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A complete remodel transforms a traditional 1980s Cape into a spacious, low-maintenance
home for today’s lifestyle.

Design by Bernadette Macleod
Construction by Barr Construction
Text by Scott Dalton
Professional photography by Patrick Wiseman

From the road, the home appears to be a typical three-bedroom Cape—something wholly unremarkable given its North Chatham location. And, indeed, this is how this house began its life in the mid-1980s. But a closer inspection reveals much more than initially meets the eye. A recent remodel has transformed it into a four-bedroom, three-bathroom contemporary Cape Cod home with more open space and neat architectural detailing than you’re likely to find in a traditional Cape.

It also incorporates low-maintenance materials. Builder Declan Barr of Barr Construction, a Chatham building and remodeling firm, points out that the house’s wooden trim work was completely replaced with PVC trim, and that the deck on the back of the home was entirely redone using composite decking. “The outside of the house is virtually maintenance free,” he notes, adding that the materials have become quite popular with his clients. “We’re using them pretty much exclusively on all our jobs now. It holds up, doesn’t rot, and paint doesn’t blister up, peel and crack.”

Homeowners Paul and Lisa Rooney say they were all for using synthetic materials. “We had replaced a lot on our house in Milton,” says Lisa. “I wanted a maintenance-free house.”

Barr worked with the homeowners to transform the original home into an expansive updated second home, without sacrificing any of the elements that made the house so attractive to begin with. “We had started to outgrow it,” Lisa says. “When we bought it, there were only the two of us. Now we have three children.”

The Rooneys considered selling the house and buying a larger home but found that, because of market conditions, they would not get much more home for their money. In addition, they liked the house and its location.

Lisa says she spoke with her father, a real estate agent, about how to go about increasing the home’s square footage. Together, they walked through the house and considered a variety of modifications and upgrades. The Rooneys then contacted Barr and Ryder & Wilcox, an engineering and design firm in South Orleans.

“This was the existing part of the house,” Barr says, gesturing to west side of the home. “We added two doghouse dormers, replaced the windows, the siding, the roof trim and the gutters. There was an attic space. We took the existing roofline up to the ceiling joists and re-joisted the entire second floor.”

If that sounds like an extensive makeover, it is. But Barr is only warming up. While the west side of the home underwent reconstruction, the east side of the home received a three-story expansion. “There are three floors of big spaces,” Barr says. “On the top is the master bedroom. On the main floor is the new living room. And there is a recreation room in the finished basement.”

SEAMLESS ADDITIONS

Despite the fact that almost half of the house is entirely new, it is nearly impossible to distinguish where the original structure ends and the new one begins. From the front, the doghouse dormers look as if they have always been part of the rooflines. From the rear, the modest deck that once offered the Rooneys room for only an intimate family cookout has been expanded to provide ample space for entertaining larger groups.

Stepping in from the front mahogany farmer’s porch, the visitor might first notice the painted bench sitting on wide pine flooring. This sets the tone for the rest of the house. “I wanted a subdued nautical look,” Lisa says. “I wanted something that I wouldn’t be sick of in five years.”

Toward the back of the home is an expansive living space. Barr removed a bathroom that once occupied a corner of the room. He relocated the bathroom to a former laundry room directly opposite a small guest bedroom. The full bath includes a tub/shower combination, dual sinks, tile floor, bead-board cabinets and nautical accessories.

Down the hallway toward the kitchen, a former bedroom on the front of the house has been transformed into a daybed room, which opens onto the hallway through French doors.

But while the changes to the existing section of the house are impressive, it is in the kitchen that the full extent of this renovation truly becomes apparent. Virtually nothing of the previous kitchen remains, except a handful of appliances.

“We had a small U-shaped kitchen that sat four people at the bar and a small dining room that sat four or five maybe,” Lisa recalls. “It was not what we wanted. We wanted to be able to have people there and entertain.”

The new kitchen is a cook’s dream. Sunlight streams into the room, bouncing off the bead-board cabinets. A glazed corner cabinet provides a gentle aesthetic touch, while a built-in wine rack above the refrigerator provides a more practical accoutrement.

The standout feature of the kitchen is a long, curving island that provides both cooks and guests an ideal gathering spot. A trash compactor and wine cooler are built into the island, almost hidden from view. On the opposite side, a line of stools stands at the ready, while four drop-down pin lights illuminate the island. “The longer island allows for more seating in the kitchen,” Lisa says. “The way it used to be was fine, but it was never great. Someone was always sitting at the couch with a table pulled up to it.”

Although the island stands alone, it does not stand apart. The countertops throughout the kitchen are tied together through the use of beautiful mottled green granite, which follows the graceful line of the island and provides an almost soft edge to the rest of the counter.

But the room extends beyond the confines of the countertop, flowing into a dining room space as well as the new living room. “We love open space as opposed to really choppy rooms,” Lisa says. “So the downstairs worked very well for our tastes. My husband grew up with 11 brothers, so he loves open space.”

The dining room features a working brick fireplace. Traditional furniture, including a primitive-style corner hutch, complete with painted seascapes, ties in nicely with a hooked rug featuring a sea full of sailboats.

While the dining room is charming and intimate, the living room is expansive. Running the full length of the 18- by 36-foot addition, this room can accommodate a lot of living. The Rooneys have optimized the use of the space, providing two distinct seating areas that can be used either independently or simultaneously.

On the exterior wall is a new fireplace that resembles the dining room hearth in terms of the style of mortar and brick. Mounted above it is a flat-screen television that helps maximize the floor space of this modern great room. A sleek stereo system provides audio options both inside and outside the home, thanks to a built-in speaker system that extends through the house and to the backyard deck.

The back of the room opens onto the wraparound deck, connecting indoor and outdoor spaces. “It gets great light during the day,” Barr says, pointing out the new windows that allow sunlight to bathe the room.

Lighting, as well as layout, dictates the feel of this room. A series of seven dimmers allows for zone lighting that can section off specific areas of the space.
A stairwell in a front corner of the living room leads to a finished recreation room downstairs, which opens out onto the backyard. The children love the recreation room, Lisa says. “In our house [in Milton], we don’t have a basement because it’s built on a cement slab.”

She credits her father with the idea for the rec room. “We changed the grade of the land, so when we put on the addition, it wasn’t completely underground,” Lisa says. “The kids can shoot right outside to go and play.”

There is evidence that the basement will eventually be a space for the adults as well as the children: The space adjacent to the stairs is slated to receive new cabinets and a wet bar, ideal for adults seeking a little rest and relaxation of their own.

LOFTY TRANSFORMATION

As impressive as the first-floor and basement spaces are, Barr says the second floor exhibits the most significant transformation. From the hallway at the top of the front stairs, one can look down onto the dining room. A hallway that once led to a window now features a doorway that opens into the new master bedroom.

Located directly above the main living room, the bedroom does not feel nearly as cavernous as the living room, thanks in part to the restrictions of the bow roof. But rather than creating a claustrophobic feel to the room, the roof angles add character to the space. The bed is nestled into a nook that looks as though it was designed specifically to receive it. Ample windows on all three exterior walls offer plenty of natural lighting. The room even has its own private balcony overlooking the backyard, as well as a Juliet balcony overlooking the front yard.

One unique design feature for this room is the presence of a hallway along the backside of the house, which leads to a set of his-and-her closets and into the master bath. The master bath itself is organized to meet the specific needs of both husband and wife: It offers the option of a Jacuzzi tub or glass-enclosed shower. Dual sinks provide individual wash-up spaces. A separate water closet assures additional privacy.

The children’s rooms are located at the other end of the floor in what was once attic space, until Barr and his crew altered the roofline to allow for additional space. The two boys share a bedroom that features everything a sea-loving child could want. The former attic now berths two “boat” beds. Toward the front of each dinghy is plenty of drawer space for a cabin boy’s numerous summer outfits. Below decks are trundle beds, in case friends wish to share in the adventure. A galvanized dock light hangs from the ceiling. Directly across from the boys’ room is the new laundry space. The washer and dryer are tucked away discreetly, but as elsewhere, the difference is in the details. A small ball switch allows for the laundry light to come on when the bi-fold doors are opened and to shut off automatically when they are closed.

Around the corner is a girl’s room, decked out in pinks and greens, and featuring a series of pegs holding a rainbow of summer dresses. The floor here, as throughout most of the second story, is finished hickory. “The only thing that pushed us behind schedule was installing the floors,” Lisa says. “It took me a while to decide. I actually love the wide pine, but they just can’t take the abuse. The hickory seems to be able to take a lot more wear and tear, which is important with three young children.”

The siblings share their own bathroom, just down the hall. Designed in various shades of blue and white, the bathroom continues the nautical theme. Accent pieces, such custom lighthouse tiles in the tub/shower, help tie this room into the rest of the house.

The project, which took six months to complete, grew considerably from the original concept. Barr credits Bernadette MacLeod with helping translate the Rooneys’ vision into working plans. She was familiar with the house, having drawn up plans for the original owners.

“The owners came to me with some ideas on graph paper, and then we sat down to see what was going to work,” MacLeod says. “The builder made some changes as he went along, like adding balconies.”

“When they came to me, they just basically wanted to do the addition,” Barr recalls with a smile. “It just mushroomed from there and basically became a whole-house remodel. I came in and worked with the homeowners. We would add things like box windows and the fireplace, as well as the deck and dormer off the master bedroom.”

Through it all, Barr says both he and the new owners focused on maintaining the charm of the original structure. “The big challenge was to make everything look seamless, not like a series of additions,” he says.

In the end, that is exactly what was accomplished. It is nearly impossible to discern where past and present overlap, much to the delight of both Barr and the Rooneys. “I love how it came out,” Lisa says. “I’m thrilled.”

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