The analogy of home building to family creation is apt. Initially, we start these efforts with extreme exuberance and soon realize the burdens that these young realities impose on our lives. As buildings, children, and parents age, the joy of exuberant discovery gives way to the satisfaction of applied effort and reasoned development. Adolescence often has more frustrations than triumphs, with extreme effort being applied to elements that often bear no immediate fruit. And in the end, as children and homes reach full maturity and ultimately live on to express their own identity and fully reflect the years of focused and ardent effort on the part of their progenitors, the glow of pride and the joy of lives shared (whether basking in the realization of a mature family or in a fully formed home) offer rewards seldom found in other experiences.
So it is with this classic 1920’s bungalow in suburban Connecticut, which had an unfortunate (and semi-misaligned) 1970’s garage wing that supported a separate apartment. This hybrid was purchased by a young couple with an eye toward a long term renovation. Starting as a 10-year the renovation, the seven (or nine) phases of renovation stretching out over 15 years and multiple periods of the couple’s varying levels of employment, meant that progress in the home’s renovation followed the ebb and flow of available funds, all with a constant eye towards creating a unique design that reflected their passionate need to express detail, material, humor, and ultimately an idiosyncratic visioning typical of what makes all custom residential architecture so uniquely satisfying to both designers and inhabitants.
Spanning between the garage/apartment wing and the Bungalow’s second floor, a new connector reaches across and down to form the new front entry that allowed for the elimination of a fairly disastrous second stair. The old entry became additional space for a now fabulously linear dining room. Two new bathrooms were inserted, a den created, and the remaining stair reoriented. Ultimately the master bedroom interior was created, new cypress floors graced most of the interior, and finally the grand finale of a new rear deck and full kitchen renovation was built. Along the way, leaky aspects of the “new” (by then, 10-year-old) front entry roof were rectified, gutters were added, early contractor miscues were fixed, and ongoing maintenance proceeded apace.
In the end, the entire home was completely reinvented with virtually every space touched, buffed, and loved. In all things obvious and subtle, hidden and undeniable, the focus and attention of the owners of this house was felt and it was the better for it. Would that devotion to our children had such loving beginnings and fruitful outcomes.
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