When I first saw this house, its simple farmhouse form and minimum detailing  reminded me of both Shaker and Scandinavian design. The house, built in 2009, has a peaceful ten acre setting of meadow, fields and woods. Pastoral views of the farm across the street are protected by an easement against development. Both the front porch and the rear screened porch are great spaces for enjoying the views of the landscape. I loved the juxtaposition of the house’s exterior color palette of creamy light yellow and white trim against the red of the barn form that is actually the garage with guest quarters above. How different this house would have looked if the garage had been cladded with the same creamy yellow siding!

The beautiful interiors are so well matched to the house’s exterior simplicity. The interior architecture with high ceilings, large windows with stained wood window frames, white trim with the sill piece slightly overlapping the jamb/apron connection, inside mount window blinds that disappear when fully opened and warm wood floors create very appealing interior architecture. The furnishings are a harmonious mix of upholstered pieces, wood antiques and accents of Scandinavian chairs and settees 

The focal point of the living room is the stunning Finnish “Tulikivi” slate blue soapstone wood stove that becomes a sculptural element opposite the inlaid wood armoire. The upholstered pieces around the fireplace pick up the red in the colorful rug’s motifs.  The media room has light mocha walls and a Scandinavian wood framed sofa and chair in a subtle pattern that complements the walls.  

The kitchen has, fittingly, a “farmhouse” sink set into cranberry colored countertop and wood cabinets arranged in an “L” around an island with bar stools. The kitchen and dining area are combined and another wood stove keeps the room cozy and warm during the fall and winter.

I also loved all the bedrooms’ interior design. The master bedroom’s pale butter walls, colorful Kilim, white bed linens, wood tables as nightstands and art makes a serene space. Another bedroom has light sage green walls, a double and a twin wood beds with pencil post frames flanking a double window. The colorful duvets with rows of alternating flowers in varied colors and the geometric rug were just the right touch. The cozy guest bedroom over the garage had knee walls and a sloped ceiling and the dark wood bed frame contrasted with the white bed linens. 

This house reminded of the Shaker song, 

“Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free,

Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be, 

And when we find ourselves in the place just right

It will be in the valley of love and delight” 

One would be very lucky to “come down” here in this “place just right”!

For more information about this property, contact Richard Budden at Coldwell Banker Chesapeake Real Estate Company, 410-778-0330 (o), 443-480-1181 (c) or rbudden@easternshoremdre.com, “Equal Housing Opportunity”.

Spy House of the Week is an ongoing series that selects a different home each week. The Spy’s Habitat editor Jennifer Martella makes these selections based exclusively on her experience as a architect.

Jennifer Martella has pursued her dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. Her award winning work has ranged from revitalization projects to a collaboration with the Maya Lin Studio for the Children’s Defense Fund’s corporate retreat in her home state of Tennessee.

As an architect, what I love about conceptual design is working simultaneously in plan, section and elevation along with the site features and to see the design evolve.  It is clear the architects for this exquisite award-winning house did this and more. Carefully crafted details like the bowed rear wall of the great room, dropped beams that create coffered ceilings and a stunning staircase are just a few of the many design features of this unique house. 

The linear main floor plan is organized along a transverse hall and the great vistas begin with the entry.  A low arched header spans across the front door with full height sidelights and the four-panel door with very slightly incised panels echoes the muntin pattern of the sidelights. The spatial geometry of the ceiling changes from flat over the closets next to each sidelight up to a low arched soffit above the entry door and sidelights.  The higher soffit continues across the room to intersect with the transverse hall that is a gallery for art. The walls between the entrance hall and the gallery have nooks open from front to back and divided into four parts to resemble a window with a transom above. 

As you enter the gallery, multiple delightful vistas open up in every direction. One end of the gallery terminates at a set of doors that lead to the recreation room with a kitchenette, sauna, and full bath. The other end of the gallery terminates at the family room with a short walkway to a garage with a guest suite above.  The transverse vistas from the entrance hall have views through the wide wall opening in the great room and to the stunning staircase. 

The lower stair treads are much longer than required and diminish in length until they reach the landing to the upper run of the stairs.  The third tread extends to the opposite wall of the entrance hall to form a seat and the fourth tread becomes a shallow ledge for display. The balustrade design with its rhythm of open space and railing inset with an “I” shape, the wood treads and white risers complete the design.     

On the water side opposite the gallery, the great room with living and dining areas has a bowed wall of windows and French doors with transoms for water views and the side wall’s focal point is the fireplace with seating arranged around it.  A short hall from the great room leads to the kitchen, screened porch and to the service areas across the hall.  

I loved the kitchen with its bowed window at the water side that creates a cozy informal eating area, another low arched pair of windows overlooking the screened porch, the white cabinets, dark countertops, stainless steel appliances and the small island furniture piece accented in slate blue with a white countertop. A French door at the breakfast area leads to the waterside terrace that extends along the rear of the house at various depths. The large screened porch has areas for dining and seating to enjoy the water view.  

The bedrooms are on the second floor with the spacious master suite on one side of the staircase and the other four bedrooms and three baths on the other side. The steeply pitched roof creates a variety of ceiling planes with knee walls, soffits and dormers, creating great interior architecture. The luxurious master suite has a large master bath including a freestanding tub with a high window tucked into a small dormer, and three walk-in closets to provide ample storage.

The exterior massing of the front elevation breaks up the linear plan by short one-story connections from the main wing of the house to both the recreation room wing and to the garage wing and by placing the recreation room perpendicular to the house. The steep roof of the main wing is accented by a large gable that projects beyond the main roof eave over the entrance hall below and a much smaller gable dormer contains one of the windows in the master bath. The entrance hall gable is carefully detailed with a double window centered in the gable and extends beyond the front wall of the entrance hall to create a porch supported by columns at each end.  Between the columns are wide columns clad in siding that frame the bowed entry door and sidelights beyond.  

In my opinion, the architects could have won their design award based solely upon the outstanding rear elevation that faces the water. Two large gambrel gables anchor each end of the main roof.  One gambrel roof has a double window with a large transom and the other gambrel roof has a shed roof over four ganged windows. A shed roof with three evenly spaced windows connects the two gables and is centered over the bow window of the breakfast area. The continuous row of windows and doors at the great room and the matching screened panels and doors of the screened porch open these rooms to the water.  

The craftsmanship of this house is outstanding. The interior with ceilings punctuated by dropped beams to create coffered areas, the wood floors, the varied ceiling planes of the second floor and the vistas all combine to create great interior architecture. The exterior massing and detailing of the slate blue siding, crisp white trim, corner boards, the white cornice board that wrapped around the house and the covered terraces enliven the facades.  This is the second time I have had the opportunity to feature the work of this architecture firm and such a pleasure to see another of their stunning designs. I’m going out to buy my lottery ticket tomorrow!

 For more information about this property, contact Barb Watkins with Benson and Mangold at 410-822-1415 (o), 410-310-2021 (c), or barb.c.watkins@gmail.com,  “Equal Housing Opportunity”. Architecture by Hammond Wilson Architects,410-267-6041 Construction by Winchester Construction, 410-987-5905

Spy House of the Week is an ongoing series that selects a different home each week. The Spy’s Habitat editor Jennifer Martella makes these selections based exclusively on her experience as a architect.

Jennifer Martella has pursued her dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. Her award winning work has ranged from revitalization projects to a collaboration with the Maya Lin Studio for the Children’s Defense Fund’s corporate retreat in her home state of Tennessee.

Last year I featured a house designed by the architect Peter Newlin for an ornithologist who asked him to design a “bird house”. The ornithologist had purchased the site and built a small one-room cabin as her week-end get-away, nestled in a wooded area with conifers, mature deciduous trees, native plants, a creek and marsh that attracted birds and other wildlife. 

The ornithologist wanted a three-story addition so she could better observe the birds.  She explained different species seek varied heights for feeding or nesting areas. The conifers on the property provided shelter, nest sites, and food for birds who prefer high spaces. The wild grasses and weeds provided cover for ground-nesting birds and their seeds provided abundant food for many other types of birds. Trees that bore fruit in autumn such as dogwoods and berry plants provided food for migratory birds and allowed non-migratory birds to “fatten up” to face the food challenges in winter. The oaks and other trees provided food for jays, titmice, woodpeckers as well as nesting habitats for many other species.

The design challenge was how to join a three-story vertical addition to a one-story  small cabin without overwhelming the cabin’s scale and to insert the addition on the site as carefully as possible for minimum invasion of the wildlife’s habitat.  Peter Newlin rose to the challenge with his masterful tower addition. He broke the tower massing up by stepping it back as it passed through the roof behind and above the one-story original cabin and then re-cladded and re-roofed the entire house. Many windows became “outlooks” for endless birdwatching. Now the new house was indeed a Bird House and the ornithologist christened her weekend retreat “Aerie”.

The ornithologist later sold the house and the new owner added a screened “hyphen” connecting the house to a screened pavilion and a deck that paralleled the creek.  The wood slat ceiling were attached to the underside of the roof rafters to give the space an “airy” feel. They also added a wonderful inglenook to the sitting room with a fireplace to expand the interior living space. These additions were designed and constructed to seamlessly blend with the house and its tower addition.  

The third and current owner uses it as his full time residence. Peter Newlin and I visited the house to meet the owner, the photographer Richard Lange. His contribution to this remarkable house’s story is his beautiful interiors.  It was a delight to see the interior design that reflects the owner’s love for Japanese culture and his collections of books, pottery, artisan crafts and furnishings and art. Comfortable upholstered sofas were mixed with beautiful artisan wood chairs, settees and wood tables with unique shapes and live edges. Accent pillows and the Oriental rugs over the hardwood floors added color. Not surprising, considering that the owner is a photographer, everywhere I looked-on tabletops, the fireplace mantel, windowsills, etc.,  were tableaus of carefully arranged pieces from his collections. 

He was also a friend of the late Seiko Kato Behr and has a stunning collection of ceramics from this artist. This was the first time I had seen her work in a residential setting and I was fascinated by the organic nature of her designs. She was inspired by flowers, fruits and the floral motifs in the designs of Japanese family crests and antique kimonos. One vase caught my eye since it remined me of a tree trunk with its vertical striations that resembled the tree’s bark. Art and craft were combined in her gifted hands but each piece was also carefully designed for everyday use.

Richard Lange explained his interiors reflect his admiration for the philosophy of “Shibui” which the Japanese define as a particular aesthetic of simple and subtle beauty. At first glance, Shibui objects may appear to be simple but after closer scrutiny, reveal subtle details or textures that are both simple and complex. This balanced dual nature results in one’s finding new meaning that increases the object’s aesthetic value through the years.  

With great reluctance, Peter Newlin and I left Richard’s beautifully furnished home. I remarked to Peter that he must be so pleased to see how his original design, that was itself an addition, has adapted and thrived through the additions and interiors of subsequent owners.   

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Architecture by Peter Newlin of Chesapeake Architects,  410-778-4899, peter@chesarch.com, www.chesarch.com.

Photography by Caroline Phillips, 443-262-5656, carolinejp13gmail and Jenn Martella

Spy House of the Week is an ongoing series that selects a different home each week. The Spy’s Habitat editor Jennifer Martella makes these selections based exclusively on her experience as a architect.

Jennifer Martella has pursued her dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. Her award winning work has ranged from revitalization projects to a collaboration with the Maya Lin Studio for the Children’s Defense Fund’s corporate retreat in her home state of Tennessee.

Several of my friends who live and work in Wilmington or Philadelphia have second homes or weekend get-a-ways in Kent County. They appreciate the short time on I-95 and then the leisurely drive across the peninsula to the coves and rivers of Kent County.  This cottage has great appeal as a weekend retreat or full time home. “Knot Now Boat House” is framed by trees and a shady trail leads to the lawn at the water’s edge to access the pier and the beach along Fairlee Creek.

The light green siding and the white trim of the one-story house blends into its wooded setting with the deck and terrace creating outdoor rooms for enjoying the outdoors. The large living room has a pitched ceiling that meets the flat collar beam and the wood material and exposed part of the roof trusses creates interesting ceiling geometry. Sliding doors between windows access the terrace. The boat shaped bookcase angled in the corner next to the brick fireplace was a hint of the delightful nautical interior design scheme and the colorful full-size sofas arranged around the fireplace and TV create a great space to unwind.  

The dining room is connected to the kitchen by  a wide wall opening and at the other end of the room sliding doors lead to the deck. The table with its red frame and stained wood top, light aqua wood chairs, fun art and accessories add warmth and charm.  The kitchen has white cabinets and countertops, stainless steel appliances and wide farnhouse sink and the black, gray and white zig-zag pattern of the tile backsplash is a whimsical touch along with the geometrical pattern of the two rugs.

The “Anchor” bedroom has sliding doors to the deck and a red, white and blue nautical interior design theme.  I loved the lavatory cabinet of this suite with the tile backsplash continuing up the wall to the ceiling. The “Starfish” bedroom is next to the living room and has the same ceiling treatment to give the room volume.  Five windows ganged together open the room to the landscape. The “Sailboat” bedroom has a daybed, a painted wainscot and nautical accessories. The furnishings make the house a fun retreat and can be negotiated so you can move right in.

For more information about this property, contact Retha Arrabal with Doug Ashley Realtors at 410-810-0010 (o), 410-708-2172 (c) or rarrabal@hotmail.com, “Equal Housing Opportunity.” Photography by Thru the Lens Photography, Janelle Stroup

Spy House of the Week is an ongoing series that selects a different home each week. The Spy’s Habitat editor Jennifer Martella makes these selections based exclusively on her experience as a architect.

Jennifer Martella has pursued her dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. Her award winning work has ranged from revitalization projects to a collaboration with the Maya Lin Studio for the Children’s Defense Fund’s corporate retreat in her home state of Tennessee.

As you approach this house nestled high in the tree–tops above Churn Creek, you drive along a winding lane through old growth trees, mountain laurel and myriad flora and fauna. It easy to imagine this thirty acre property is a nature preserve instead of someone’s home. The house at the apex of the property with its sleek contemporary style, stained siding that disappears into its background of woods, and large expanses of sliding doors with transoms above that follow the angle of the roofs open the house to the surrounding landscape. The original part of the house was an “Acorn” design with that signature style of post and beam structural supports to open up the interior space planning. A wrap-around deck, partially covered with exposed beams to create a pergola and a screened porch offer panoramic views of the wooded site.

The living room is divided by the brick fireplace chimney to create two sitting areas, one with a sloped ceiling leading to the deck and the other to the screened porch. The wood floors, stained trim and the wood slat ceiling in the main sitting room complement the outdoors. The sitting rooms, dining area, kitchen and breakfast area flow seamlessly together, allowing views of the woods from every room.  I especially liked the kitchen and breakfast space with the triple windows in the kitchen and the sloped wood ceiling that changes to skylights ganged together over the breakfast table to create al-fresco dining indoors. The live-edge wood counter with bar stools defines the boundary between kitchen and the main living room.  The stylish furnishings take their cue from the contemporary architecture with accents of  paintings throughout the house by the owner artist.

The master suite is located at the end of the main floor for maximum privacy. The large bedroom-sitting room has a wood sloped ceiling and the sitting area has an exposed stove pipe wood burning fireplace for relaxing by the fire. Sliding doors to a private deck allows easy access after a twilight stroll along the many walking paths including the road down to the dock.

The open stairwell leads to the lower level which contains an office with a climate controlled valuables closet, utility closet and the large two room artist’s studio. The space’ s natural and artificial light offers myriad other uses including a family room. The remainder of the lower level is a large two car garage with a shop that has an inside entrance through the artist’s studio.

Views of the water through the woods from inside the house and the outdoor areas of decks and screened porch make this a perfect retreat for the nature lover. Water lovers would also appreciate the dock with slips for three small craft for an afternoon of paddling along Churn Creek, accompanied by the sight and chorus of the many birds that call this special place home 

For more information about this property, contact Dough Megargee with Coldwell Banker Chesapeake Real Estate Company at 410-778-0330 (o), 410-708-3152 (c) or dmegargee@cbchesapeake.com, “Equal Housing Opportunity”.

Spy House of the Week is an ongoing series that selects a different home each week. The Spy’s Habitat editor Jennifer Martella makes these selections based exclusively on her experience as a architect.

Jennifer Martella has pursued her dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. Her award winning work has ranged from revitalization projects to a collaboration with the Maya Lin Studio for the Children’s Defense Fund’s corporate retreat in her home state of Tennessee.

The 1730 plan for Chestertown consisted of 100 acres divided into 100 lots and the lots bounded by Water, Queen, Maple and High Streets were the first to be developed. Whenever I visit Chestertown, I usually turn down Queen Street after I cross the bridge and enjoy driving under the shade of trees past the historic houses.  This house caught my eye since it reminds me of my own house with its symmetrical arrangement of the center entry door flanked by windows aligned with the second floor windows and roof dormer windows above. The front porch spans across most of the house and the hipped roof is a pleasant contrast to the pitched roof of the house. 

The living room is separated from the dining room by a partial height wall with Craftsman detailing in the trim and short columns above the wall that defines the open space. The front and side windows bring sunlight throughout the day and the fireplace is a plus. 

The vista continues through the wide wall opening between the living and dining rooms to the large kitchen at the rear wall of the house.  I especially liked the kitchen arrangement with the angled peninsula of base cabinets and bar stools, the built-in hutch with glass-fronted and backed upper cabinets for access from both the kitchen and dining room and the corner windows with a workspace area below. Behind the living room is the stairway and I was charmed by the framed silhouettes of the family’s children, including the profile of their four-legged family member.

This house has a bedroom and bath on the main floor, three other bedrooms on the second floor and an accessible attic for more possibilities. The master bedroom with its blue and white patterned padded headboard and white linens, the wood armoire, night tables and the front and rear windows create a restful retreat. I was also charmed by one of the children’s bedroom  with drawers below the bed for storage. I also liked the detail of the headboard with a built-in shelf for bedtime story books.

The rear fenced yard with raised beds for gardening and the grille and terrace for al-fresco dining has plenty of space for entertaining and highly desirable off street/driveway parking.  

This charming house in the heart of the Historic District with its recent upgrades, wood floors, large kitchen, ground floor bedroom suite and Craftsman detailing is only a block away from the Chester River, the Marina and very close to the First Friday venues and other Town events and festivals.  

For more information about this property, contact Liddy Campbell with Cross Street Realtors at 410-778-3779 (o), 410-708-5433 (c) or liddy@csrealtors.com, “Equal Housing Opportunity”. 

Spy House of the Week is an ongoing series that selects a different home each week. The Spy’s Habitat editor Jennifer Martella makes these selections based exclusively on her experience as a architect.

Jennifer Martella has pursued her dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. Her award winning work has ranged from revitalization projects to a collaboration with the Maya Lin Studio for the Children’s Defense Fund’s corporate retreat in her home state of Tennessee.