We removed the hallway and demising wall to enlarge the front room of this colonial era row house. Respecting the home's historic bones (Benedict Arnold lived a couple doors up) we maintained the window and ceiling trim and old pine floors. During demolition we excavated a hidden second fireplace and embraced the quirkiness by giving the living room two.

The kitchen was reconfigured using a combination of custom and existing cabinets. Reusing cabinets is more challenging than one might think due to the precise sizing needed for a coherent look.

The elevated garden is visible from the dining room. We installed a lot of steel in order to blow through a brick wall and fireplace and open the kitchen to this secret garden. We considered excavating the yard down to floor level, but decided that was excessive. The raised courtyard welcomes you to curl up on the window seat and nestle into the landscape.