The Long and Winding Road

Along the winding ribbons of pavement in Salisbury, Connecticut—a small, enchanting town that seems torn from the pages of a glossy coffee-table book—evergreens stand sentinel on both sides of the road and meticulously planned gardens and stone walls meander around graceful cottages and centuries-old estates. Driving past all of these and up the long, narrow gravel drive to Anne MacDonald’s home, it’s hard to believe that she bought the spectacular, fern-colored contemporary almost as an afterthought. She was smitten by a historic boathouse, located a couple hundred feet down a wooded path on the edge of Washinee Lake, but the cluttered home up the hill, with its tiny, Colonial-style rooms and outdated décor, hardly appealed to her modern sensibilities. So she did something that would strike fear into the heart of many a homeowner: she gutted the entire interior and redesigned it almost from scratch.

MacDonald, a former advertising agency executive from New York City and currently the executive vice president and chief marketing officer for the Travelers Companies, bought the five-acre property in 1999. She got to work immediately on the claustrophobic interior, hiring Undermountain Builders of Sheffield, Massachusetts, to knock down many of the walls, redefine the rooms, and repair the seen-better-days flooring, matching oak planks in different widths and lengths and finishing them with a light blond stain. The result is a large, open, contemporary living space that flows effortlessly from one room to the next. “It’s a big house that doesn’t feel big, which is what I wanted,” MacDonald explains.

The biggest transformation, however, came from the outside in. “The interior was dark twenty-four hours a day because of the trees that came right up to the house,” MacDonald recalls. “I wanted to be able to see out to the water and the woods from every room.”

Working with landscape designer Selina Lamb of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, MacDonald removed selected evergreens, opening the house to plentiful natural light and allowing for a breathtaking view of the lake from the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room.

She then called on good friend Aidan Cassidy of New York City’s Cassidy & Teti Interiors to complete the interior design. He followed a simple philosophy: “stylish, casual living inspired by the lakeside environment and adaptable to entertaining.” To increase the sense of volume and allow the reflected seasonal colors of the outdoors to influence the interior, Cassidy painted most of the walls in various shades of white, which also formed the perfect backdrop for some unusual and one-of-a-kind items.

Through the main entrance and past the mud room, with its storage closets and herringbone-pattern brick floors, is the living room—the heart of the house. Eschewing the ski-lodge ambiance of the original room, MacDonald and Cassidy stripped the dark stain from the peaked ceiling and painted it white for visual lift. The staircase in the middle of the room, which almost halved the functional space, was relocated to one side to create a clean, loft-like living room. At the top, Cassidy placed a huge, black-ash wall basket custom made by artisan Jonathan Kline of Trumansburg, New York. Cassidy kept the furniture and drapes neutral, with small, strategically placed, colorful accents to keep the eye moving.

A gorgeous charcoal-gray fireplace of local fieldstone—an original feature that was practically buried behind the old staircase—anchors the room and hides a wet bar stored in a wall closet. MacDonald opens the doors and chuckles at the mirrored walls and fire-engine-red Formica countertop, also an original feature. “I had to keep it,” she says. “It was just too fun.”

Down the hall from the living room, a series of doors outlined in black trim beckon MacDonald and guests into the sleeping area. The master bedroom is MacDonald’s sanctuary, and it’s easy to see why. The same peaked ceiling and large beams that define the living room are also present here, but she chose cherry flooring to warm the space. The custom-made, four-poster walnut bed is set higher off the ground than is typical, allowing MacDonald to gaze out the window and over her porch railings, right down to the water.

The room is intentionally unembellished. “My eyes see a lot going on outside, so I want the inside to feel more tranquil,” MacDonald affirms. Cassidy adhered to the same neutral color scheme as in the living room, with the occasional vivid accent. He stationed a beautiful, old tiger-maple trunk at the end of the bed and a neutral divan with nail-head trim and matching ottoman in the corner, which serves as a reading nook.

Off to one side of the bedroom is a tiny library for one of MacDonald’s great passions: reading. Built-in shelves house her book collection—mostly fiction, from classics to current—and a leather chair and window seat provide spots for curling up with a story and a cappuccino. Off to the other side of the bedroom is the master bath, finished with neutral tile floors, neutral walls, and cherry countertops. An upright shower stands in the corner. As she surveys the room, MacDonald lets out a sigh. “If I did it again, I probably would’ve changed the bathroom more,” she muses. “I would’ve made longer windows along the wall and put a big, old tub underneath. This [would be] a great spot for relaxing in the bath.”

Speaking of baths, each of the two guest rooms has its own, including one with a stunning brown-and-bronze botanical wallpaper custom-designed by Cassidy. The guest rooms, the only ones not painted white, are small, yet avoid seeming cramped thanks to creative touches like removing the doors and clothing bar of a long closet and tucking the headboard of a double bed and a pair of narrow side tables into it. When the budget became tight, MacDonald focused on interesting fabrics, such as a zebra-inspired print on one room’s drapes and linens, handmade by Peter Fasano of Great Barrington, and unexpected accents like traditional turned-wood lamps. Between these and the view of the garden from the front windows, guests are hardly likely to miss any amenities.

In the opposite end of the main floor is MacDonald’s masterpiece, the kitchen. After raising the ceilings to match the living room, she opened the space by removing the wall between the kitchen and the small, narrow dining room. In the kitchen itself, Cassidy continued the shades-of-white theme by covering the walls with gray-and-white marbled subway tiles. For a sleek, modern look—and easy clean-up—MacDonald chose stainless-steel countertops and a sink made by Brooks Custom of Mount Kisco, New York.

A massive, built-in hutch takes up the wall between the kitchen and dining room. It’s also painted white, and features wave-pattern industrial safety glass on the doors and interior lighting to give the illusion that the dinnerware stored inside is moving.

“It diffuses the colors, as it shadows them to add visual interest, and removes the need to be tidy when stacking dishes,” MacDonald comments. To break up the white, Cassidy chose blue for the cabinets on the opposite wall, and interspersed some shelving units made of stainless steel and trimmed with cherry to contrast the closed spaces. The top of the large, elegant, butcher-block island in the center of the kitchen is also made of cherry, which lends warmth and luxury to the kitchen. Drawers, shelves, and cabinets are built into the island.

The kitchen cabinets, custom-built by Charlie Kelly of Lakeville, Connecticut, wound up being one of the biggest headaches of all. “I wanted a big kitchen, with a specific place for every item,” explains MacDonald, an avid home cook. She also didn’t want to clutter her countertops with small appliances, so she and Kelly cleverly brainstormed cabinets in unusual sizes and in unexpected locations, such as the slide-out shelf hidden behind a miniature door next to the stainless-steel refrigerator, which houses MacDonald’s coffeemaker.

The meticulous homeowner even went so far as to measure her pot holders and folded dish towels so the drawers beside the six-burner stove would be a perfect fit for these everyday items. Better yet, no space is wasted; even the foot or so above the double oven was pressed into service as a cabinet, with sliding drawers for odd-sized items like trays and pasta bowls. “It seems crazy, I know,” MacDonald says. “But I would absolutely do it all again.”

Down the hall and around a corner from the kitchen is MacDonald’s home office. The room is almost disconnected from the rest of the house, and that’s just the way she likes it. “I can shut the door and leave it all behind at the end of the day,” she notes.

Because the space is small, Cassidy kept it light by painting it bright white, from ceiling to cement floor, and added only a few decorations. A dark geometric rug and pair of classic Le Corbusier box chairs, re-covered in white leather, anchor the room, and apple-green accents and Asian paper lanterns provide whimsy. Tall built-ins store MacDonald’s books and work materials. She placed her dark brown wood desk on the far wall under the window, so she can—you guessed it—gaze out at the water for inspiration during the workday.

In the basement, MacDonald and Cassidy set up a rec room, complete with an L-shaped sectional sofa, a small fireplace, and a large entertainment center, all of which practically beg for company. So as not to miss a minute of a movie or game night with her ten nieces and nephews, she added a small catering kitchen next door.

Off the rec room, a door opens directly onto the bluestone patio outside. In warmer weather, MacDonald hosts dinners here, using the bonfire pit to chase away the evening chill. Above it, a wood deck with modern railings made of steel tubing runs almost the entire length of the back of the house and wraps around to the master bedroom. MacDonald has been known to spend an afternoon in this spot on a chaise longue, flipping through a book or magazine, or to set up breakfast at a café table overlooking her magnificent view.

“The thing I love about the house is that I use it all,” she observes. “It has a lot of little private spaces.”

MacDonald also enjoys being outside in her extensive gardens. The landscape, terrace, and wall designs, all of which took about two years to complete, were conceived by Lamb. According to the designer, the concept was a series of natural and constructed terraces echoing the form of the land as it descended downhill to the water’s edge.

“The original, antique boathouse stood in sharp contrast to the lackluster contemporary on the site,” Lamb notes. “The goal of the design for the property was to create a coherent linkage between these structures.”

Lamb began by determining which areas needed preservation and ecological enhancement, and then worked with MacDonald to define usage areas. Following the natural contours of the land—essential for proper drainage—and grading the earth when needed, Lamb created the terraced shapes. Garden and walking spaces also took their cues from nature, such as groupings of trees.

The project was almost derailed when torrential downpours dropped several inches of rain in the span of a few hours, but after the flooding subsided and graded areas were repaired, Lamb focused on removing unhealthy trees and shrubs, opening up some areas, and replanting others with native species to create the pattern of pools of light and dark that Lamb employs frequently in her designs.

The property now features a small garden at the front entrance, with a fieldstone border and an array of birch trees, mountain laurel, ostrich fern, and barberry ground cover, as well as a second, larger, stone-walled garden with cutting flowers and flowering bushes. From there, a large set of stone steps leads to a curved, antique bluestone path up to the front door. In the backyard, another walled garden, planted with colorful hydrangea, peony, and lily of the valley, abuts the patio and flows down into a series of long, winding gardens, for which MacDonald chose mostly woodland plants, such as ferns in different shades of green, coneflowers, and ornamental grasses. While she enjoys trading plants with friends, she intentionally places fussier plants such as flowering annuals toward the front of the gardens for easier maintenance.

No matter the season or the occasion, MacDonald’s house was built for entertaining. The consummate hostess, she’s known to throw unforgettable parties both inside and outside of her home. When she’s not entertaining, it’s not unusual for MacDonald to spend the day with a favorite book in her beloved boathouse, go for a paddle out on the lake, or, in the winter, head into the nearby woods for cross-country skiing. She knows she has the ideal space—the proverbial dream house—to come back to. [SEPTEMBER 2010]

Robin Catalano is a freelance writer and editor based in Stephentown, N.Y. Her articles on food and dining, the arts, home renovation, and business have appeared in a variety of regional and national magazines. Read more on her blog, Real Women Eat Doughnuts, at robincatalano.wordpress.com.

THE GOODS

Cassidy & Teti Interiors
12 Withington Rd.
Scarsdale, N.Y.
917.991.2935
 

Peter Fasano Ltd.
964 Main St.
Great Barrington, Mass.
413.528.6872

Selina Lamb Landscape
Design & Fine Gardens
222 Division St.
Great Barrington, Mass.
413.329.0435

Undermountain Builders
Sheffield, Mass.
413.229.7974