The Big Red Barn, Lakeville, CT

This 1889 hay barn was once part of a vibrant agricultural scene from the 19th century until the mid 20th century. The barn, in steep decline, was reimagined as a guest house for overflow visitors to the main, 1820s farm house, and as a gathering place for family and friends. The barn was meticulously rebuilt, while preserving its historic character.

The main level features a grand double-height stair, two new bedrooms with baths, and an open floor plan with Kitchen, Dining and Living areas overlooking a meadow. The second floor features another bedroom and bath, and a gathering space with a soaring, 20 foot high cathedral ceiling, framed by the original timber frame structure. A large bar, TV area and a place for games completes this dramatic, light filled entertaining space.

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1840s Greek Revival Renovation & Restoration

Successive remodeling over 180 years, including numerous additions, required a top to bottom restoration and renovation to this long time family home. The program included a new light filled kitchen addition, a Master Suite with a bathroom with a fireplace, restored attic bedrooms for extended family visits, and a screened porch.

For the husband, a new “Gentlemen’s Retreat”--aka Media Room--was outfitted with a sophisticated sound system and a full pull up bar. Mid-19th century marble mantels were restored, original moldings faithfully replicated, and every inch of the house reimagined for 21st century life while maintaining its original historic character.

Recapturing Old Spaces and Creating New Ones

This 1907 Arts & Crafts style mansion had lost much of its original interior detail, including original features at an unusable glassed-in sun porch in which none of the windows opened. The porch was restored with a custom terra cotta tile floor, new energy efficient windows, and French doors leading to a new terrace overlooking the Long Island Sound.

Antique leaded glass chandeliers from the early 20th century were installed in each of the main rooms, and architectural details restored, providing a traditional backdrop to the owner’s contemporary furniture.

A storage attic was transformed into a lavish playroom/private guest suite with a luxurious bathroom, 10 foot ceilings with skylights, a custom entertainment unit, and built in sofa beds for overseas guests who come like clockwork to visit each summer.

A 1958 Builder’s Cape Reimagined

With their adult children out of the house, this couple decided to make this 1950s builder’s Cape their forever home, strategically outfitted for their senior years. Combining two bedrooms to make a first floor Master Bedroom suite with an accessible bathroom and a laundry was key. New built-ins at the Living Room organized family mementoes.

But the new, expanded Kitchen with a gently curving 10 foot island is the centerpiece, with sleek white cabinetry as the backdrop for extended family gatherings. The Kitchen is outfitted with professional quality appliances including a downdraft cooktop, separate double wall ovens, an expansive roll out pantry, and quartz countertops for easy clean up.

The Kitchen is now the heart of the house, ready for the next generation to gather in.

A Small Addition Transforms a 1924 Tudor

Sometimes “small” can make a big difference. A two foot deep box bay addition with French doors allowed enough room at the Kitchen for an island that includes seating, wine rack storage, and space for treasured cookbooks.

The wall between the Kitchen and Dining Room was removed.  A new elegant cased opening now gently separates the two rooms. The island’s quarter sawn oak woodwork matches the 19th century antique oak Dining Room set.

At the Living Room, French doors covered over in the 1960s were restored. The screened porch was renovated with stenciled concrete floor tiles inspired by a trip to Havana, Cuba. Pale blue canvas upholstery with white piping and a blue and white fish fabric bring a note of whimsy to the antique wicker and rattan furniture.

1923 Arts & Crafts Redux

When a young family purchased this house, it had been abandoned for two years and heavily damaged by a hurricane. The interior had not been changed since it was built in 1923, including the bathrooms and a cramped servant oriented Kitchen, Pantry and formal Dining Room.

A small addition allowed us to rethink this rabbit warren of rooms to create a contemporary, open plan Kitchen, Dining Room and Family Room with traditional detailing, where all of the family gathers. The bedrooms were reconfigured with space saving built-ins and enlarged closets, including a special closet for the owner’s collection of colorful saris.

At the attic, a completely new space was made from an abandoned maid’s room and small storage rooms to create an open, light-filled and peaceful mediation space overlooking the tree-tops, with niches specially designed for a collection of Hindu deities.

1899 Queen Anne Addition and Restoration

This 1899 Queen Anne style house has been owned by the same family since 1950. Our goal was to retain the historic character of the house, while completely reimagining the house for a contemporary 21st century family with small children. The new family friendly Kitchen was expanded and a new Dining Room added on, with an open floor plan for entertaining their extended family.

The second floor addition includes a new Master Bedroom with a cathedral ceiling. An adjacent bedroom was converted to a luxurious Bath. A new attached garage in the style of carriage barns characteristic of the surrounding neighborhood has a room above it with a fireplace, kitchenette and bath that serves as an outdoor hot tub. A sculptural spiral staircase links this adult playroom to the main house.

The exterior of the house was fully restored, including a complete restoration of all the historic details of the screened porch at the front of the house, and newly designed leaded glass for the front door.  

1910 Tudor Restoration and Renovation

This 1910 Tudor Revival-style house required a comprehensive program: restoration, landscape design, reconfiguring of interior spaces, and the addition of a new wing containing a two-car garage, guest room with bath, formal dining room and a second-floor family room—all of which were seamlessly integrated into the original house.

In the dining room, old wood paneling and a mantel we rescued from an historic New York City church were salvaged and reinstalled by master carpenters. New leaded-glass windows were crafted by one of our stained-glass artisans, and antique sconces and chandelier were added to make the room look as if it had always been there.

Period details continue at the bar off the billiard room where a large round leaded-glass window with a grape motif dramatically terminates a hallway axis, and in the billiard room where a library bookcase with a specially latched "secret" door swings open to reveal a powder room.

1926 Cottage Renovation

This 1926 English-cottage-style house had been in our client's family for generations, largely untouched. In keeping with the conventions of the 20s, it had a cluttered floor plan and a tiny kitchen.

We removed a bathroom and maid's room to enlarge the kitchen and created a breakfast area with floor-to-ceiling cabinetry that now opens to a south-facing garden, flooding the formerly dark space with light. A narrow screened porch was widened and glassed in with French doors and casement windows to create a new family room.

To maximize its views on all sides, we designed a new garden and terrace around a spectacular 25-foot rhododendron hedge that was planted by the owner's parents more than 60 years ago.

1922 Georgian Renovation

The owners of this 1922 Georgian-style house loved its traditional look, but they needed more space.

A brick and mortar analysis and careful attention to scale and original detailing enabled us to perfectly integrate the new parts of the house with the old.

The plan included replacing the front existing open portico with a new enclosed vestibule, adding an attached three-car garage with a maid’s room and exercise room, designing a new entry porch and mudroom off the kitchen, and converting the original freestanding one-car garage to a poolhouse.