Peabody Architects

A Room in the Trees

Opening a House on the Inside and Out

After living in an imperfect house in a great neighborhood, this family decided to tackle a whole raft of problems. They wanted to bring in lots of light, improve flow, add a new kitchen and family room that connect to the existing house, add a front porch and a second-floor master bedroom suite.

Avid gardeners, they have a hilly back yard with beautiful plantings. They wanted the renovated house to have views to the back yard from all the new spaces.

On the first floor, we’ve added a new kitchen and family room to the rear of the house. These rooms have large south and east facing windows. An open floor plan allows the existing living and dining room to borrow light from these new rooms.

The kitchen location provided a real challenge — how do you provide good storage in a room that has windows on two sides, and opens to rooms on the other two? With a large island, a clients’ willingness to forgo upper cabinet storage, and careful planning, we have created a functional kitchen from which you can survey the entire first floor as well as the beautiful back yard.

On the second floor, we’ve added a master bedroom and roof deck over the first floor addition. Because the house is on a steep hill, with mature trees around, these spaces feel like they are in a tree house. A large picture window in the bedroom takes advantage of the views.