Last year, I featured an exquisite Victorian house in Easton’s Historic District that was the home of my friends Tom and Sandy. They had placed their home on the market and told me they decided to change not only Towns and architectural styles but also new construction instead of restoration/renovation. They looked for property in St. Michaels for proximity to the water, the Rails to Trails and the Maritime Museum. Their other criteria was to have a master suite on the main floor with guest rooms/offices upstairs. They discovered a cul-de-sac street off Railroad Ave. with woods along one side of the street and several houses built by contractor Ricky Stemm of Stemcraft. They selected a lot and design near the end of the street and Ricky worked with Tom and Sandy to make subtle changes to the plan and their upgraded finishes. Sandy has great instincts about interior design so I knew their new home would be enhanced by her selections. Both she and Tom are ardent supporters of the arts, especially Plein Air, and their art collection includes work of many local artists that I looked forward to seeing in their new home.
Before I went inside, I walked around the house to understand the massing and how the house relates to its site. The rectangular shaped main floor plan is topped with an “L” shaped second story with gables at each side and one at the front meeting the very slow slope roof of the porch. Both the one story, one car garage and the rear one-story portion of the great room and the master suite project from the center two-story section which makes it “a house of seven gables.” I admired the craftsman style detailing, the dark slate blue cementitious siding, white trim, and black window frames. I gave them high marks for painting the garage door black instead the white trim color so the door recedes into the wall.
The house is raised approximately three feet above the grade with stair treads of bluestone with brick risers leading to the front porch. I liked how the porch’s depth is sized for a black settee with ample room from the front of the settee to the porch railing for seating and circulation. The black and white striped cushions with an accent pillow’s topiary design and the French door with a bottom panel and stiles in mint green were the harbingers of more visual delights to come from Sandy’s selections.
The two room wide floor plan is split into two parts, with the garage, the “U” shaped stairs and master suite along one side and the laundry and the open plan kitchen-dining-living area along the other side. The rear deck spans across the full width of the house and the exterior door to the living room creates spaces for sitting and dining. The vista from the deck to the property line is infilled with landscaping so the deck is quite private. The front door opens into a hall/foyer and I especially liked how the front French door was on axis with the living room’s French door to the deck. I could also see that the beautiful hardwood flooring flowed throughout the house.
Opposite the foyer are the laundry and powder room. Two visual delights appeared- the first was the foyer’s kinetic wallpaper of peacocks, colorful blooming plants and green fronds above a tufted cream colored Mid-Century Modern settee with small round tables on either side. The second was the laundry room’s blue and white flooring pattern that reminded me of a kaleidoscope. With a window, white side by side appliances, upper cabinets and artwork, doing laundry would become a pleasant chore.
Beyond the inside corner of the garage wall are the stairs to the second floor opposite the kitchen so the cooks have a vista to the window at the stair landing. Tom and Sandy had liked the bar area in their former house so the builder moved the door to the pantry to create a stylish bar with base cabinets to match the kitchen color scheme of slate blue cabinets and white quartz countertops. Thick oak shelves float above the bar’s counter on slender metal brackets for barware, including one of Sympatico’s rooster pitchers. (You are welcome, sister Bobbi, for the plug.)
The great room of kitchen-dining-living has multiple side and rear windows and the ceiling plane changes from the kitchen’s flat ceiling with recessed lighting to the coffered ceiling over the dining and living areas. I immediately recognized the large colorful layered abstract artwork that hung in their former dining room. Here it is the focal point of the great room above the fireplace’s mantel. Between two windows is a thin brass etagere with glass shelves for display that Sandy found at Dwelling and Design. The mix of comfortable seating from the sofa, leather side chair, wide upholstered chair and ottoman, and my favorite, the blue rattan chair with its sensuous curvature makes a great spot for relaxing after dinner or watching TV by the fire. The round table in the dining area can easily be expanded for family gatherings.
An alcove off the great room leads to the rear master suite and above the bed was another exquisite artwork I remembered. Boats between pilings cast shadows onto the water lit by twilight and the serene scene is conducive for a restful sleep. The red upholstered chair and ottoman angled in one corner picks up the red in the large floral rug that anchors the furnishings. Both the drapery over the long windows overlooking the deck and the Roman shades over the windows that flank the bed are off white with narrow blue and white vertical bands. The duvet over the white dust cover has a subtle pattern of intertwined rope for texture and the chest opposite the bed is a bright blue.
I coveted the master bath with its dual lavatory cabinets separated by a row of drawers and the framed mirrors below the sleek contemporary light fixtures I had chosen for one of my Tennessee homes. The large shower is detailed with small polygonal shaped tiles in shades of taupe and gray, medium gray subway tiles over the shower walls behind the glass door and panel and thoughtful amenities of the shower seat, recessed niche for shampoo, soap, etc., both fixed and handheld fittings and a high window for privacy and to avoid the shower spray.
The stair landing also accommodates a colorful tableau of a golden yellow chest and colorful artwork of a blue and white vase featuring pink peonies below the window above. The upper level contains three spacious bedrooms, one in each gable wall. The front gable wall room with the triple windows overlooks the woods across the road and is set up as Sandy’s office. I recognized the colorful duvets in the guest rooms; one has an earth toned pattern and the other has a pattern of alternating Irish green and aqua blue circles. I have saved the best room for last-I absolutely loved the aqua blue and black wallpaper of the hall bath! Vertical bands of pairs of mermaids, floating above an octopus, fronds and a ship with sails unfurled was captivating-I firmly believe a touch of whimsy is important in a house to make you smile. The wallpaper is the perfect scaled backdrop for the white cabinetry and black lavatory counter.
My friends have done a fabulous job of creating a new home with beloved pieces from their former home- Bravo and Brava, Sandy and Tom, for another creative endeavor!
Builder: Ricky Stemm of Quality Homes by Stemcraft, 443-250-1336
Jennifer Martella has pursued her dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. Her award winning work has ranged from revitalization projects to a collaboration with the Maya Lin Studio for the Children’s Defense Fund’s corporate retreat in her home state of Tennessee.
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