How to Enhance a Historic Home

The right architect and contractor will enhance a historic home’s aesthetic integrity.

The true value of the renovation of an old house is not being able to tell that any alterations were made. Architect Carol Tink-Fox chose to put the addition on Kara Kosinski’s garage instead of on the main house to maintain what she calls the “cute cottage character” of the historic home. “By making a separate small building, we kept the new space historically in context,” she says.

Home Cottages

Here is what she did to link the past and the present:

• A steep-pitched roof and attic were added to the flat-roofed garage, which also has a historic designation.
• The home’s exterior color scheme was repeated on the addition and garage.
• Heavy-timber beams along the breezeway with diagonal braces evoke the feel of those of the main house.
• Windows and French doors open the guest room to the beautifully landscaped backyard. Because the garage is on a slab, unlike the house, there are no steps to go down to enter the garden.
• The old swing-style garage doors, which looked like barn doors, were replicated. Contractor Scot Lewis custom built the fully weather-proofed doors using tongue and grove pine with solid brass oil-rubbed bronze hinges.

By Nancy A. Ruhling
Photography by Jaimee Itagaki
Styled by Molly Kosinski and Hillary Black

Shared By Cottages And Bungalows

Save Money on a Custom Home

Architect Steve Giannetti shares his tips on saving money on building your own home.

French doors - We used standard T.M. Cobb French doors, which are about half the cost of custom doors.

Pine floors - We used 10-inch pine shelving boards, nailed and glued to the plywood subfloor, for the look of old floors.

Eaves – There are 2 by 4s for the eaves’ overhangs. They are inexpensive and old-fashioned looking.

Interior doors - The interior doors are standard French doors with sandblasted glass in them for an inexpensive, unique look that lets the light in.

Patios - The front porch is concrete with some beach shells cast into the surface and lightly sandblasted for an Old World look.

Paving - All the paving and site walls around the home are broken concrete reused from the old driveway.

Insulation - Denim insulation was installed in all the walls and ceilings, and a foil liner under the roof to keep the attic cool.

Skylights - An operable skylight in the middle of the house provides natural light and, when open, natural ventilation that keeps the house cool all summer.

Tile - We used only one kind of white 3- by 6-inch tile in the house and Carrera marble to keep costs down and maintain consistency.