The approach to this cottage is along a tree-lined gravel driveway off a quiet side street leading to a double gate in a wood fence. As I drove through the open gate, I realized the driveway divided the property into a spacious side yard and the area around the cottage. The yard offers several shaded spots for relaxation including a concrete bench near a planting area and a concrete patio at one corner. Bird houses on posts encourage visits from avian friends. The house is a “L” shape combining a two-story wing with the one story wing facing the driveway. The house’s soft exterior color palette of light yellow lap siding and slate blue trim is nestled among the green of the surrounding trees.
There are two entry doors to the house, one at the kitchen wing and another at the sunroom at the opposite end of the two-story wing. The deck outside the kitchen door is sized for sitting and dining and the dog bed must indicate this space is popular with the family pet too. The entry door leads directly into the eat-in kitchen. Since the kitchen wing is one-story, the ceiling follows the side slope of the roof rafters to meet the collar beam, creating a higher gambrel shaped ceiling trimmed in 1 x 4 slats. The large 6/1 windows at each side bring sunlight and ventilation into the room. The short leg of the “L” shaped kitchen cabinetry is open to the living room by a wide wall opening supported by two columns. Above the columns are a two rows of crown molding that extend around the room with uplights hidden behind the molding to highlight the tin ceiling panels.
The ceiling height in the living room feels low with the wainscot and the finishes of medium toned grass cloth below and wallpaper above. Eliminating the wainscot and painting the walls and the tin ceiling panels a lighter color would lighten up the room with the aid of the sunlight through the three windows. The staircase at the interior wall has a solid wall for a railing to open the stairs to the living room. Built-in millwork is tucked under the slope of the stairs for books behind the large screen TV. Off the living room is the laundry/powder room and behind the stairs is a space currently used as a mudroom/coat closet with a side window.
The door in the mudroom leads to the space currently used as another sitting room and I wondered if this space had once been an open porch with the door being the original front door. At one end of the sitting room , a French door leads to an exterior alcove with steps down to the yard but I would be tempted to make this space a screened porch and to open up the ceiling to the sloped roof rafters above.
The stairs lead to the two bedrooms and one full bath on the second floor. Since the stairs are not located in the center of the house, one bedroom is smaller than the other. The larger of the two bedrooms has windows on three sides and the smaller bedroom has one window with a ladder leading to a loft. Removing the ceiling rafters and making the collar beam between the roof rafters the underside of the ceiling would greatly increase the height of these spaces. The living room’s wall treatment of wainscot with different finishes and the tin ceiling panels are used on this floor but painting the walls a lighter color would improve one’s perception of the spaces by reflecting more sunlight.
I was curious why only a few windows on the rear elevation overlook the private rear yard. Since there appears to be plenty of area on the site, perhaps adding another one-story wing to make the house an “H” shape would create room for a main floor bedroom suite and family room with pairs of French doors to open up the house from the living room to the addition overlooking the landscape. This wing could have pitched ceilings and dormers for architectural interest and the “H” shape would also create another deck between the addition and the two-story part of the house.
The laundry and mudroom space could be rearranged with the mudroom becoming a short hall past a new powder room to the laundry shifted back to the rear corner of the house. The laundry could also have an exterior door for easy clean up after working in the yard or playtime.
Private lot away from the street traffic, close to the General Store, Library, School, and restaurants, outdoor rooms of terrace and deck shaded by mature trees, house with huge potential to expand from a two bedroom/1-1/2 bath house to a three-bedroom, two bath house that could be done in phases with minimum disruption to the main areas!
For more information about this property, contact John McGlannan with Meredith Fine Properties at 410-886-1135 (o), 410-714-9166 (c) or [email protected].
For more photographs and pricing visit www.meredithfineproperties.com, “Equal Housing Opportunity.”
Photography by Ted Mueller Photography, www.TedMuellerPhotography.com, 443-955-2490
Spy House of the Week is an ongoing series that selects a different home each week. The Spy’s Habitat editor Jennifer Martella makes these selections based exclusively on her experience as a architect.
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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