Qualified Remodeler Magazine

AUG 2014

Qualified Remodeler helps independent remodeling firms to survive, become more professional and more profitable by providing must-have business information, namely best business practices, new product information and timely design ideas.

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16 August 2014 QR ForResidentialPros.com PROJECTS: Design Solutions | By John Caulfield T he Anderson family in Cambridge, Mass., is a musical bunch. Eliza Anderson sings, her husband Mike plays piano, and their four sons play guitar, piano and drums. The Andersons' 6,000-sq.-ft. home, which they've owned for three years, includes a large music room where the family likes to perform and entertain for themselves and their friends. But sometimes, a family member or visitor might want or require a little privacy and quiet. About 18 months ago, the Andersons converted a 600-sq.- ft. carriage house, which the previous owner had used as an artist's studio, into living quar- ters where guests can stay and relax, and where their 20-some- thing sons can hang out when they visit, watch TV or jam with- out disturbing other people in the two-story main house that's connected to the smaller suite by a breezeway. "The biggest challenge was getting the existing space to work the way the owners wanted it to," says Julie Palmer, president of Charlie Allen Renovations in Cambridge, which designed and executed this project as it took place from January through March of 2013. Six months before the project began, the Andersons had met Charlie Allen, the renovation company's CEO, during a fundraiser at the Cambridge Historical Society, where Allen currently serves as vice president. CONSIDERING HISTORY The Andersons' home is known as Asa Gray House, so named after the famous botanist who lived there from 1842 to 1888, according to historical records. The first known design of Ithiel Town and built in 1810 in what was known at the time as Federal architectural style, Asa Gray House had been on the grounds of Harvard University's Botanic Garden until 1910, when it was moved to its cur- rent location at 88 Garden Street in Cambridge. Asa Gray House was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965, and the fol- lowing year was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts. Its landmark status, however, did not impose any restrictions on the Andersons' renovation plans, recalls Eliza, primarily because the previous owner had gutted and rebuilt the carriage house 10 years earlier to serve as a commercial pottery studio, so its exterior structure was in good shape. The redesign of the inside space as a combination guest suite/music room retained its dramatic vaulted ceilings, sky- lights and wood support beams. Track lighting also illuminates this all-white room, which offers guests a hotel-quality living experience: There's a full bath- room with double sinks and a shower, a kitchenette, a sleeping area, and a sitting alcove with large windows that look out onto what Palmer describes as "a beautiful garden" that the Andersons completely refur- bished a few years earlier with a sunken lawn, granite work, a fountain and pavilion. Custom-ordered floor-to-ceil- ing shelving takes up one wall of the interior space. The shelves are mostly lined with books, but also display musical instru- ments as well as mementos of the Andersons' travels, such as a bowl they brought back from Tibet. One flourish that Mike says he "really wanted" for the space was a library ladder that slides along this wall, navigating a stand-up piano along the way. A former artist's studio retained its vaulted ceilings, skylights and wood support beams during the conversion into a guest suite. Sound barrier A Massachusetts couple sought quietude when they converted a small workplace attached to their historic home into a stylish guest suite Photos: Shelly Harrison Photography

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