In Reading, a couple has worked for decades on their unique home, filling it with iconic furnishings and precious mementos from their world travels.  ★ By Regina Cole – Photographs by Bob O’connor

Pamela and Phil Parisi began work on their Reading house in 1976, when they bought an Acorn House kit, erected the shell, and moved into the bare space with studded walls and plywood floors. For the past 36 years they have finished, furnished, and, finally, renovated. Today, their home is colorful, personal, and beautifully livable, but the Parisis say that they will never be done. “The house is a constant work in progress,” the couple says, laughing.

The sitting room

The Acorn House was a novel architectural idea; a good design at a time when open layouts, angled roofs, and cantilevered decks were only available to lovers of modernism who could afford architects. As popular today as they were when first introduced during the 1960s, the modular structures feature post and beam construction, which allows for contemporary open floor plans with exposed beams and vaulted ceilings. The clean lines and interior flexibility appealed to the Parisis, both designers who met as students at Mass College of Art and married in 1971. Today, their home reflects their artistic sensibilities, encapsulating high points of 20th-century design while showcasing mementoes of their trips abroad.

“In the mid 1980s, we began our foreign travel,” says Pamela Parisi, who worked as a package designer for Gillette before she retired. “We bring back tchotchkes. Not little tchotchkes,” she says. “Big tchotchkes!”

These include Indonesian puppets, Tibetan weavings, and Japanese castings. The striking Asian art happily coexist with iconic furniture, including four original ladderback chairs by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the Glasgow designer and artist who straddled Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, and Modernism while he gave the world some its most sublime and original design ideas. A black steel circular staircase dominates the living room while a contemporary slab kitchen table refers to George Nakashima. Wassily chairs and a Saarinen lounge speak of seminal Western design history; contemporary art glass glows from mirrored shelves. The Parisis’ collections, which span the globe as well as the last century, look their best in high-ceilinged, light-filled rooms that look out at an equally arresting garden.

“We chose this building lot because it was easily accessible to our jobs and to the airport,” Phil Parisi says. “Then we picked a house plan, which we customized within existing support walls.”

Their home site occupies a thickly wooded rise populated with white pine trees. Though the lot measures a half-acre, it appears much larger thanks to judiciously placed plantings that screen nearby houses. The overall effect is that of a secret garden on a hidden woodland hilltop. The Parisi driveway leads into a world that seems far removed from its suburban surroundings.

One of the many pieces that displays their collection of art from around the world

“We didn’t plan to make a garden,” Pamela says. “But after we lived here, I wanted to be able to walk around the yard. We built a path; then we cleared around it. Then we kept going,” she laughs.

“When we began, I asked a local landscaper for advice,” Phil adds. “He told me to forget about it. ‘Nothing will grow in heavily shaded acid soil that’s carpeted with pine needles,’ he told me.”

The Parisis more than proved him wrong. Among the tall, straight tree trunks grow rhododendrons, azaleas, dogwood, hydrangea, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and pink lady’s slippers. As early as February, snowdrops bloom in sheltered spots.

“I am Portuguese, so I have garden DNA,” Phil says with a laugh.

Parisi grew up in Gloucester before he traveled the world with the Air Force, settling to live in Wiesbaden, Germany, for three years. “I thought I’d live there; that’s where all the good design was,” he says.
When Pamela and Phil retired a few years ago, they began their latest house-building phase. Working with Lee Kimball, the Winchester design-build firm known for its kitchens, they converted the formerly unfinished basement into a sunny family room that doubles as a guest bedroom and installed a gleaming state-of-the-art kitchen for Phil, a gifted home chef.

“They’re quality- and idea-driven,” says E.J. Krupinsky, Lee Kimball architect and manager of the project. “They knew they wanted to relate the new downstairs family/guest room to the garden, and to expand the kitchen, making it beautiful and functional.”

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He succeeded on both fronts with both new spaces, each of which has two personalities. The kitchen includes a built-in breakfast nook oriented around the slab table, while the business end is Phil’s domain.
“I like to be left alone to cook, so I didn’t want my end of the kitchen to be too welcoming,” he says.

The family room converts to a guest room with a Murphy bed. The bed stored in the wall holds perennial appeal to space-saving homeowners, while its descent holds a singular place in early 20th century slapstick comedy. This ground-level room has become the Parisi’s sitting room of choice. They take advantage of its immediate access to the outside with a closet for muddy gardening garb.

“E.J. and the rest of the staff at Lee Kimball did the one thing we really needed: they listened to us,” Phil Parisi says.

Krupinsky used interior windows to bring light into the below-ground bath that accompanies the new downstairs room. No hint of the former basement remains.

Next to their front door, Phil and Pamela Parisi display a stone three-foot Mahakala figure they found in Bali. The diagonally slatted stair landing and the house’s flat board siding could only date to the 1970s. The statue, a fierce depiction of Shiva, is pitted, covered with lichen, and timeless.

“In the Far East, figures of Mahakala are commonly used to protect homes from evil,” Pamela explains. Nearby, bronze Paolo Soleri bells cast on an Arizona mesa chime gently as the wind moves through the tall trees. Before stepping in the door, guests at Pamela’s and Phil’s home have already begun the multisensory tour of time and space the couple has created on this Reading hilltop.

“This is us,” says the lady of the house. “Modern, but not cold, and constantly changing as our collections grow and change.

As a lighting expert, I am fully aware of the myriad benefits of installing dimmers in your home. While energy conservation leads the pack in terms of benefits, dimmers also help prolong the life of light bulbs, add security and safety to your home and create ambience to set a mood. Thanks to the innovation of progressive lighting control companies, you can add fashion to the list of attributes. By Lucy Dearborn, Lucia Lighting & Design

Today’s discerning home owners are expressing their styles in a rainbow of colors. Whether adding a pop of color to wall coverings, floor decor, countertops or a lighting pendant, homeowners are coloring up their lives with their personal palates of fun hues like berry red, energetic orange, vintage yellow, mossy greens, terrific teals and coppery browns.

Now that controls are becoming commonplace in many homes, the fashion police finally caught up with the function peeps and have added color to their controls. I asked my good friend Bryan Biga, National Sales Manager – Lighting Showrooms for Lutron Electronics, to share his thoughts on dimmers and colors and here’s what he had to say:

Importance of Dimmers to Home Lighting

Even the best designed spaces can be quickly ruined by improper lighting.  Making sure that the correct lighting sources are being used and that they illuminate each area of a space properly, can be the difference between average design and amazing design.  As many lighting designers will agree, you cannot maximize the layers of lighting in your space unless you can control them.  The fact is, we live in a world where we are constantly tweaking things around us to make the environment more comfortable, catering to an immediate activity or need.  Our days are filled with volume controls, temperature controls and other adjustments to cater to what we want, when we want it.  There is nothing that we use more on a regular basis throughout the day than lighting, and dimmers give us the opportunity to adjust it as we want it.  Adjusting the layers of light in a space to make it more comfortable and allowing everything to look its best is only part of the value of dimming.  When you start to add in the energy savings that comes with dimming all light sources and the lamp life extension that it adds to incandescent and halogen lamps, you quickly learn there is a large value package that comes with this $30 investment.  In a time when people are looking for simple remodeling opportunities that add significant value to the space, while also being affordable, dimmers are the perfect solution for every room.

A dimmed bathroom produces a spa-like feel

Dimmers and Devices in Colors

The world of residential design is made up of an enormous variety of colors and finishes allowing every area of a home to be developed with someone’s individual style.  When someone is building a new home or doing a remodeling project, there really isn’t a detail that a designer or homeowner can’t adjust to make it exactly how they want it.  Let’s take a look at a kitchen for instance.  This space is one of the highest fashion spaces in a home today and the options are endless.  The counter tops, back splashes, cabinetry, flooring, molding, lighting and appliances are just some of the important details that are taken into account when designing the perfect space.  The reality is that there is a significant amount of time and money spent getting into the finest of details, but there is one category that keeps the room from being absolutely perfect, the electrical devices: all of those wonderful receptacles, switches, dimmers, phone jacks and face plates that we all know are necessary for our coffee makers, toasters and everyday devices that we can’t live without.  So what do we do with these eye sores?  Lutron brought the solution to every homeowner and designer looking for that finishing touch to every space.   The color selection gives opportunities to blend with neutral colors and stone finishes while offering high fashion colors like Hot red and Turquoise.  The world of residential design has given us everything we need to make a room look the way we want.

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If you would like to learn more about lighting controls, I invite you to visit me at Lucia Lighting & Design at 311 Western Avenue in Lynn or call me at 781-595-0026.

2 Heartbreak Hill, Ipswich

Heading for California, an Ipswich couple bids farewell to their dream home and one of the most architecturally significant houses on the North Shore. By Andrew Conway

It all started with a casual stroll in the country. “My husband had a day off and nothing to do, which doesn’t happen very often, and decided to go wandering around Ipswich,” says Larraine, co-owner of 2 Heartbreak Hill, recalling the serendipitous morning in 1996 that laid the foundation for the next 16 years of their lives. “He stumbled across this piece of land up here on Heartbreak Hill, climbed on a large boulder, looked at the views, came home, and announced he wanted to build a house.”

The fact that they were only then just putting the finishing touches on a home they’d bought in nearby Essex a couple of years earlier did nothing to faze the couple. They quickly bought the land on Heartbreak Hill, hired a local architect, and began planning their dream home. The result was one of the most distinctive and architecturally significant private residences on the North Shore, a strikingly cool and contemporary house that has been turned into a warm and welcoming family home.

“It’s very rare that such a unique house of this quality comes on the market in this area,” says By the Sea | Sotheby’s International Beverly Farms realtor Amanda Armstrong, who is listing the five-bedroom, seven-bathroom property for $4,250,000. Perched on top of Heartbreak Hill and surrounded by more than 15 acres of informal gardens and mature woodlands, the house is a design masterpiece in itself, but what really makes it special are the panoramic views of coastline and ocean stretching as far as the eye can see.

“The house is oriented around the views,” says Paul, the owner, who heads up a technology consulting business. “It has a wonderful Northeast aspect looking out to Crane Beach, Plum Island, and the Rowley Estuary where the Ipswich, Merrimack, and Parker rivers emerge. “On a very clear day, we can see all the way up to Maine and at night, we can see the lights of Newburyport. One of the really cool things is to sit in the house and watch the big Nor’easter storms rolling in from the ocean.”

Bucking the trend for a traditional New England house, the Australian-born owner and Larraine, who is from California, opted for a more contemporary, cutting-edge design and turned to Douglas Trees of Hamilton-based D.T.A. Architects to draw up the plans. Trees’ eye-catching geometric design that incorporates steel, stone, and glass as the primary building materials, paved the way for several unique architectural features.

“The structure is built around metal columns, so the weight of the house is carried on the columns as opposed to the outside walls,” says Paul. “The result is relatively few interior walls, large open spaces, and lots of glass to maximize the views and the natural light.” The unconventional structure also allowed the architect and owners to incorporate unusual design features, such as changes in floor levels, interior bridges, and living areas that give the impression of rooms despite the apparent absence of walls.

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Walk through the dramatic front entrance, past a reflective koi pond, and you’re in a surprisingly warm and inviting space. An attractive vaulted atrium and indoor garden opens to a vast living and dining area with a soaring 25-foot ceiling and an overhead bridge connecting the upstairs bedrooms. To the left, the dining room leads to a spacious family room, a state-of-the-art kitchen lined with custom maple cabinets and limestone floors, and a screened porch, ideal for an all-weather family barbecue. The kitchen, in turn, leads to a large laundry room, an indoor greenhouse filled with plants and herbs, and an outdoor terrace.

To the right of the living and dining area is a cozy den and media room, an adjoining guest suite and bathroom, and a separate games room with a billiards table, but the piece de resistance on the first floor is in a wing all of its own. Set under a pitched glass roof is a 50-foot heated indoor swimming pool, a Jacuzzi, and an interior garden, along with a shower room, gym, and bar. Plus, there’s a self-contained suite that’s ideal for a nanny (the couple has a two-year-old daughter) or in-laws.

“The pool room is our favorite room in winter,” says Paul. “We can sit by the pool with three feet of snow outside and it’s 80 degrees inside.” A section of the translucent roof can retract in the warmer months, and a spacious teak deck provides more outdoor relaxation space.

On the second floor, the master suite is in a completely self-contained and private space accessed via the elevated bridge over the main living area. The four-room suite comprises a large bedroom and adjoining sitting room, a spacious walk-in dressing room, and a marble bathroom with a spa tub and his-and-her vanity. The master bedroom and sitting room both face northeast and have floor-to-ceiling windows, affording the owners the best views in the house of the coastline and ocean. The sitting room opens to an intimate outdoor deck, creating a treehouse-like space for quiet reading and relaxation looking out over a canopy of trees. Turn right off the elevated bridge and there are three additional bedrooms, the largest of which has been turned into an artist’s studio, capitalizing again on the natural light streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows and those captivating views.

The home’s owners have spared no expense in its electrical, cooling, heating, and audio-visual systems. “The house could generate enough energy to power a small factory,” says Armstrong on a guided tour of the property. With more than 10,000 square feet of living space and an array of glass windows throughout the house, the owners wanted to make sure the central system operates efficiently and effectively. Oil-fired radiant flooring heat and central air conditioning keep the house warm and cool in the appropriate seasons.

“It’s a pretty energy-efficient house,” says Paul. “The house also has lots of coordination features. All the lights can be controlled from anywhere in the house and the audio-visual system is set up so you can start watching a DVD or TV show in one room and finish it in another.” A full security system is also in place.

Two of the best rooms in the house are in the basement, where the owner has created a fully equipped office that allows him to work from home whenever he chooses, and a stylish wine cellar, offering a relaxed and intimate space to entertain a small group for cocktails or dinner. The basement also has two separate garage bays, with room for six cars, opening to a sizable parking area for several more vehicles.

The couple, who now reside in California and are planning to create a new version of their Heartbreak Hill home on the West Coast, love the Ipswich area. “I have horses, and this is a good area for horses,” says Larraine. “Ipswich is a great little town with lots of country aspects, but it’s also close to Boston and the airport, which makes it very convenient for people who travel a lot.

“The house is half a mile from the center of Ipswich. It’s an easy drive to Crane Beach, which is one of the best beaches on the North Shore, and there are lots of amenities in the area, especially for families.”

The house and outdoor gardens, which are beautifully maintained and filled with perennials, allow the couple to entertain on a small or large scale. “We’ve hosted two weddings here for very good friends,” says Larraine. “We’ve put a lot of work into the gardens, and they look wonderful at any time of the year.”

With all the windows in the house, the family feels very close to nature. “In spring, the trees are a bright chartreuse, the fall colors are lovely, and watching the snow fall in the winter is just beautiful,” Larraine says. “I’ve seen more types of birds in the last couple of summers than I’ve ever seen before, lots of bright cardinals and orioles. We have a pair of hawks that have lived up here for as long as we have, and a very large barn owl that lives down the driveway.”

Abundant wildlife also means there’s never a dull moment. “The deer have an expressway through our backyard,” she adds. “They refuse to acknowledge the house is here and continue to tramp over Heartbreak Hill, and there’s a fox that’s fun watch to in the spring with her little ones. “It’s very private. We only have one neighbor that we can sort of see in the wintertime. Nobody knows we’re up here—it’s like living in our own little world, our little oasis.”

The Details 

Location: 2 Heartbreak Hill, Ipswich. Description: 5+ beds, 5 full baths, 2.5 half baths, 10,211 square feet on 15.5 acres. Style: Contemporary. Listing Price: $4,250,000. Listing Agent: Amanda Armstrong, By the Sea | Sotheby’s International Realty, 715 Hale Street, Beverly Farms, 978-879-6322, amanda.armstrong@sothebysrealty.com.

One Newburyport couple labors to restore an 1850s carriage house into their dream home—and sometime community concert hall. Photographs by Bob O’connor

Exterior of the Carriage House

When this Newburyport homeowner attends a concert of the local chamber music ensemble, he strolls out his back door and follows a curving red brick path that winds through terraced gardens, past a Neoclassical pergola. The path leads to a door that opens into a tall clapboard building crowned with a cupola. Inside, the old world sensibility of the façade gives way to drama, light, and vaulting space.

Framed with original beams darkened with age, with floors negotiated via steel and bowed-ash stairs, whose bamboo treads appear to float in space, and featuring vast swaths of light reflected by taut white sails, the interior of this 1850 carriage house is nothing short of dazzling. When a string quartet gathered in one corner of the ground floor begins to play, the rapt audience finds that the acoustics are extraordinary. The atmosphere is magical.

“The lot occupied by this building was threatened with development,” says the owner of the carriage house, which serves as a concert hall tonight. “This would have been torn down. More than anything, we wanted to make sure that didn’t happen.”

He and his wife, owners of one of the imposing Federal manses for which Newburyport is famous, bought the property, thus saving it from demolition. In the process, they also saved the surrounding neighborhood, a lightly settled lane just off a busy city street.

Old carriage house are like old barns; they are stout workhorses in service to a technology long gone. Sometimes they become garages, their façades cut up with awkward entries for cars, while much of the tall space required by horses and carriages stands unused. Eventually, decay sets in, and another reminder of New England’s rural past becomes a liability that is razed and soon forgotten.

Thus, when this couple bought and restored an architecturally imposing mid-19th-century carriage house and made it available to the community, they performed public services on many levels. The irony: The carriage house they saved does not accompany their own grand house; it once served the house next door. It all represents the 100-year-old American trend of splitting up big estates, their outbuildings, and their land into many smaller lots. The process continues, as it has threatened to here in Newburyport.

“When they came to me, they didn’t just bring the question of what to do with this big, barn-like structure,” says Newburyport architect Andrew Sidford, whose innovative hand is evident throughout the Newbury-Plum Island-Newburyport area. “They also asked how I was going to bring together their house, its long garden, the carriage house behind the house next door, give them some parking, and make it all look wonderful.”

Interior Staircase View

“We knew lots of people who knew [Sidford], and we were involved in some of the same local causes,” says the lady of the house. “We had seen his work and liked it. But what Andy did at our church, Newburyport’s First Unitarian, was so wonderful that we hired him on the strength of that.”

When Sidford created interior parking, two eminently rentable apartments, an aerie with a poetic view, a spectacular private concert hall, and then gracefully connected the disparate parts, he did it with curves. His brick driveway and walkways lure you toward enticing views just past the next bend; walking or driving to and from the main house and carriage house is easy and natural, the instinctive thing to do. At the terminus of a curving drive that begins at the street is the homeowners’ two-bay garage, located in a lower section of the carriage house. Along the way, a turnaround by the back door provides closer access.

The carriage house’s main entrance, however, is via a formal driveway on a perpendicular street. Here, Sidford marries the new structural elements with a new glass curtain wall that recedes at a slight angle from the massive 1850 timbers. “This way, it looks as if the front door is always open,” the homeowner says. “And we pay homage to the historic original. “I always like to say that these buildings were built like Old Ironsides,” he says, laughing.

Each project is a collaboration and evolves,” says Sidford. The entry with the glass wall is an example of that; we designed that at the homeowners’ suggestion.”

The inside features such quirky elements as a light switch fashioned from a piano’s soundboard and steel staircases with a curving ash handrail above the mundane metal one. The same curve, executed in mahogany for New England winters, crowns the exterior handrail. “There are curves everywhere,” Sidford says. “The curves on the railings refer to the curves in the sidewalk outside… I think that most modern work can be very cold. The curves soften the design.” The homeowner adds, “And they introduce a sense of play.”

Indeed, play is everywhere. As the stairs climb up into the cupola, they pause at a landing made of frosted glass. “Totally clear glass would have been a little too dramatic,” Sidford says “Even people without a fear of heights would probably get vertigo.”

While downstairs promotes conviviality, the cupola is small and meditative, far above human activity. The view, however, is vast in all directions. The interior view shows strong architectural lines and light pouring in via windows that look as though they harken back to 1850. Triangular sails act as sculptures in their own right, suspended at various points and reflecting light onto the dark joists and rafters.

Although they finished this project almost 10 years ago, the homeowners are clearly still smitten with the results. “I can recognize Andy’s work as I drive around town,” the homeowner says. “So I knew this would be pretty special.” She looks at her husband and laughs. “Still, when we hired Andy and started talking about what to do, we had no idea it would end up being this great!”

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Create New Classics Consider these tried and true design principles and practices when planning your North Shore home projects. By Nancy E. Berry

Timeless, sustainable, practical, healthy, comfortable—these are just some of the words used to describe trends in today’s home designs. Over the past few recession-filled years, we’ve had to scale down our building and design projects. But now that the economic storm cloud is slowly lifting, we’re redirecting our focus back to creating better living environments for our families and ourselves. We’ve had time to reflect on what’s important to us when it comes to the way our homes look, feel, and function. We’re steering away from the gigantic living room that no one ever uses, the formal dining room where no one dines, and the inoperable two-story Palladian window with no real views to enjoy.

Design today is about taking a more thoughtful, holistic approach to the way we live—creating spaces that are good for the mind, body, soul—and the environment. Rooms are becoming comfortable, intimate spaces that connect family—quality construction has replaced excessive square footage. And eco-conscious principles are put into practice more and more to protect our environment as well as our health.

Creating a house based on these ideas can sound like a tall order, but with care, good planning, and a strong team in place, homes can reflect all of these aspects. Whether you’re building new, renovating, or simply adding a screened porch, consider bringing these words to life to create a home that works for your 21st century lifestyle.

Timeless Design

What makes a house timeless? The snap of a screen door, ocean cross breezes wafting through open windows on a summer day, the shadows created by deep molding profiles as the afternoon sun rakes across a room, and warm floor boards underfoot. These are just a few sensory reminders of what makes a home timeless. A timeless home has well-proportioned details; its scale and massing don’t overwhelm but rather exist in harmony with its inhabitants. Time-tested natural materials offer authenticity, while a level of superior craftsmanship lends integrity. A timeless house respects place and fits into its surroundings; it doesn’t compete with the landscape but rather complements it. A timeless house can be traditional or modern in form as long as it is well designed and well built to stand the test of time.

The North Shore has a rich and varied housing stock that spans across four centuries—from the medieval forms of Salem to the Georgian and Federal manses of Newburyport to the Shingle-style summer cottages of Manchester-by-the-Sea—these historical houses reflect a sense of place through their practical designs and local, long-lasting materials.

“Architects working in this area have an opportunity to create fresh, new designs based on past traditions,” says Stephen Roberts Holt of Stephen Roberts Holt Architects. The 125-year-old firm has had an illustrious career designing holiday houses for the well-heeled in Manchester-by-the-Sea since the late 19th century, when the community was transformed from a quaint fishing village to a summer playground for the wealthy. “We are informed by our building history, but translate the sensibilities of the past into designs that work for contemporary lifestyles,” says Holt. “We don’t want to merely make a carbon copy of what came before but learn from the past to create new.”

“The North Shore has been settled for centuries, and people have long ties to the land and towns—most areas are well established, so you want your renovation or new home to meld with its neighbors or village setting,” says Sandra Vitzthum of Sandra Vitzthum Architects. “It’s a real balancing act—for instance, you don’t want to build something that is going to obstruct water views for neighbors.” Respecting the massing of adjacent houses and preserving the scale of a neighborhood is important for the overall aesthetic, she continues.

Vitzthum worked with builder Dave Peach of G. F. Peach, Inc. to create a new home in Marblehead on Peach’s Point for her client, Rita Shepard. Vitzthum drove around the neighboring North Shore towns, looking at historical farmhouses to set a precedent for the new house. Taking cues from the historical examples she studied, Vitzthum created a design that appeared as if it had sat on its site for a century. “I try to be as objective as possible when designing a house and learn how the family will use the spaces,” she says. “I immerse myself in a place, study it, and learn it.” A strong sense of place comes through in her designs. Vitzthum looks at how the new structure will interact with the street and other nearby houses to create a place that is right for its location. “It’s a matter of focusing on the place and the people—and putting the house in the context of its surroundings,” she says. “Architecture is like poetry—pieces fit together in a certain way to create a timeless beauty.”

G. F. Peach, Inc., a family-run restoration and new construction business that has been passed down through seven generations of builders, is a company of true housewrights and offered a real sense of integrity to the building. “The Peaches are awe-inspiring craftsman,” says Vitzthum.

“Rita had dreamed of living in Marblehead where she had family ties, and she wanted the house to be right for the place,” says Peach. He gives Vitzthum credit for designing a house that fits in well with the community and is sympathetic to the local character. And he takes great pride and pleasure in the family’s 300-year history of helping shape this seaside town all in a timeless fashion.

Practical Storage

With today’s busy lifestyles, homes have to be organized. If the can be customized to fit the family’s needs, all the better. In many new home designs, room dimensions are becoming smaller, which makes the home more intimate and personal. This scaling back allows families to stay more connected. But by necessity, rooms have had to become more multifunctional—think homework station in the kitchen or a mudroom doubling as the laundry room. And with smaller rooms, creating storage for all of our stuff has become critical to the overall design. Let’s face it—good storage is key to keeping our lives well organized. For instance, individual coat cubbies for each child in the mudroom reduces the frantic search for boots, gloves, and hats when kids are rushing for the school bus and you’re hurrying to catch the commuter rail to Boston first thing in the morning.

The pantry is as popular today as it was in the 19th century for storing dishes, the lobster pot, baking pans, and dry goods. Kitchen clutter disappears when small appliance cabinets are introduced. A corner of the garage can be utilized for the recycling station; Separate built-in bins can catch paper, plastic, and glass, making it easier for you to transport these castoffs to the curb. If you garden, why not add a cutting room with a deep soapstone sink off the kitchen or a potting shed in the backyard to store your gardening tools and terra-cotta containers? Thoughtful additions, no matter how small, can keep your home ordered and organized.

“I always ask my clients to really think about how they use the spaces they live in—especially the kitchen,” says designer Thomas Kelly of TRK Design Company, a premiere kitchen design showroom located in Marblehead. “I see more and more families opting for eat-in kitchens—it really is the place where family and friends gather.” The dining room has become virtually obsolete, “so why not turn that unused room into the kids’ homework study,” he suggests. Cabinets and drawers once fitted with fussy cubbies and dividers are going back to a more traditional storage approach. Instead of the kitchen being over designed with ornate moldings, they have simpler, cleaner lines with open shelving and under-counter drawers that easily pull open to access pots and pans. Kelly sees unfitted kitchens in vogue, which use a mix of practical materials, such as honed granite or concrete countertops. Slate and sealed wood countertops are also popular low-maintenance choices for the kitchen.

A master at designing uncluttered homes is local architect Topsfield architect Benjamin Nutter of Benjamin Nutter Architects, who designed a home on the North Shore for clients who wanted help organizing their “stuff,” and this meant keeping their home free of excessive clutter. “They wanted a functional, new Colonial farmhouse,” says Nutter. Nutter chose to employ the simple Shaker aesthetic. “Economy of space is a key feature in Shaker design,” says Nutter. “And this lends itself to creating order in the home.”

Nutter incorporated furnishings right into the design to create this order. In the master bedroom, two built-in wardrobes flank a three-bay window and built-in window seat. The crown molding incorporated into the top of the wardrobe creates continuity in the design, and the window seat offers ample storage for comforters and blankets—easily accessible on cold winter nights. Another practical idea that Nutter introduced in the home’s design was a built-in “Hoosier” cabinet. A ubiquitous fixture in 1930s kitchens, the Hoosier offered several compartments of various sizes to store cooking supplies.

“Today, there is a trend toward creating built-in cabinetry that looks like freestanding furniture of the past,” says Nutter. A plate rail around the kitchen is the perfect spot for a collection of beautiful and functional ceramic pitchers and mixing bowls. In this home, there truly is a place for everything and everything is put in its place!

Sustainable and Eco-conscious

When we think of sustainable, we often conjure up flat roofs sprouting grass or the latest green gadgets, such as wind turbines and geothermal systems. Although these high-tech gizmos and design ideas may be well out of our budget when it comes to building or renovating our homes, there are a host of sustainable moves that we can incorporate into our home designs that can make a difference. And most of these really stem from good old-fashioned common sense. The way a house is sited to take advantage of passive solar rays, where the materials came from to construct the house, the building methods employed, and whether recycled or repurposed materials are used in the building all play into creating a more sustainable design. For instance, using locally quarried stone for countertops, rather than specifying exotic marble, can reduce the carbon emissions factored into a building project.

Specifying reclaimed heart pine from an old mill rather than ordering lumber from newly felled trees can also be a smart ecological choice. If using new wood materials, be sure the wood comes from a sustainably harvested forest. Invest in good windows—in this New England climate, we need windows that will keep out the cold as well as hold in the heat by creating spaces that offer cross ventilation in the house instead of running the air conditioning all summer long. Energy efficiency is also an important component to an eco-friendly house. Charlie Silva of Silva Brothers Construction advocates using high-efficiency Icynene when insolating New England houses. “Closed cell is the most effective to creating a thermal barrier,” says Silva. “Programmable thermostats and superstore water heaters all contribute to less of a carbon footprint as well.”

Groom Construction, a leader in residential construction located in Salem, renovated the first LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) house on the North Shore in Marblehead. The certification was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council to set the standard in measuring how green a building actually is. Originally built in 1870, the waterfront Victorian was totally rehabbed to incorporate state-of-the-art energy conservation measures. The project also included such materials as eco-star recycled rubber-roofing tiles and Weatherbest decking made of recycled plastic and waste wood. Walnut floors were chosen because they were domestically grown and responsibly harvested. It often comes down to sensible choices when it comes to an eco-conscious house.

Purchasing materials from local sources can also factor into how sustainable your home is, says David Sanborn, owner of Ecomodern Designs, a two-year-old one-stop shop for all things green at the Boston Design Center. Sanborn carries wood flooring from a Massachusetts FSC-certified lumber company. “They transport the logs out of the forest using a team of mules,” says Sanborn. “This eliminates the use of fossil fuels at that stage—now that is a sustainable product!” Sanborn also advocated purchasing New England marble and granite for countertops to cut down on how far a material may need to travel to your home. “Every bit helps the process,” says Sanborn, who also carries wall tiles made from crushed seashells that have been recycled from local seafood processing plants.

Introducing green building elements into your home doesn’t stop with the building. Kim Tenenbaum, owner of Urban Elements, which carries a line of sofas and chairs made in the United State using innovative green methods and materials (cushions are made from soy-based materials and regenerated fibers, padding is 100 percent recycled cotton, finishes are water-based wood, spring components are made from 98 percent recycled steel, and seat and trim pads are made from 80 percent regenerated fibers), which takes Green to a whole new comfort zone.

Healthy House

One important aspect of home building today is creating healthy environments in which to live. This practice encompasses ensuring a home has good indoor air quality. To achieve a healthier house, cutting down on formaldehyde, paint with VOCs, lead, and asbestos can all contribute to a better environment. The American Lung Association has come up with a set of tips to help homeowners create healthier houses, and local designers and builders have been implementing many of these healthy house moves into North Shore homes.

Perhaps the most important aspect of Groom Construction’s Marblehead project was to fulfill the owners’ request to integrate systems and materials that would offer excellent indoor-air quality. To achieve this goal, Groom Construction installed highly efficient air exchangers (to bring in fresh air, remove stale air, and recover heat) and a hydrostatic/HEPA Air filtration system. Materials included formaldehyde-free plywood for all interior construction; low-VOC caulks, sealants, and glues for all finish work; low-VOC paints and finishes for walls, cabinetry and wood floors; cork flooring in the basement; and wool carpets with “green” padding. For the kitchen counters, Silestone, a no-VOC product was chosen. Shade fabric is Green Guard-certified (low emission) and cast-iron (rather than PVC) pipe was installed for all plumbing drainpipes.

Radiant heat is not only the most energy-efficient heating system that you can add, but it is also a healthy choice. Feeling warm floor boards underfoot on a cold January morning is not only comfortable—it is practically life giving! Radiant heat is also much better for us than forced hot air that can dry and irritate skin. Fireplaces are making a strong comeback into home design as well—the feel of a warm hearth is truly soul sustaining. And a soapstone fireplace by Tulikivi offers radiant heat as well as a handsome hearth.

“Adding a steam shower to your home is one of the biggest trends I’m seeing in the bath,” says Jason Sevinor of Designer Bath and Salem Plumbing Supply. A steam shower is not only relaxing, it’s restorative. “They are coming with all kinds of amenities to enhance the steaming experience—aromatherapy, chromatherapy, music—which are all good for body, mind, and soul.

Comfort

Plush carpets, warm floorboards, cozy love seats, Egyptian-cotton sheets, soft down comforters—these are just a few of the creature comforts we crave in our surroundings. Creating comfortable living spaces is often about choosing furnishings, art, and accessories that satisfy our personal tastes.

“Many of our clients are turning away from building large homes with large rooms no one ever uses—homeowners want smaller, more intimate spaces that are more cozy and comfortable,” says Darby Easterbrooks, founder of Easterbrooks Construction in South Hamilton. “The trend is moving away from the McMansion. People are really asking what do I need—how do I create comfortable living spaces?”

“Your home should be pleasing to you when you arrive,” says Tenenbaum, whose shop, Urban Elements, also carries eco-friendly furnishing made in the United States, as well as tables made from reclaimed wood and iron. “I think we have a different perspective today than we did before the recession—we want our surroundings to reflect our personalities, not a façade of what we think we should have,” she explains. Tenenbaum likes an eclectic mix of furnishings in her own space. She suggests surrounding yourself with things you like and love. Adding layers of texture into your design can create comfortable, luxurious spaces. Her most comfortable spot in her home is the sofa. “I love getting home at the end of the day and laying down with my partner and the dogs and relaxing,” says Tenenbaum.

Peter Kiernan of Marine Art Gallery, one of the oldest marine arts galleries on the East Coast, located next to the Peabody Essex Museum, knows that creating comfort in your home encompasses not only the sofas and bedding but also what you hang on your walls. “Art is a very personal thing,” he explains. “It’s important to see a piece in person before you purchase.” One of the services his gallery provides is to bring the painting right to your home so clients can hang the piece in its potential spot. “We’ll let homeowners live with a piece for a few days to make sure it rests comfortably in the home,” he explains.

The gallery offers a range of both antique and contemporary pieces—many of which reflect our seacoast environment—that can really bring comfort and joy to your living space. He also believes less is more when it comes to hanging pieces. Having one piece to take center stage or a collage of art together can create a soothing experience. “Art is something you can enjoy in your home every day,” he explains. “It’s a great time to purchase art, too.”

Connecting To The Land

An important element in today’s design is connecting indoor spaces with the outdoors. When the weather is glorious, we want to enjoy it! Architects and builders are further blurring the division between interiors and exteriors so that our natural environment becomes part of our experience. Whether it’s through a bank of operable double-hung windows that emit natural light, gentle breezes, or serene views; open or enclosed porches; or thresholds that lead to terraces and gardens, a connection to the land has become part of our lifestyle. Porches offer transitional spaces between house and garden and come in all shapes and uses—you can add an all-weather sun porch with removable glass windows that can be replaced with screens during the spring and summer seasons or an open porch to sip morning coffee and read the Sunday Globe during warm months.

Another strong connection we can make to the land is creating outdoor living rooms to dine, read a book, or even watch TV!  The coal-burning grill and Coleman cooler have given way to outdoor kitchens equipped with stainless steel gas grills, rotisseries, refrigerators, ice makers, and sinks. “Cooking, entertaining, and dining outdoors has become a way of life today,” says Justin White of Bayberry Nurseries in Portsmouth. Outdoor rooms offer field and cast stone fireplaces for when the temperatures cool at sunset—and not only are fireplaces introduced but also plasma TVs and state-of-the-art sound systems. “We are really extending our living spaces into the outdoors,” says White. “Instead of buying second homes, homeowners are reinvesting in their properties to create dynamic living environments.”

“We just finished an outdoor project for a family in Boxford whose wholesale seafood business does not allow them to travel during the summer months,” says Susan Howell of Howell Design Group. They really wanted to create a place at their home that took them away from it all. So Howell Design Group created a backyard oasis, adding a swimming pool surrounded by native plantings, a hot tub, an outdoor kitchen, and a dining patio—all the amenities of a vacation destination, really creating a “staycation” environment.

Hiring a Builder on the North Shore

For most people, a major renovation, creating an addition, or building a new house can be one of the largest purchases of their lives. This endeavor can be intimidating, especially because there are so many stories of homeowner’s with a negative building experience—typically due to a builder’s unreliability, unexpected cost overruns, or schedule delays.

Home construction can be a complicated process with many unknowns. You want to minimize the complications with careful planning up front. As you consider which builder to hire, do your homework to increase your chances for a positive building experience. Remember when comparing prices that it’s very difficult to get an apples-to-apples comparison on the quality of the building experience.

2011 North Shore Home Resource Guide

APPLIANCES

Beach Sales
80 VFW Parkway
Revere, MA 02151
781-284-0130, beachsalesinc.com

Tri-City Sales
262 Highland Avenue,
Salem, MA and
77 Turnpike Road,
Ipswich, MA
978-744-6100, tri-city-sales.com

ARCHITECTS

Stephen Roberts Holt Architects
24 Bridge Street
Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA  01944
978-526-1281, holtaia.com

CONSTRUCTION

James Hardy/All In One Contracting Services, Inc.
14 Westridge Drive
Hampton, NH 03842
603-601 0494, aiocsi.com

Callahan Construction
940 Forest Street
North Andover, MA 01845
978-475-3430, callahanconstruction.biz

Easterbrooks Construction
638 Bay Road
South Hamilton
MA 01982
781-631-6301, easterbrooksconstruction.com

Groom Construction
96 Swampscott Road
Salem, MA  01970
781-592-3135, groomresidential.com

Howell Custom Building Group
360 Merrimack Street, Bldg. 5
Lawrence, MA 01843
978-989-9440, howellcustombuild.com

Rocky  Neck  Associates, Inc.
14 Wiley Street
Gloucester, MA   01930
978- 281-8783, rockyneckassoc.com

Silva Brothers Construction
91 Babicz Road
Tewksbury, MA  01876
781-863-1962, silvabrothers.com

DOOR & WINDOW TREATMENTS

Phantom Screens/Robert’s Home Services & Repair Inc.
6 Allenclair Drive
Amesbury, MA 01913
978-361-5150, phantomscreens.com

FLOORING

Landry & Arcari Oriental Rugs & Carpeting, Inc.
333 Stuart Street
Boston, MA 02116
617-399-6500
and 63 Flint Street
Salem, MA 01970
800-649-5909, landryandarcari.com

HOME FURNISHINGS & ART

Ethan Allen
419 Andover Street
North Andover, MA 01845
978-685-3546, ethanallen.com

Marine Art Gallery
135 Essex Street
Salem, MA 01970
978-745-5000, marineartsgallery.com

Sunline Patio & Fireside
24 Newbury St. Rt. 1 South
Danvers, MA 01923
978-774-8822, sunlinepatio.com

INSURANCE

Seltser & Goldstein Public Adjusters, Inc.
900 Cummings Center Suite 302T
Beverly, MA 01915
978-921-2926, seltser.com

INTERIOR DESIGN

Hammond Design
182 Elm Street
Andover, MA 01810
508-265-5405, hammonddesign.net

KITCHEN & BATH

Designer Bath & Salem Plumbing Supply
97 River Street
Beverly, MA 01915
877-361-2284, designerbath.com

Family Kitchens
262 Highland Avenue
Salem, MA 01970
978-745-7700, familykitchens.com

Frank Webb Bath Centers Multiple locations
160 Middlesex Turnpike
Bedford, MA 01730
781-272-6600, frankwebbbath.com

McCormick Kitchens
135 Broadway Rte. 1 South
Saugus, MA 01906
781-231-4200, mccormick-kitchens.com

Metropolitan Bath
545 Main Street
Reading, MA  01867
781-944-5600, www.metbath.com

Northshore Kitchens Plus
183 Tedesco Street
Marblehead, MA 01945
781-631-1060, northshorekitchens.com

TRK Design Co., LLC
183 Tedesco Street
Marblehead, MA 01945
617-510-5738, trkdesigncompany.com

LANDSCAPE & GARDEN

Acorn Tree & Landscape
513 Codman Hill Road
Boxborough, MA 01719
978-635-0409

Bayberry Nurseries
151 Kensington Road
Hampton Falls, NH 03844
603-929-1811, bayberrynurseries.com

Comak Bros.
647 Lowell Street
Peabody, MA 01960
978-535-1227, comakbros.com

Corliss Landscaping
31 Essex Road
Ipswich, MA 01938
978-356-4224, corlisslandscaping.com

J & R Fine Landscaping
30 Lowell Junction Road
Andover, MA 01810
978-475-1193, jandrfinelandscaping.com

Landscapers Depot
Route 125
Kingston, NH 03848
603-642-6677, landscapersdepot.com

LCM Plus, Inc.
10 Draper Street, Ste. 15
Woburn, MA 01888
978-989-9485, www.lcmplus.com

Mayer Tree Service, Inc.
9 Scots Way
Essex, MA  01929
978-768-6999, mayertree.com

LIGHTING

Delande Lighting
22 New Derby Street
Salem, MA 01970
978-744-2609, delande.com

Design Lighting
North Andover Mall
Route 114
North Andover, MA 01845
978-794-1650, designlt.com

PAINTING

Lifetyme Exteriors
1 Braintree Street
Allston, MA 02134
866-916-6600, lifetymene.com

POOLS

Combined Energy Systems, Inc.
37 Ayer Road, Unit 9
Littleton, MA 01460
978-486-0070, combinedenergyststems.com

Based out of Lexington, MA, Office Manager at Coldwell Banker and expert Realtor Kelly O’Ryan gives her advice on how to protect your house while you are away on vacation.

With school vacations approaching many lucky families are planning trips to cure their winter blues. Here are some important things to remember if you leave your home for several days.

1.) Turn down your thermostat, but don’t shut it off. You shouldn’t set your thermostat any lower than 55 degrees in order to protect your pipes from freezing.

2.)  Arrange for snow removal in your absence in case there’s a storm while you are away. Massachusetts law requires residents to clear their own sidewalks and walkways six hours after a storm takes place and you’re not off the hook if you are out of town.

3.) Make sure to hold the mail and newspapers. If you can’t have someone pick it up every day, it’s a sure giveaway that nobody’s home and can be a green light for burglars.

4.) If possible, leave a key with someone you trust, preferably a neighbor and have them keep an eye on your home while you’re gone. Make sure to offer returning the favor and thank them with a gift when you return.

5.) Unplug all electronics that don’t need to used like the television, coffee maker, and home computers.

6.) Lower the temperature on your water heater.

7.) If you can, leave a car in the drive way and use timers to turn on outdoor and indoor lights to give the impression that someone is home. Leaving the porch light on the entire time you’re gone is a bad idea, if you don’t have a timed light you can leave an interior light on for the duration of your trip as long as you can’t easily notice it during the day.

8.) As excited as you may be to go on vacation, avoid advertising it over Facebook and Twitter. Also, keep this in mind while posting updates from your cell phone on vacation.

9.) If you have access to one, place all your valuables in a safe or safe deposit box.

10.) Remember, if your house is on the market you can ask your realtor to stop by and check in. While your on vacation it’s also a great time for showings because you won’t have schedule conflicts.

If you follow these tips the next time you are out of town you will most likely protect your house and your peace of mind.

A bold Manchester home takes antiquing to a new level. By Regina Cole, Photographs by Bob O’Connor Continue reading Classical Grace