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Houzz Tour: An American Farmhouse is Given a Zen-worthy Makeover

A 200-year-old farmhouse retains elements of its past, like reclaimed wood, yet feels decidedly modern

Fred Albert 20 June 2014

Houzz Contributor. Fred has written about architecture and design for many Web sites and magazines, including Houzz, Metropolitan Home, House Beautiful and Style 1900.

Houzz Contributor. Fred has written about architecture and design for many Web sites... More

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A year before the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, a man named Joseph Wheadon built a modest, one-room house in Connecticut. Wheadon cut the wood by hand and scavenged foundation stones from the surrounding property. After his premature death, a Greek Revival wing was built, followed by other less-distinctive additions.

More than 235 years after Wheadon first wielded his axe, a Greenwich woman discovered the property while searching for a weekend retreat. By this time, the house was dated and neglected. ‘It was my duty to the community to maintain and uphold the architectural history of the house,’ says the homeowner, a former student of historic preservation, now earning a doctorate in environmental policy. ‘However, at the back of the house, I wanted to bring nature in and to connect the house to its surroundings.’

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here The home is a getaway for a local family of five
Location Connecticut, USA
Size 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms
That’s interesting The old foundation stones were used to build a maze behind the house.

Blansfield Builders, Inc.

Working with Mark Goodwin of Beinfield Architecture, and Jim Blansfield of Blansfield Builders, the owner renovated and expanded the house, opening up the interior spaces to the view.

The new column-lined entrance across from the garage pays homage to the 19th-century Greek Revival facade at the front of the house. The wing to the right was newly built, and the whole house was covered in metal roofing, which is both easy to maintain and environmentally friendly - a consideration that influenced much of the project.

Blansfield Builders, Inc.

‘You venture into a different world when you venture inside,’ observes Goodwin, who heeded the owner’s request to reduce every element to its simplest components.

The open-plan living room and dining area is dominated by an original fireplace, now covered in reclaimed wood that’s been treated to a charcoal grey finish. ‘We tried to reuse as much of the wood as we could,’ says Goodwin, who left some of the beams exposed and used one to create a sublimely understated mantelpiece.

Contemporary Living Room Circa 1700 in NY

While the home feels like a radical departure from its revolutionary past, the owner doesn’t see the two as incompatible. ‘If you look at the interiors, they’re contemporary in terms of being minimal,’ she says. ‘But actually, those are the same materials that would have been used by the original builders. Instead of making it a relic of the past, we revived it and gave it a whole new identity.’

The living room sofa was custom-made from white pine, while the Andrianna Shamaris coffee table was fashioned from a tree stump. The engineered-wood floors are made from oak, textured and treated to look like ancient reclaimed wood.

Read why you don’t necessarily need a three-piece suite

Blansfield Builders, Inc.

The neutral decor defers to the view. The garden area is visible through the doorway at rear.

Blansfield Builders, Inc.

‘The owner wanted the house to be as simple as it could be,’ says Goodwin, who conjured a space as refined as a Donald Judd sculpture. The owner didn’t want any high cupboards cluttering the room, so Goodwin provided the most minimal of shelving. Vermont marble covers the island and worktops - part of an effort to use only local materials.

The cupboards are treated with a high-gloss painted finish. The owner commissioned the rustic-style table and picked out the pendant lights - once again opting for something as understated as possible.

Blansfield Builders, Inc.

The builder tried to preserve the original master bedroom, but it was too fragile and had to be rebuilt. The bed now backs on to a wall covered with reclaimed wood from the old house.

The window wall offers views of 350-year-old maple trees, where the owner has observed falcons and owls roosting. ‘You feel like you’re in nature, but you’re not interrupting it,’ she says.

Blansfield Builders, Inc.

A new en-suite bathroom was added behind the wood wall in the bedroom. (These are the same windows visible in the bedroom.) The sink unit features old barn wood, while the mirror above was drilled to accommodate both the taps and the light fittings - a task that took a couple of tries to master.

Discover 8 ways to introduce a rustic vibe to your bathroom

Blansfield Builders, Inc.

A extension was added to balance the master bedroom wing, creating a U-shaped floor plan with a garden terrace in between the wings. The new space, designed for yoga or meditation, features barn doors that slide open to reveal storage or to close off the entry, at night.

Blansfield Builders, Inc.

Underfloor heating warms the whole house, including the yoga room. The owner has had as many as 14 people exercising in the space at once.

Although the property is not large, it’s surrounded on three sides by agricultural land, so its perimeter seems boundless.

Architect Mark Goodwin tucked a common room outside the upstairs bedrooms, offering a more private retreat than a conventional family room. Glossy white paint updates the floors and makes the low-ceiling room feel more spacious.

Goodwin expanded the upstairs bedrooms to the roof - a trick that allowed him to keep the perimeter walls low so that the new second floor wouldn’t overwhelm the original structure.

Blansfield Builders, Inc.

Goodwin used a variety of architectural tricks to keep the second floor as low as possible, to respect the Greek Revival facade. The old shutters were not original or authentic, so the owner opted to remove them.

To keep the renovation as environmentally friendly as possible, the team reused everything they could from the old house and recycled the rest. They used organic insulation in the walls and ceiling, water-based glues, formaldehyde-free materials, low- or no-VOC paints, and an efficient-energy recovery ventilator.

Blansfield Builders, Inc.

The rear of the house isn’t visible to the public, so the owner felt more comfortable updating it with walls of glass. The yoga studio, on the left, was added to form a U that embraces the central garden terrace.

The new conservatory sits on top of the former patio area. While digging up the concrete slab, the construction team uncovered an old gravestone lying face-down in the dirt. It marked the grave of the original owner, Joseph Wheadon, who died shortly after the house was completed.

While his remains were not found, the gravestone was kept in the spot where it was discovered - now preserved in an illuminated glass case and secured behind doors in the conservatory.

Before Photo

When the owner bought the house, the kitchen had barely been updated since the 1950s and still sported its vintage metal cabinets.

Before Photo

The Greek Revival wing had been added after the original house was built - probably around 1820. ‘We wanted to keep that absolutely intact, and use that as a reference point for all the materials and proportions and style of the rest of the house,’ says the owner.

Before Photo

When the owner bought the house, the interiors were woefully dated, as you can see by this pink-and-aqua bathroom - the only one on the main floor.

What do you think of this renovation? Have you recently undergone one for your home? We would love to read about it in the Comments below.

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elliegmail

I think the "hardness" some find in this interior could be softened with free-standing, upholstered furniture. The built-in couch is probably not very comfortable. I have a friend with a built-in couch exactly like the one in this home and it's not at all comfortable. I wish the interior had been updated but kept true to the period of the home (as in the reno of the McLean, Virginia, home in the previous post).

3 Likes 2 January 2014 at 3:53p.m.