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Reclaimed wood covers the ceiling in the main room and bedroom. The large white light fixture was reused from the barn’s previous incarnation, and the sectional is from Interior Define.

The detached screened porch sits out in the landscape, not unlike a Japanese teahouse.

The concrete wall behind the porch provides a backdrop for the wood stove and privacy from the road.

“Friends can use the screened porch for the day, like a cabana,” the wife says. The couple are also planning for teachers from High Meadow Farm to hold practices here. “People will be able to use the porch and have access to the lake while our family is also using the house,” the husband adds.

There’s a one-foot level change down to the primary bedroom, which is Shaker in spirit. Instead of closets, each bedroom has a set of deep, built-in drawers. “The architects kept us to our word that the house is meant for short-term stays,” the husband says. Lachapelle sourced the Ethnicraft bed and side table from Fiore Home in Portland, Maine, and the vintage velvet Ligne Roset chair from the Brimfield Antique Market.

“They’re well-traveled New Englanders who had always lived in older, traditional homes,” Lane says of the clients. “They wanted a contemporary home with warmth, texture, and craft.”

DeNiord designed a simple concrete bench with a honed top to run parallel to the randomly sized concrete pads that lead to the covered entry. He planted blueberry bushes behind the bench and a river birch tree behind the boulder. To conjure a wabi-sabi feel outdoors, diNiord poured concrete around a boulder. “It represents the interruption of perfect geometry,” he says.

While the owners really liked the idea of shou sugi ban, they opted for a more cost-effective black stain. The random-width, reverse board-and-batten siding reflects the wabi-sabi concept. “The builder said the math for the random siding was torturous,” the wife said. “We didn’t know how hard it was to make things look simple.” DeNiord planted hay-scented fern and lowbush blueberry sod around the house. “We didn't want any side of the house to feel unconsidered,” he says. As for the local boulders he placed around the house and terrace, he says, “They give the feeling that the house grew up around the outcroppings.”

A floor lamp nearly eight feet tall anchors the seating area in the living area. Ceilings that are 12 feet tall at the highest point help the room feel expansive. “We needed to find a way to define different areas in a relatively tight space,” Lachapelle says. It’s the clients’ first experience with an open floor plan. “We raised our kids in an old Victorian, and the farmhouse we live in now is chopped up into tiny rooms save for the studio we just added,” the husband says.

Toni the tabby cat makes himself at home in the living room, where the collection of “pandemic plants” has grown since the couple moved from their smaller apartment in Brooklyn Heights.

Floor Plan of Glen Road Residence by Risa Boyer Architecture

The design team retained the old supports, which now frame the kitchen. Jessica picked DeVol cabinets and systems for their traditional-meets-streamlined style.