WHITE HILL

The Appeal

We saw the house on White Hill Lane in a local real estate magazine, and were intrigued, but not entirely into it.  It wasn’t the coveted farmhouse project we were looking for, but when our car reached the crest of the driveway and the view opened up before us, we were hooked. Really hooked. We could fix the house, we decided, but we could never get this view anywhere else. 

The house, a 70’s modern custom build, was designed by a New Cannan, CT architect, who had built similar style properties in The Hamptons and on Fire Island.  A one-owner house, there hadn’t been any significant updates since it was built. We considered doing a lesser update, but saw the overall potential and realized a gut renovation was the only option.

The Challenges

The kitchen was small, dated and located in the center of the house - completely cut off from the view and the living and dining areas. The bathrooms were tiny and out of date, and there was no primary en-suite. We knew, with just the kitchen and bath issues, that we would need to re-conceive the entire layout.

The windows were small, oddly placed and sadly insufficient to take full advantage of the view - the mountains, valleys and daily epic sunsets.  This was a serious missed opportunity.

While the exterior wasn’t in great shape, the house was sited perfectly to best take advantage of the massive view.  For that, every owner of that home will be grateful. However, everything was in poor enough condition that it needed to be replaced - doors, windows, siding, roof - all of it. The heavy soffit that wrapped the sides and back of the house was dated and unattractive. It needed to go.

Surprisingly, this two level house with amazing views, didn’t have any outdoor spaces connected to it - no patios or decks! And a second floor screened in porch had been enclosed using sliders, without adding a deck around them, so if you opened a slider and stepped out…it was a long, hard fall to the ground. There were some incredibly beautiful, mature trees, but the house had no landscaping or hardscaping - a blank canvas for us.