Create an ideabook for your next remodeling project!
Browse more than 1,000,000 photos from top designers and save your favorites
Houzz Tours
Top Ideabooks
- Modern Settings for Old-School Pieces in a Pittsburgh Loft
- Remodeling Modernizes a Neoclassical Dutch Home
- DIY Efforts Transform a South Philly Row House
- A San Diego Townhouse Gets a Bright Update
- Sustainable Bamboo for a Prototype Home in Nicaragua
- 10 Acres, 3 Generations and Many Animals in North Carolina
Houzz Tour: Seaside Shingle Style Gets Modern Edge
Scandinavian design gives a traditional home in Massachusetts fresh energy and flexible space for visiting family
Houzz Contributor. Hi There! I currently live in a 1920s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected."
I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia. I've been writing about design online for quite a few years over at Hatch: The Design Public Blog.
Houzz Contributor. Hi There! I currently live in a 1920s cottage in Atlanta... More »
"My clients spent all of their free time on family activities for 25 years," says designer Jean Verbridge of Siemasko and Verbridge. While raising four children, they had time for only very small renovations to their home, on Boston's North Shore. But once the kids grew up, the parents were ready for a new kind of house. "My clients love Scandinavian design," says Verbridge. "If their shingle-style home did not have such a great location on the ocean, they probably would have built something new and modern."
The challenges for Verbridge included:
Houzz at a Glance
Location: North Shore of Boston
Size: 5 bedrooms, 5.5 baths
Who lives here: A couple with 4 grown children
That's interesting: The wife is a children's librarian, and storing and displaying her book collection played a large role in the new design.
The challenges for Verbridge included:
- Reconfiguring the warren of small rooms, tiny or nonexistent closets and outdated bathrooms
- Adapting Scandinavian modern aesthetics for a traditional shingle-style home
- Keeping the house familiar and homey for the clients' grown children and grandchildren, who visit often
- Creating cozy spaces for reading and relaxing
Houzz at a Glance
Location: North Shore of Boston
Size: 5 bedrooms, 5.5 baths
Who lives here: A couple with 4 grown children
That's interesting: The wife is a children's librarian, and storing and displaying her book collection played a large role in the new design.
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
The clients knew they'd never find a better setting than the one their existing shingle-style house was built upon. The entire family enjoys the indoor-outdoor lifestyle, including fishing, surfing and swimming right off their property. Thus, the architects found a balance between the home's traditional style and the clients' more modern tastes.
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
The wife is a children's librarian and the husband travels a lot, so building in storage for lots of books and creating cozy spaces where she could nestle up when home alone were top priorities.
This image gives you a good idea of the aforementioned passage. "From the kitchen you pass through the pantry, a sitting room, the living room and the dining room to arrive on the porch through this series of glass doors," Verbridge says.
This image gives you a good idea of the aforementioned passage. "From the kitchen you pass through the pantry, a sitting room, the living room and the dining room to arrive on the porch through this series of glass doors," Verbridge says.
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| "This is a cook's kitchen," says Verbridge. The family loves cooking and has a friend who is a chef who also enjoys using the kitchen to prepare meals. While the kitchen has classic elements like white cabinets and gray counters, the clients felt no need for their kitchen to look like everyone else's, so they asked Verbridge for her advice on making a big, unexpected move. "My impulsive first instinct was to go with the cobalt blue range and hood," she says. "It kind of came out of nowhere, except that I was inspired by their love for a Scandinavian aesthetic." Another custom element tailored to the couple is the bookshelves at the end of the island. It holds cookbooks and children's books close at hand, so that visiting grandchildren can make a pick and read with their grandmother. Range: 48-inch RNB series with Pro-Line Hood, Bluestar; pendant lights: Slender Glass Cylinder, DK Living; kitchen island paint: Graystone 1475, Benjamin Moore; countertop material: Bianco Carrara |
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
Between the banquette (not seen) and chairs, this cozy dining nook seats eight comfortably. "It's just the right size for small, intimate family gatherings," says Verbridge. The framed artworks are illustrations from children's books.
Buffet: BDDW
Buffet: BDDW
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
This cozy sitting area is at the end of the kitchen. "Originally we had a larger fireplace planned, but after a Scandinavian trip, the couple came back with a smaller woodstove like this one in mind," says Verbridge. "It throws out lots of heat; it can heat the entire kitchen," she says. This is one of the cozy spots the wife enjoys curling up in.
If you're on the fence about the aesthetics of a television in the kitchen, note this idea: One is recessed into the wall behind the gray painting.
Woodstove: Edofocus, Focus
If you're on the fence about the aesthetics of a television in the kitchen, note this idea: One is recessed into the wall behind the gray painting.
Woodstove: Edofocus, Focus
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| This part of the living room provides another cozy space for the wife to nestle in when she's home alone. To the left you can see the beginning of the passage to the sitting room/library, pantry and kitchen. |
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| This sitting bay is right off the front entryway at the end of the library. "If someone stops by and wants to chat, they'll head straight for these chairs," says Verbridge. It's also yet another intimate reading area that carves a snug space out of the large house. |
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
This corner of the library/sitting room is a great spot for a laptop workstation.
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
"People don't spend much time in powder rooms, so I love to make a big impact with design in there," says Verbridge. In this case that included Tiffany blue walls and a boutique wallpaper on the ceiling in a small ethnic pattern. Tucked underneath the stairs on the main floor, "this little room feels safe and special," she says.
Vessel sink: Bacino Wash Bowl, Duravit
Vessel sink: Bacino Wash Bowl, Duravit
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
Upstairs on the main bedroom floor, the wife has her own library. All of the built-in shelves were part of the renovation and now house all the childrens' and young adult books. "Of course with her background as a children's librarian, she has all of these books logically organized," says Verbridge.
Table: BDDW
Table: BDDW
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
A vintage trunk and a suzani add style to this guest room, while the white walls give it the relaxed feel of a Scandinavian modern home. "We had lots of help sourcing the best items from Billy Cotton, a New York City–based industrial designer," says Verbridge. "He helped us separate the great sources from the rest of them."
To the left is a closet that doubles as a passageway to a bathroom. Because this room serves as a guest room, the clients had the luxury of outfitting the new, large closet with the bureau, mirror and vase.
To the left is a closet that doubles as a passageway to a bathroom. Because this room serves as a guest room, the clients had the luxury of outfitting the new, large closet with the bureau, mirror and vase.
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| On the top floor, the husband's office enjoys ocean views and transforms into an extra guest room when necessary. Just out of view to the left are built-in shelves and a desk for him. In the foreground, two chaises can transform into twin beds for sleepover guests. "We added the drapery so that overnight guests can pull it for a sense of privacy," says Verbridge. |
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| "These clients were great about letting things go for their home's new look," says Verbridge. "While we used a few of their existing pieces, they let about 90 percent of it go, because rather than hanging onto the past, they wanted to have a great future." More: Decorating Around the World: Scandinavian Style Houzz Tour: Glossy Black and White Beachfront Style |
Ideabook published on July 2, 2012.
What are you working on?
News From Our Partners
Latest Ideabooks
People found the photos in this ideabook after searching for:
View over a million photos:
The Tiffany blue powder room with wallpaper on the ceiling is interesting and inviting. I did something similar when I re-tiled a shower, though I used 1x1 glass tiles in beiges and browns.
I like the way you created coziness all around from so much space. Makes me want to drop by their house.
If possible, I'd like to see a clearer picture of the window seat in the husband's office.