal entry. The twin panes of beveled, leaded glass that decorate the front door originally served as transoms in an old Victorian (the matching transom above was salvaged from the same house). The central staircase features an antique newel post Mrs. Kacik found at Architectural Antiques in New Castle, Lawrence County.

	Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette Above: The exterior of a reproduction Victorian home in Cranberry features fish-scale shingles and clapboard siding in vinyl. Below: The bedroom features a ceiling fan Click photos for larger image.

All of the house's interior doorways were constructed using a plinth block at the bottom, fluted pilasters on the sides and rosette blocks on all four corners, and the entire first floor has crown molding.

"I have a lot of family antiques, so I needed a house where everything would fit right in," Mrs. Kacik says.

Her heirlooms include a crazy quilt decorating the staircase that was sewn by her great-grandmother and incorporates a satin campaign ribbon from Benjamin Harrison's presidential race in 1888.

Other old-time touches include a wood-plank wraparound porch with turned spindles, antique mantels on the gas fireplaces in the formal living room and front parlor, and wide-plank Southern pine floors on the first floor. They came from Georgia and were finished with tung oil instead of polyurethane so they would wear the way old wood does, with lots of nicks and dents.

In laying out the home's 10-plus rooms, Mrs. Kacik opted for a traditional arrangement, with a formal dining room to the right of the front door and a formal parlor on the left.

But not everything is exactly like you remember in Grandma's house. When Mrs. Kacik started building in 1995, she was single and living with her mother. So she included a one-bedroom in-law suite with its own entrance and private bath on the first floor, just off the family room. Its sitting room is now used as a home office.

The eat-in kitchen gets much of its charm from reproduction mahogany cabinetry that Mrs. Kacik designed and had made by Steigerwald's Kitchen and Bath in Grove City. Some of the cabinets have antique German glass inserts and all have wrought-iron hinges and spring-loaded porcelain pull handles. A large built-in hutch has a beadboard back and dovetailed drawers. Other features include a center island with a sink and almond-colored laminate counters and appliances that are faced with mahogany. The microwave is hidden inside a cubby in the island.

The dining room has slate-blue woodwork and a reproduction chandelier with beaded tassels that Mrs. Kacik first saw in Gettysburg. The family room is a little more country and rustic feeling, with a beamed ceiling, French doors with old-fashioned crystal doorknobs, and a large gas fireplace with a brick hearth and surround. But in keeping with the rest of the house, the distressed brick appears to have been around for ages.

"We even scraped the mortar in between so it looks old," she says.

The second floor has two baths, three bedrooms and a bonus room with built-in window seats over the garage. The master bedroom overlooks the back yard and is warmed by a gas fireplace with a fluted, reproduction mantel. There's also a large walk-in closet that runs the entire width of the room.

	Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette The dining room has slate-blue woodwork and a reproduction chandelier. Click photo for larger image.

The floral-papered master bath has pale-pink beadboard walls, a vintage pedestal sink Mrs. Kacik gleaned from her chiropractor's basement and an antique clawfoot tub her boss purchased for $25 at auction. (Both have been refinished.) The half-moon leaded-glass window that decorates the wall above the tub "like a necklace" came from an antique store in New Castle.

"At night, when the moonlight shines through it, it just sparkles," she says.

A second bedroom at the front of the house has Victorian-style floral wallpaper; the third has dark-blue paisley paper and wine-colored woodwork. The hall bath has a vanity that was made from an old apothecary chest discovered in an antique store in Gettysburg.

The formal garden off the covered back porch is enclosed by a white picket fence and includes a wooden arbor with built-in seats. It is planted with dozens of perennials, including lamb's ear, cone flower, Shasta daisy, coreopsis, lilies and hydrangea. An English-style perennial garden fills the beds in front of the house.