The renovation of this 1920’s cottage into a contemporary home seamlessly blends the new and the old. It makes an argument against the current trend of tearing down older homes and replacing them with oversized McMansions. The Briarcliff design shows how you can do more with less, how you can repurpose an older home for today’s lifestyle, reconfiguring living space, enlarging windows, raising ceilings, using warm-toned wood detailing and clean-lined white cabinetry, while, at the same time, respecting and reinterpreting the cottage vernacular. It is an argument for sustainable redevelopment, a pressing issue in the mature suburb of Larchmont, NY.

Located at the end of a cul-de-sac, the original L-shaped house was enlarged by enclosing an existing screened-in porch and adding a fourth bedroom on the upper level. The square footage of the house increased from 1,700 sf to 2,300 sf, but the house’s footprint grew by less than 75 sf. The new design features an open-plan ground level in tune with the way we live today: The living room interconnects to the den, dining area and the u-shaped kitchen. Large windows, including a cantilevered bay window above the kitchen sink, make the interior space airy and light while providing views to the lovely wooded outdoor setting. On the second-floor, the new master bedroom suite and fourth bedroom have dramatic cathedral ceilings. Key elements of the exterior design: a copper-clad front porch with natural Douglas-fir wood framing; an enlarged entrance with a large natural wood-and-glass door and sidelight; restoration of the board-and-batten siding as well as the front-facing balcony off the master bedroom.

Size: 2,300 sf
Contractor: O’Brien Carpentry
Photography: Michael Biondo