Summer 2016 New England garden tours

It doesn't look like WBUR's The ARTery has published a guide to this season's garden tours, but I found a listing at Yankee magazine that you might want to reference. I'll be headed back to The Newport Secret Garden Tour again, running June 17-19 this spring. I'd like to think, in these many years sampling self-guided tours like the one in Newport, that I would be advancing from my idjit gardener status. Possibly, but perhaps there's a bit of the idjit gardener in even the most experienced gardener, who is open to how the garden might surprise, delight, and inform them. Happy touring.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

Window-seat landing design-strategy bonanza

As frequent readers of House Enthusiast know, I define 10 small-house design strategies in my book The New Small House. But, as this photo taken at Blithewold Mansion in Bristol, RI will attest, there's no rule against applying many of the same strategies to smaller moments in larger houses.

This generous window seat off the landing in the grand front stair of this c. 1907 estate, designed in the English Country Manor style, is a great example of creating multipurpose spaces. Here, the landing is more than a place to catch your breath before continuing further up or down the stairs; it's also a destination, thanks to the window seat. 

It's a place to curl up with a book or to have a word or two with a companion before heading down to enjoy tea, or up to the more private spaces. It's a pocket for privacy amidst an otherwise larger and more public setting.

It takes advantage of the volume and height a stair can provide, by providing a perch from which to both overlook the activity of the living space below and the scene outside as folks arrive or depart. It takes advantage of the third dimension.

It also borrows daylight and view from windows that would otherwise be dedicated to the stair, and shares that daylight and view with the floor below and the hall above.

Because the painted, raised paneling that lines the wall of the stair seamlessly sides the back of the window seat and then continues further up the stairs, the window seat is very much part of the overall succinct palette of the stair hall. The line between stair and window seat, blurs so that each benefits from the other and is in a way enlarged by the other.

My one wish is that the window seat cushion and pillows were not red/burgundy, and that the coordinating rug wasn't red/burgundy and navy blue. I would prefer colors drawn more from the vase to the left in the photo, or the vase on the window sill further down the stair. Something with more of a mid-green or mid-blue color story would be my choice. But I suppose the cushion, pillows, and rug are the colors they are for historic reasons. Can't help but want to update it some and give it a fresh look. 

To see more of Blithewold as well as their impressive gardens, check out their calendar of events. I took the photo above when I was there for one of their afternoon teas. Just delightful.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

Before and After: Progress at North Shore ranch-house renovation/addition

This is one of my favorite stages of a project, when a design originally conceived and expressed via drawings starts to become visible in reality. The "Before" photo on the bottom was taken at roughly the same angle as the "After" photo above it. That's the same fireplace to the far right in the "Before" photo as the fireplace in the "After" photo, though we've added another gas fireplace behind the original wood-burning fireplace in the "After" photo.

The footprint of this space hasn't changed, but we've removed the low, flat ceiling, replacing it instead with rod ties in a cathedral ceiling, which adds volume and a sense of spaciousness. In my book The New Small House, I call this design strategy: Pay attention to the third dimension. 

By removing the full-height partitions between the former dining, living, and kitchen spaces, the renovated space serves multiple purposes comfortably under the taller cathedral ceiling. The location of the now free-standing fireplace provides some separation between the primary living space, captured in this photo, and the smaller sitting and dining space on the other side of the fireplaces. The low wall guard rail around the basement stair also differentiates without dividing. In the book I call this strategy: Create multipurpose spaces.

Less obvious in this "After" photo, is that opening up the space to the new reconfigured windows will allow the relocated kitchen, which is where I was standing when I took the "After" shot, to borrow view and daylight from the living space.

Since this is still a work-in-progress, it's too soon to write about finishes, but suffice it to say that we're going with a quieter, soothing, fresh palette. No yellow. Built-ins, cabinetry, and finishes will be introduced in coming weeks. The homeowners have also substantially edited their belongings, opting for new, more contemporary furnishings to complement their '50's ranch instead of the older furnishings that populate the "Before" photo. Stay tuned.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

The New Small House: Pockets-for-Privacy strategy

In my book The New Small House from The Taunton Press, I identify 10 small-house design strategies and feature 24 case-study small houses (and five retreats) that illustrate them. I thought this might be a good place to share new examples of the design strategies as I happen upon them. Today's strategy is Shape pockets for privacy (strategy number six in the book).

An open living space with some volume -- in which several different uses overlap like the kitchen, dining, and living space -- can help a small house feel more expansive. Spatial variety within that open space can lend it comfort. A pocket for privacy -- like a window seat, a fireplace alcove, or a loft -- provides an opportunity for slight remove off a shared common space while still within sight and ear shot of the hustle and bustle. These pockets for privacy are generally more intimate in scale, perhaps with a lower ceiling or semi enclosing walls, but they're still part of the bigger space. They offer connected refuge.

In the current March 2016 issue of Fine Homebuilding, architect Mark Hutker describes these pockets as "spaces within spaces". The article illustrates three nooks: a built-in bench, a breakfast banquette, and an entertaining bar pass-through. To check it out, look for the issue on newsstands now or view it as an online member of the Fine Homebuilding website.

(As an aside, an art studio in Marion, Massachusetts designed by Hutker Architects appears in the Retreats chapter of The New Small House .)

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

It's a wrap: Barrington Public Library book talk and signing

Many thanks to the Barrington Public Library for hosting yesterday evening's event for The New Small House. And thank you to all of you for the wonderful turnout. It was a delight to see so many small-house fans in attendance! I look forward to the next event. Stay tuned.

photos courtesy of Chris Hufstader

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast