New England Shingle Style Estate

Along with architect Rob Bramhall, Kathy was enlisted to design a completely new home in the tradition of the classic 1900s Shingle Style houses typical of the North Shore of Boston.

Having grown up in an English Tudor from the turn of the last century, Kathy brought her innate sense of proportion, scale, and detail to the project’s interior architecture as well as to the white farmhouse-inspired kitchen designed around a centerpiece La Cornue range.
 

To create character, charm, and authentic sense of place, the clients asked Kathy to source as much as she could from a 100-mile radius with a reliance on layers of art, antiques, and local artisans and craftspeople.  Some inspiration also came from afar, where the game room bar was influenced by Kathy's memories of a long-ago visit to a Dublin pub, and vintage andirons and artwork were found at a market in Paris, with the clients in close collaboration on every decision.

The clients requested spaces for a wide range of hobbies and pursuits, including not only the requisite dining and living areas, but also a workout room, wine cellar, craft room, train room, grill house, screening room, indoor pool, sport court, horse barn, and guest house. But the house also had to ramble, like old houses do, with nooks and eddies, and comfortable spaces to curl up with games and eventual grandkids.

Completed in 2019, the project turned out to be the ideal pandemic house before the pandemic even existed. During quarantine, the entire family came back to live under this one spectacular roof, with plenty of space for both gathering and solo pursuits, with all of their needs met from this well-appointed, welcoming, timeless family retreat.