“I love these types of transformations,” architect Margaret Browning Kufferman says. She means major changes: huge weight loss, a total makeover or a deeply imaginative renovation of the kind she just completed for a Connecticut couple who both work in New York City media. The pair wanted a New England vernacular farmhouse; what they stumbled on—and bought, because it was on such a great piece of property—was a small (and pretty bedraggled) cape house. But before they signed on the dotted line, they asked their architect for some ideas.
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Landscape design, Oliver Nurseries and Design Associates. Builder, Shostak Construction, LLC. Structural engineering, David Kufferman, PE Structural Engineers. Cabinetry (throughout), Wallace Company Woodworking, LLC. Windows and doors, Jeld-Wen, through Clearview, Inc. Sconces and light fixtures, Cape Cod Lanterns. Rocking chairs, Walpole Outdoors. Sconces (mudroom door, left), Pottery Barn. Rug, Redi-Cut Carpets. Chairs and coffee table, Lillian August. Table, Leonard’s Antiques. Chairs and side tables, RH. Glass hurricanes, lamps and pillows, KL Home. Sofa, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams. Island chairs, S. Timberlake. Refrigerator, range and dishwasher, GE Appliances. Faucet and sink, Rohl. Artwork, Joan Albaugh.
“The house is almost like the original sketches,” says Browning Kufferman. Those sketches increased the size without increasing the footprint. “I worked hard to get the proportioning and massing and details just spot on,” she notes.
And she added those New England details in the form of a spectacular front porch (that the architect sees the couple using all the time when she drives by); solid cedar posts on that front porch; custom-milled interior paneling that was designed (in pencil) on-site; custom exterior molding; and drawing twice as much light into the house by changing the windows and dropping the sills down.
The clients wanted a simple farmhouse aesthetic on the inside, which comes through in the addition of a few Shaker furniture pieces and clean, bright lines.
At first glance, the house fits seamlessly into its own vernacular, and seems like it’s always been there. It’s on the second and third and twenty-seventh look that the epic nature of its transformation comes into focus—and clearly.
“They were hoping to downsize, but they built a house bigger than the one they were in,” Howard Lathrop says. The architect, who runs Sellars Lathrop Architects with Ann Sellars Lathrop, is describing the contemporary Fairfield County home he designed for a healthy and active couple.
Additional Resources:
Interior design, Jennifer Gresinger. Builder, Prutting & Company, Custom Builders, LLC. Landscape architecture, Artemis Landscape Architects, Inc.. Structural engineering, DeStefano & Chamberlain Inc.. Kitchen cabinetry, Custom Furniture & Design. Custom metal work, Focal Metals. Custom millwork, Kitchen & Baths by C.A.M., LLC. Stone supplier, ABC Worldwide Stone. Specialty tile, AKDO. Bathroom tile and fixtures, Porcelanosa. Lounge chairs, RH. Umbrellas, Tuuci, through Swimm Pool & Patio. Runner, Chilewich, through Design Within Reach. Chair, sofa and chaise, Dedon. Side tables and coffee table, Design Within Reach. Wooden drink table, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams. Range and hood, BlueStar. Freezer and refrigerator, Miele. Dishwasher, Bosch. Trash compactor, KitchenAid.
The architects were dealt a challenging site—long and narrow, without a central distribution point or axis around which rooms would naturally organize themselves. That’s part of how the house got first stretched, and then bigger. It’s not the first time the size shift has happened: “It becomes the dream house; they want the porch, the kitchen, they want this and that, and it adds up,” Lathrop explains.
Instead of the typical neighboring farmhouse with lots of tiny rooms, the clients “wanted something open and light and bright,” and that’s what they got.
Massive planes intersect with equally massive windows, and the entire house is a study in airy geometry and careful articulations of frame, color and material.
A double-height living room looks out over the water, two enormous sofas angling in toward each other, while an industrialesque catwalk overlooks. The house’s size feels like it fluctuates depending on program, one of the architectural highlights. “For most of the week, they feel as if they’re living in a one-bedroom house,” Lathrop says. “And yet when they entertain on weekends, there’s a nice big space in the summer where inside goes right to outside.”
When a couple living in Fairfield County approached Peter Paulos Jr and Philip Hubbard, it was clear they were looking to build an investment property across the street from their existing house. Land had become available once their neighbor’ house burned down, and so they saw this strangely shaped lot as a perfect opportunity to whip up a house and sell it quickly. Spoiler: It’s now their current home.
“They wanted an understated, kind of a cape-looking house,” Hubbard says. He and Paulos drew what they felt was an understated house with “some dormers on the front,” but found the clients wanted it to be even more understated. Now, the side facing the street is almost a caricature of a simple cape house, with six windows evenly placed and a front door tucked into the left side. It’s on the side of the house, facing the gravel driveway that leads to the hidden garage, that the massing and play of volumes and roofline details begins to appear—an increase in eye-catching detail that is completely on purpose.
Additional Resources:
Builder, East Coast Structures. Door hardware, Baldwin Hardware. Windows, Marvin. Columns, Pacific Columns, Inc.
“The homeowners were really sophisticated,” Hubbard says. “They were very particular about the house having a quiet street presence, and then opening up.” The house, he says, “evolves as you walk around the side.” On the interior, a cleaner aesthetic that isn’t quite capital-M Modern brings bright lightness into the space, with simple lines and an abundance of wood adding what Paulos calls a “light and dynamic feel.”