Tangletown Craftsman

Downstairs, the kitchen had to serve a family that spends as much time outside as in. We enlarged the window over the sink, and replaced a pair of windows and a door with sliders to bring in more light and create a more seamless connection to the deck. We also carried fir trim through the room to harmonize with the existing charm of the living and family rooms. The soapstone counters were chosen for their veining, important to the outdoor-enthusiast clients who respond to the natural world. Runnels are carved into the stone beside a farm sink so dishes drain straight into the basin. Morris & Co.’s Willow Boughs, deVOL pendants, and an ILVE range all feel as though they belong to an old home. A curved cabinet tucked into the corner echoes the curves upstairs. Across the room, a coffee bar and a built-in banquette wrapping the corner make better use of space the old layout wasted. With no desire for a formal dining room, the banquette table is where the family eats, so the kitchen supports daily life without asking the home to be any larger.

Upstairs, an open vestibule existed only to move people through and was needlessly large. By reworking the top of the stair, the vestibule could be incorporated into a new bedroom, now used as an office.

We also raised the ceilings across the floor and kept the primary vaulted, so the second floor feels larger, even though its floor plate isn’t.

The primary suite is reconfigured within its original square footage to read as traditional rather than a product of the ’90s: closing an open plan to partition off the bedroom, a walk-in closet, and a bathroom with a double vanity, a generous shower, and separate toilet room. Skylights flood the suite with natural light.

Hidden behind the wall paneling in the bathroom, additional recessed storage uses every inch without adding visual clutter.

The custom white oak vanity with tambour detailing is topped with Calacatta marble. The ROHL fixtures are nickel and the lighting is brass, mixed deliberately enough to read as collected rather than accidental. Gently curved mirrors add a touch of softness complementing the strict linearity of the ribbed vanity details and wall paneling. Fireclay Tile in a dusty, faintly pink tone lines the shower. In the water closet, a classic-leaning wallpaper of flying mallards makes the space feel far older than it is.

The primary bedroom is enveloped in the curling vines of Morris & Co.’s Blackthorn wallpaper. Throughout the room, from the base to the windows to the box beams in the newly-vaulted ceiling, the trim is painted a dusty green hue to match, creating the feeling of being both ensconced in the lush coziness of the space and nestled into the boughs of the mature tree out the window.

The other bedrooms got smaller moves, but still rich with character. In the front bedroom, a curved niche papered in Cole & Son’s Frutto Proibito holds a full-size bed, with a deep drawer below and built-ins alongside. It is a reading nook by day and a place to sleep at night. The nursery is paneled and wrapped in CFA Voysey’s Apothecary’s Garden, which carries the Arts and Crafts thread into the smallest room in the house.

At the entry, full-height casework for coats and gear sits against Morris & Co.’s Pimpernel wallpaper. The base of the main stair now opens straight through to the living room, making both the stair and the living room feel more generous. In a niche by the basement stair, casework is lifted clear of the floor so a dog feeding station can tuck below, keeping the dog bowls from being constantly underfoot.

The design details that tie the house together are the quietest. We replaced the flat painted trim the 1990s left behind with trim matched to the original first-floor profile, and hung new five-panel doors cut to match the originals.

Throughout the home, brass and nickel finishes are unlacquered, left to darken and soften with handling. The patina of a live finish evolves overtime, creating a visual artifact of how a family uses a home.

Finally, the entire home feels like an aesthetic whole. For the first time in decades, the Craftsman detail runs unbroken from floor to floor, in materials chosen to age rather than to stay new.