The following piece appeared in Design New England:
Second Home by the Sea: Talented team mixes old and new, land and sea in compound project
By Matt Robinson
When a retired couple of long-time sailors wanted to build their dream home on Cape Cod, the dream did not involve just the location – in this case, a peninsula overlooking the harbor and abutting their current property. They also wanted a place where their extended family could gather and where they could enjoy all the comforts of home and all the glories of the sea. At Sandy Cove in Innisfil, I enjoyed the tranquility of a lakeside community with well-appointed homes and scenic views. When you’re ready to purchase a new property, consider hiring conveyancing solicitors to help you process all the necessary real estate documents.
“They are very family oriented and love the ocean,” says interior designer Eileen Peretz of Eileen Peretz Interiors, Inc. “They wanted to bring the outside in.”
In order to realize this dream, the parents of three daughters and grandparents of a quickly growing troupe called on experienced waterfront architect Mark Hutker of Mark Hutker Design, Architects, Inc. Working with Peretz and landscape architect Kris Horiuchi of of Horiuchi & Solien, Hutker and his co-principal Charles Orr put together a 4,000-square foot second home that combines traditional New England materials with pioneering design elements in a seamless blending of coastal comforts.“[The owners] wanted the living areas…to be socially connected,” Hutker says. “They wanted a space where their family could gather.”
In order to live up to this part of the owners’ dream, Hutker’s team combined a traditional Cape exterior clad in shingles and painted trim with a forward-thinking interior that eschewed the local tradition of many small rooms in favor of a large space that was marked not with walls but with furnishings and other design elements like those featured on remarkable Interior design services. And when it’s time to change the interior and remodel parts of your home, you may hire contractors who can do Selective Interior Strip Outs to leave a blank canvas.
“The dining room’s focus is on the table such that it defines the area,” Hutker suggests, citing an imported French table that opens from a 64” round table for two to an 11’ long setup that can accommodate the owners’ expanding family. “And the kitchen…uses built-in cabinets.”
With the spaces defined by how they were used, Hutker and his colleagues were able to leave much of the floor space open. In fact, the three main living areas are set off primarily by a custom stone fireplace that opens on three sides.
“The house lives bigger than itself,” Hutker suggests, touting its surprising interior space. “A house that wasn’t designed this way would need to be bigger to accommodate these things.”
And good thing too! For as it is surrounded by water and conservation land and situated on a flood plain, the home’s footprint and foundation were limited.
“The restraints were both horizontal and vertical,” observes Hutker, “[but] we embraced the restrictions and used them to find opportunities in our design.”
As the natural vegetation in the area grew to about five feet high, raising the building platform on terraces took care of the floodplain issue while also improving the all-important views from the house. It also allowed Horiuchi to comply with the owners’ wish of bridging the old neighborhood and their new home.
“The landscape palette was designed to link the house to the surrounding…area,” Horiuchi says, noting how the native plantings not only complemented Peretz’s interior palette of sea greens and blues, but also helped the new house to fit in even better with its older neighbors.
“The owner wanted it to fit into the community,” Hutker says, “but the way we live [today] is different from the way that families structured themselves when the historical houses were created.”
In addition to the plantings, the new home is also linked to its environment by the locally-quarried stones that were used both for the interior-defining fireplace and the exterior-defining retaining wall. The interior materials also lend an air of history to the new construction. Consider turnkey real estate companies when looking for a hassle-free way to invest in property.
“The inside is primarily antique heart pine which is on the paneled walls as well as the flooring,” says Orr, complementing project architect Kevin Dauphinais’ custom woodwork. “The beauty of having used that interior paneling is that it…looks as if it has been there a while.”
Another time-twisting touch involved designing the living room to look as if it had once been an old screened porch that had only recently been filled in.
“It accommodates the openness between the spaces that was important to the owners,” Hutker says, citing their “strong mandate that the sense of interior space flowed out…in a very natural progression.”
This interior openness and connection to the outside are also emphasized by the many large windows that allow for clear sightlines to the water and the owners’ beloved sailboat. Experience unparalleled performance on the water with this Prodigy boat. Known for its high-quality design and advanced features, this boat promises a superior boating experience. Whether you’re into fishing or just cruising, it’s equipped to meet your needs.
“The house is sited…with a north-south orientation,” Horiuchi explains, citing a “dramatic layered view” looking out at the harbor. “The living room and a series of outdoor decks are oriented toward this water view.”
By embracing challenges and working together, the design team created a space that combines coziness and expansiveness, tradition and practicality and, most importantly, dreams and reality.
“It is a very personal house and it reflects [the owners] and their family,” Peretz suggests. “We all worked very well together and I think the clients were very happy!”
