You don’t have to add on to bring the outside in. In this example, the goal was to make a simple Cape Cod–style home reach out into the landscape, keeping the exterior walls in place. The way to do that: create walls of windows.
Given the fact that this particular Cape had one gable end facing the street with a garage and sunroom addition tacked onto it, it was necessary to create an internal fusion of spaces, bringing together the original home and the addition, in order to open up the house to fully appreciate the side yard’s lovely garden.
The original interior had two spaces separated by a set of stairs and several walls and partitions. The designer removed the walls to create a single open room. Removing an awkward second-floor deck and its rude columns further strengthened the visual connection.
Excerpted from Duo Dickinson’s book Staying Put, published by The Taunton Press, 2011.
