In the 1960s, Ruth Weir promised her husband she would quit smoking if she could decorate the living room of the pre-Civil War farmhouse on the grounds of Greenwood Cemetery in O'Hara.

Since that day, Mrs. Weir has never smoked another cigarette, probably because she started so many long-range projects.

Her decorating touch expanded to the other rooms as she learned more about how to find just the right antiques and rugs, talking to dealers and attending auctions in O'Hara, Sharpsburg and Fox Chapel.

"It took about 12 or 15 years before we could say, 'That's enough,' " she said.

Mrs. Weir, who is outgoing, found it isolating to live in a cemetery because she had no neighbors. But she's never seen a ghost, although she thought she did once. As twilight fell one summer evening, she walked her dog on the cemetery's grounds.

"Right along the edge of the woods, I saw this spooky thing, and the dog got all alerted. It turned out to be a deer," she recalled.

Mrs. Weir grew up in Swarthmore, Delaware County, and studied geology and physical education at West Chester University. She served as a WAVE in the U.S. Navy during World War II while her husband, James, flew a P-47 for the Army Air Corps in the South Pacific. After the war, Mrs. Weir soldiered on, raising five children.

She and James, moved here in 1957, when he became the cemetery's caretaker. Today, Mr. Weir is largely retired and their son, Bob, handles the daily duties along with his wife, Terri. The five Weir children are grown, but the couple's nine grandchildren attend Halloween parties at the cemetery each year.

"They play games and get dressed up in costumes. My son, Bob, takes them all out in the cemetery on a hay wagon," Mrs. Weir said.

The house was built in 1838 by Robert McPherson of Lancaster County, who is listed as a farmer in the 1840 U.S. Census. He made the two-story Greek Revival-style house of red Flemish brick, three courses thick.

"Every seven or 10 bricks, there are patterns in the brick," said Diane Nichols of Freeport, who lived in the home until age 10 with her grandparents, Albert and Louise Ferber.

The front porch and yard afford a fine view of the 62-acre cemetery, said Ms. Nichols, who recalled visits to the house by Thomas West, a thin distinguished undertaker from the Hill District who let her dig for nickels in his vest pocket.

The Weirs began renovations in the 1960s, and the first project was the kitchen.

"Plasterboard had been used to cover over the fireplace," Mrs. Weir said, adding that one day, she stuck a knife through it and saw proof of what she knew was there -- a large, walk-in fireplace.

"I wanted to learn how to cook on an open fireplace," she said, adding that the cast-iron arm, skillets, pots, copper kettle and andirons all were found in antique shops and auctions.

Luckily, Mr. Weir had learned carpentry from his father, Wilson Weir, who had worked with his father, James Glasgow Weir, in a wagon-building business. Among Mr. Weir's many tasks during the renovation was building a pantry in the kitchen.

A tin lamp that hangs over the oak kitchen table lends atmosphere. The Weirs' Quaker wedding certificate, dated Nov. 1, 1947, which was signed by all their guests, adorns one wall.

The Weirs removed white metal kitchen cabinets and a linoleum floor that dated to the 1930s. They also removed a plaster ceiling that exposed walnut beams, restored the original wide oak beam floor and installed custom-made knotty pine cabinets. During the three-month kitchen renovation, Mrs. Weir cooked on a two-burner stove in the cellar.

On a visit to Colonial Williamsburg, Va., Mrs. Weir found decorative inspiration for her living room while touring George Wythe's home. There, she admired a Chippendale cabinet topped by a carved shell design. Her husband made a drawing and reproduced the built-in cabinet for their living room.

In another corner of the living room stands an English slant-front desk. The log-burning fireplace is original. A Tanzanian spear that people used to defend themselves against lion attacks is suspended on a watch chain in front of the mantel.

"It comes apart in three pieces," Mrs. Weir said, adding that her guide in Africa, who worked with the Leakey family famed for its anthropological discoveries, took her to a village where she met Tanzanian hunters. That's where she bought the spear.

Also in the living room, the couple refinished the original pine floor and hung gold and cream wallpaper with a fleur de lis pattern.

A curved walnut banister on the staircase leads to a second-floor master bedroom, which has a fireplace and refinished floors.

The home's old windows were replaced because "they were getting too hard to open for various reasons," Mrs. Weir said,

Mr. Weir initially used the dining room as an office. After four years of that, his wife had had enough. So, in 1962, he got a backhoe, bulldozed a back porch and built an addition that houses his office. The dining room was wallpapered in a deep coral print with a flowery pattern; Mrs. Weir looked for three months before finding it.

If all that decorating wasn't enough, Mrs. Weir completed a project last year that she started in 1975, with her friend Evelyn Conti, who shared her interest in O'Hara history.

After Mrs. Conti died in 1992, Mrs. Weir and eight dedicated volunteers collaborated on researching and writing an exhaustive history of the community, which was published in May 2008.

Doug Oster writes a blog, "Growing With Doug," exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.