A family of four wanted to create a comfortable and dignified living space for an aging parent to join them as they grow older. Accessibility was a key concern, so we transformed the former dining room and already cramped kitchen into a ground-floor bedroom with a full ensuite bathroom—ensuring ease of access and daily comfort.
This project was a renovation and addition to their 100-year-old home—an update that honors the character of the original structure while supporting modern life. The reconfiguration opened up new circulation, improving flow and framing beautiful views of a nearby state preserve. A previously winding basement stair was straightened, creating a clearer connection from the front door to the new heart of the home: the kitchen and dining areas.
The family often envisioned hosting holidays and gatherings with loved ones. Now, they’ll have a space that welcomes both everyday life and special occasions—a home where extended family can stay comfortably and where casual summer evenings on the new deck will be framed by sunsets and connection.
Architecture: TIGHT HOUSE
Interior Design: TIGHT HOUSE
Photography: Logan Roquemore
Styling: Christina Codispoti
Exterior Before: Before any work began, this was the back of a 100 year old home that no longer matched how the family wanted to live in it. What looks like a straightforward exterior hid a cramped kitchen and a dining room that had run its course. This is where the story starts.
Early in the process, we turned the family's goals into a 3D rendering so they could see and feel the new addition before a single wall came down. It became the shared vision we built toward together.
Exterior After: The addition now houses the family's relocated kitchen and dining room, with a wraparound deck that connects to what was once a dining room and is now a dedicated home office. The goal from day one was to make this addition look like it had always been part of the house, honoring a century of history while making room for how the family actually lives today.
Entry Before: The original entry greeted visitors with a run of stairs and a coat closet that was bursting at the seams. It was the first impression of the house, and it wasn't doing the family any favors.
Entry After: Where that overstuffed closet once stood, there's now a light filled hallway leading toward the kitchen. The family's new bedroom entrance sits just out of sight from the main living space, giving their aging parent privacy from the moment guests walk in. Next to it, the powder room does the same, tucked quietly out of the flow so daily life and dinner parties alike stay comfortable and private.
Living Room Before: Here's the living room as the family knew it for years, closed off from the rest of the house and not making the most of its best feature.
Living Room After: Openings on either side of the fireplace now connect the living room straight into the dining room beyond. The fireplace, with its original 100 year old brick and texture, has become the anchor the family gathers around, visible and felt from both rooms at once.
This corner of the living room didn't need to change structurally, but working through the furniture layout with the family (their kids included) turned it into a cozy reading spot bathed in weekend morning light. Sometimes the biggest improvement is simply helping a family see their own space differently.
Before (Dining Room): This was the dining room before the family reimagined it entirely, a space that no longer served the life they wanted to build.
After (Bedroom): That same footprint is now a full ground floor bedroom, designed so the family's aging parent can join them at home with comfort and dignity. Sconces flank the bed for a calm nighttime glow, positioned for easy reach, with USB outlets built in so charging a phone never means getting out of bed.
Ensuite Bathroom: This ensuite bathroom now occupies part of what used to be the family's cramped kitchen, transformed into a space designed with gracious proportions and aging in place in mind, right down to the elegant grab bars ready for whenever unsteady footing needs a little more security.
Where the old kitchen once stood, the family now has a spa-like shower with the controls set just inside the glass door, so the water can be turned on and warmed up before anyone steps in. It's a small detail with brass accents that makes a daily routine easier and more comfortable.
Kitchen Addition: The family, kids included, helped choose the kitchen's blue cabinetry, and that same care carried down to the floor, where an accent wood species traces the room's perimeter and echoes the flooring found in every other room of the original home. Brass ties it all together too, showing up in the plumbing fixtures, cabinet hardware, the range hood, and the surface mounted lighting, each piece speaking to the era of the home even though everything here is brand new.
Making this kitchen feel like it had always belonged to the house, rather than like an addition, was one of the family's biggest goals for the whole project. Getting there took this same level of attention in every corner of the room.
Making this kitchen feel like it had always belonged to the house, rather than like an addition, was one of the family's biggest goals for the whole project. Getting there took this same level of attention in every corner of the room.
Tucked behind the pantry, the family's collection of pots and pans stays close at hand but out of view from the dining room, and there's a dedicated spot for the everyday clutter, from drying water bottles to the handheld vacuum. Finding a place for everything is what actually lets a home feel calm day to day.
This coffee bar doubles as a wet bar for entertaining, with integrated storage for red wine on one side and a wine fridge for whites on the other. From here, the family looks out toward the neighborhood and the reservation beyond, the kind of view that makes a summer sunset feel like it was part of the plan all along.