Houzz Tour: A 300-Year-Old Home Adapts to a Modern Family of 7

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Craig and Kate Carswell and their five children
Location: Winchester, Massachusetts
Size: 3,700 square feet (344 square meters); six bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms
Year built: Around 1750; new addition added in 2014

BEFORE: While quaint, the existing home, shown here, was neglected and in need of updating. The Johnson-Thompson House, as it’s called, is a Georgian two-story farmhouse and is the oldest structure in Winchester. The house is attributed to William Johnson, a prominent local resident when Winchester was part of the town of Woburn. Caroline Johnson married Timothy Thompson in 1858, and the house remained in the Thompson family until 1994. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Photos by Eric Roth Photography

AFTER: The Carswells hired Cummings Architects to put life back into their nearly 300-year-old home. While certainly livable, it needed some maintenance and upgrades. Lead architect Mathew Cummings says the previous owner was an architect with more modern taste and had hidden a lot of the historic characteristics, such as the original beams, and the layout of some of the spaces, such as the kitchen, was awkward.

For the original portion of the home, shown here, the scope of work included structural work, insulation, central air, new and refinished wood floors, woodwork, new wood windows — and lots of painting.

Builder Shawn Cayer of Windhill Builders says that every step of the demolition process was carefully monitored so that the integrity of the original workmanship stayed intact and the materials were preserved for reuse.

Cayer removed the old cedar shakes and installed new traditional cedar clapboard siding anchored with hand-driven stainless steel ring shank nails, and painted it a historic gold color.

Exterior siding paint: Stuart Gold HC-10; exterior trim paint: White Sand OC-10, both by Benjamin Moore

Untreated cedar shingles cover the exterior of the new addition, seen here. The addition includes a kitchen, a living room, a laundry room, three and a half bathrooms and two bedrooms.

Two new oval windows in the foyer bring more light into the once dark space. The front door has salvaged hinges and an old-time lock with skeleton key from Wiliamsburg Blacksmiths. Kate’s grandmother’s wet bar acts as a console table.

New eastern white pine flooring, a staple in the Northeast at the time the house was built, was installed throughout the home, except in three of the upstairs bedrooms, where the wood floors were refinished. For natural variation, the planks on the first floor vary in width from 10 to 16 inches, while those on the second floor range in width from 8 to 12 inches.

Wall paint: Covington Blue HC-138; trim paint: Cream Fleece 233, both by Benjamin Moore

BEFORE: Prior to the renovation, the Carswells had set up their dining room in this space, which became a parlor after the renovation. The door on the left led to the original kitchen, which got replaced by a mudroom. A new kitchen was included in the addition.

AFTER: The parlor serves as an intimate living room. The sofa has a pullout bed for guests. The doorway behind the rocking chair leads to the new mudroom.

Kate tackled the decorating herself, and says it’s a work in progress. Most of the furniture is from Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn, but some of the items sprinkled throughout are from HomeGoods and T.J. Maxx. “I’m always on the prowl for the perfect fit,” she says. Other decor items she found online, in garden centers or on vacations. The antique rocking chair was a gift. The mirror above the wet bar seen through the door on the right once hung in Kate’s great-grandmother’s house. It then hung in her grandmother’s house and her mother’s house.

Wall paint: Cream Fleece 233; trim paint: Great Barrington Green HC-122

Before the renovation, this bar area off the parlor was a passageway that housed some white adjustable shelving. Black walnut forms the countertop in the foreground, while honed granite covers the countertop in the back.

Cabinets: Ipswich Cabinetry; hardware: House of Antique Hardware; cabinet and trim paint: Philadelphia Cream HC-30, Benjamin Moore

The new dining room occupies a space in the original structure, to the right of the foyer. The beam running through the ceiling is original to the house. Classic floral drapery in gray and earth tones and a style-appropriate light fixture over the dining table nod to the era when the home was built.

Wall paint: Horizon OC-53; trim paint: Philadelphia Cream HC-30, both by Benjamin Moore; drapes: Pottery Barn; light: Lucía Lighting & Design

All of the new eastern white pine flooring was installed using hand-driven nails from Tremont Nail Co., just as would have been done in the 18th century. In this image, you can see the nails in each of the planks.

The kitchen countertops are a mixture of black walnut and honed black granite. The ceiling beam, while structural, helps to visually tie the new and old sections together.

Kate says during the week, the house is full of action and the kitchen island is command central, with homework, art projects and the inevitable grazing with five kids. With all the sports practices and games, it’s rare that all seven of them are home at the same time during the week, so meals are eaten primarily at the island. Kate says even when they host parties, eventually everyone gathers around the island. On weekends, the pace slows a bit and meals are eaten in the dining room, which Kate says is her favorite room, especially when it’s cold and they have the fireplace going.

Pendants: Besa Lighting

During the renovation, Cayer found bricks being used as insulation inside an upstairs bedroom wall. He cut them into veneers and repurposed them as a kitchen backsplash. Because they’re handmade bricks and are different sizes and thicknesses, they’re not uniform and have a little sway to them. “We felt that it brings even more character to the house,” Cayer says.

Cabinets: Ipswich Cabinetry; hardware: Richelieu; cabinet paint: Dune White 968, Benjamin Moore

Exposed beams add to the rustic farmhouse feel.

Cabinet paint: Chelsea Gray HC-168, Benjamin Moore; sconces and pendant fixtures: Lucía Lighting & Design; mirrors: Restoration Hardware

The master bedroom sits in the original home, and a palette of period-appropriate grays is an elegant improvement over the previous light yellow and blue color scheme. Cayer says old doors from the period were combined with replicated new handmade planed ones and installed in the original part of the house. However, since antique doors aren’t a standard size, new door frames were required to make them fit. Configuring antique door hardware to make it operable proved challenging as well.

The fireplace is original to the house, and only needed cleaning and the mantel painted.

Wall paint: Wedgewood Gray HC-146; trim paint: Coventry Gray HC-169, both by Benjamin Moore

French doors connect the kitchen to a covered porch while another set opens from the family room to a fire pit area. “We also have a great big yard and detached barn that houses Ping-Pong, air hockey, foosball — where you can often find the boys,” Kate says.

Here’s a plan of the home’s first floor. The original portion of the house is visible on the bottom and left side; the addition’s borders are the solid brown lines.

The third floor features a new large bathroom to serve the two kids’ bedrooms and playroom.

“The home’s features are being maximized to the fullest, and the home seems to suit them all so comfortably,” Cayer says. “A lot of living is still going on in this historic home.”

Architectural and structural design: Mathew Cummings, Cummings Architects
Builder: Shawn Cayer of Windhill Builders
Cabinetry: Ipswich Cabinetry
Front door and historic wood trim: Matt Diana Housewright