Arch

Living& Dining - Panorama

master closet

guest bathroom shower

living room view

Wireless wonderland: One way to reduce clutter is by stashing most of the media hardware downstairs and jettisoning the television. When it’s time to show a DVD, the wall does double duty as a movie screen.

Once a split-level jumble of small, dark rooms, the main floor now offers a clear sight line from the patio straight through the kitchen, dining room, sitting area, and spare room to the street-facing window (with two skylights for added illumination).

The cleaned-up, refined front that was approved by the planning commission would be easily recognized by the house's original inhabitants.

“We did a lot of studies for the project to show how we could get huge amounts of light into the rear of the house,” Roberts said, which culminates in the two-story addition that replaced the original collapsing wall. The living room’s two antique round leather chairs, by Ralph Lauren, are within view of the garden beyond matching sets of windows.

A salvaged antique tub stands beside a sink by Waterworks. Town and Country Surfaces supplied the Malaga cement tiles that color the floor.

Four bedrooms make up the private areas of the home, which all benefit from natural light and a complementary airy design. Custom built-in shelves and a walkthrough closet with enclosed cabinets are featured in this room, as well as bedding by Coyuchi.

Reclaimed oak with a custom finish by LV Wood surrounds a staircase in a herringbone pattern. The new stairs are painted off black by Farrow & Ball, and the handrail that lines them is of salvaged mahogany.

As much as the owners and Roberts wanted – and needed – to modernize the home, they also tried to honor some of its historical touches. They preserved the mantel, and replaced the plaster crowns on the parlor level. The antique chaise is by Lisa Sherman, and the walls are painted pavilion gray by Farrow & Ball.

The lovely cornflower-blue kitchen cabinets in this Brooklyn, New York, home by Elizabeth Roberts Architecture & Design were professionally painted.

Architect Cindy Black chose terrazzo tile flooring by Concrete Collaborative over higher-priced competitors because it’s a “little more polished looking”. Before installing the material, the builder had to completely re-level the concrete subfloor, which had settled over time leaving a two-inch gap on one side. The sofa is from Room & Board, and the custom walnut media wall was designed to match the kitchen built-ins.

The homeowners wanted a simple, unfussy space. The walls throughout the home are painted in Dulux Swan White. Built-in cabinets are custom made in Tasmanian oak. The hanging pendants are from About Space and the wood-burning stove is a Morsø 7642 model.

In the bathroom, the sink is by Kohler and the tub is by Maax.

All three bathrooms feature Kohler fixtures, Caesarstone countertops, and slate ceramic tiles.

On approach to the guesthouse, the family keeps an edible garden in concrete planters by the property’s landscape designer, Cielo Sichi of Landfour.