Modern Home Moves Out of the Brush

Before

Nestled privately in the woods, this 1960s contemporary home is hidden from view. The home undergoes a remodel of gigantic proportions, starting with an extensive clearing of trees and overgrowth just to make the home visible. The next phase of the remodel brings traditional style to the facade with new construction, color and elaborate landscaping.

Homeowners Laurie and Jeff Friedman recently bought their large home in the woods with the intention of remodeling it in the traditional style they love. Designer Linda Applewhite and landscape designer Mike Wood team up to help this diamond in the rough reach its potential. They clear out old trees and brush to bring the house out into the open, and give the home a graceful traditional style with new cedar shingles, an expanded front porch, a whole new entry, and a formal English garden.

After

Here’s how they accomplish it:

• Put up cedar shingles and stain them charcoal gray for a rich look
  
• Enclose the upper deck with shingle covered plywood, and create a new storage room with a window
  
• New window on the front porch, and white crown molding trim for all the windows
  
• Front porch gets built out, with a new portico and columns for a neoclassical feel
  
• Build new steps, covered with concrete tiles for an antique look
  
• Retaining walls to terrace the landscaping- made of concrete and covered with stone
  
• Create new grassy play spaces for the kids
  
• Install an English style garden with boxwoods, topiaries, and shade tolerant plants that also repel deer: pieris, camellias, rhododendrons
  
• The final decorative touches: house address numbers carved into a large stone in the driveway, hand blown glass porch lights, a newly painted orange door, and vintage iron porch furniture.