HOUSETRENDS GREATER CINCINNATI
GREATER CINCINNATI | OCTOBER 2013 | VOL. 12, NO. 4 | HOUSETRENDS.COM | $4.95
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Refresher Course
Historic Mariemont home undergoes a clever update
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By Amy Howell Hirt | Photos by Robin Victor Goetz/ RVGP Inc. There are some homes that simply beg you to exhale. To decompress. To come and read by an open window, or lean back with a cup of coffee. � Such is the case with Betsy Bruce’s crisp, clean cottage. Shortly after moving into her historic Mariemont home last fall, Bruce took on a four-month overhaul that stripped the home back to its roots and opened it up for easy living.
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A white-washed restoration Like many residents, Bruce was attracted to the picturesque charm of Mariemont— one of the first planned communities in the country—and the white-washed brick design of her particular area, the McGoodwin Housing Group. According to a historic plaque just across the street from Bruce’s house, architect Robert McGoodwin designed the homes in an “English Cottage Style.” When Bruce purchased the home, the bright exterior remained but stood in stark contrast to the dark colors, close quarters and heavy drapery inside. Nevertheless, Bruce saw the potential, and with the help of contractor Marc Michaelson of Michaelson Homes, embarked on a lighthanded makeover that added big impact through reduction. In this home, the intensity of the design comes from what isn’t there—including drapery, clutter and anything but the smallest amounts of color. Bruce covered all the walls, cabinetry and the hardwood flooring upstairs with a fresh coat of white paint, and refreshed the bathroom with white subway wall tiles, a custom-built white vanity and a white-and-gray marble countertop that coordinates with basketweave marble flooring. Given the divided floor plan and architectural details of the 1924 cottage, the expanses of white help to visually expand the rooms and clear the way to points of interest such as the home’s original side-hung double windows. Bruce, who is “drawn to light,” left most of the windows bare, except for the smaller-but-light-filled upstairs bedroom that she chose as the master. While she says going sans-drapes on the first floor presents some challenges for privacy, it’s also a major factor behind the home’s light, clean feel. LEFT: The exterior style and colors of the home share their theme with a small cluster of neighbors. OPENING SPREAD: Windows, unadorned by drapery, help fill the living room with light.
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Open and organized Of course no amount of paint can physically open a space or add square footage—two challenges commonly faced by owners of cottage-style homes in historic districts, where there are often limited options for adding to a home’s original footprint. Bruce’s answer to the dilemma was a smarter use of what she had. Upstairs, the construction team removed closets on either side of the bed in the master bedroom and transformed half of the smallest bedroom into a walk-in closet. This allowed the home’s only bathroom to expand. Now the room includes a separate wet
area which encompasses the tub and shower space. Downstairs, Bruce opened the dining room to the kitchen by adding a peninsula, and underwent an exhaustive search for a 30-inch counterdepth refrigerator that could be recessed into an existing closet—opening much-needed square footage in the kitchen. But for Bruce, who works from home and enjoys hosting dinner parties, functional storage had to trump the visual appeal of open space in some instances. Despite an aesthetic “aversion” to overhead cabinetry, she installed two doubledoor cabinets on either side of the professional-grade Dacor
The long wall of the kitchen has no upper cabinets, which helps open up the space. ABOVE: A small, but private patio provides a charming space for outdoor dining and entertaining. OPPOSITE TOP: The dining room doubles as a home office. OPPOSITE BOTTOM: The homeowner, an avid reader, has stacks of books in just about every room of the house.
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gas range and Faber hood, so that everything she needs to cook is easily at-hand. In the light-filled dining room, which doubles as Bruce’s office, new built-in cabinets flanking a window seat conceal Bruce’s printer and desk supplies on one side, and house serveware on the other. Like the panedglass-front cabinets added to the kitchen, the doors and hardware coordinate with the home’s existing cabinetry, creating an unfussy “been-here” look.
A beachy base With this clean palette in place, Bruce added an airy, beachside cottage feel with a base of cool, calm colors and natural materials. The home is washed in sandy tones and soft shades, including subdued cream-andsand-colored granite countertops in the kitchen, area rugs and upholstery in shades of neutral cream and gray/taupe, sky-blue accessories in the bedrooms and pastel-toned artwork—set in expansive white matting—in the dining room. In the kitchen and dining room, the hardwood flooring, which was given a weathered look by stripping away the polyurethane-yellowed finish, is enhanced by the natural texture of woven area rugs in shades of light blue and burntpeach. “They’re quiet and sort of peaceful,” Bruce says. Just a handful of dark finishes—such as the black rattan armchairs and wroughtiron chandelier and hardware in the dining room—serve to ground this lightness. continued >
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Bright, bold accessories Accessories are always the finishing touch, and pops of bright, “controlled color” allowed Bruce to put her “stamp on things,” she says. Set against the neutral upholstery and flooring, small doses of red and hot pink bring big drama in the living room, through accent pillows, a throw blanket and a hot pink feathered African headdress above the fireplace. Bruce incorporated bits of the color in other rooms as well—a red casserole dish in the kitchen, a single piece of artwork in a bedroom, a few towels in the bathroom—but primarily accented the rooms with bursts of lime-green and bright-yellow. From a bowl of actual limes and lemons in the kitchen to the potted succulents and flowers, these colors help find a fresh middle ground between the tame neutrals and rambunctious red, but also call to mind the garden-style inspiration of this historic neighborhood.
resources:
Contractor: Michaelson Homes; Designer: Homeowner; Kitchen cabinetry: Michaelson Homes; Paint: Pratt & Lambert, Arrowroot; Pillows and upholstery: Homan Interiors
more online:
To see more photos of this home, go to housetrends.com and search “Refresher Course.”
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OPPOSITE FAR LEFT: Another stack of books sit ready to read in the master bedroom. OPPOSITE: A feathered African headdress adds a burst of color above the fireplace. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: The master bedroom was made considerably roomier by removing two closets. Splashes of color are found in carefully placed artwork that is found throughout the home. Behind the glass wall, to the right in the bathroom, is a wet space that includes a separate shower and tub area. A second bedroom stands ready to envelop guests in comfort.
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