While the couple’s initial wish list included a new kitchen, a mudroom with a half bath, a proper laundry room, and an additional bath upstairs, they had not considered a playroom for the children, a new breakfast room, or a family room. “You might think that all those rooflines would present challenges, but Tudors are, in fact, one of the easiest house styles to work on, because of those many rooflines-you can add to them seamlessly.”Īs these things do, the scope of the renovation grew as homeowners and architects worked together. “I love working on Tudor houses,” Shainberg says. That choice proved the first of several right moves. To help smooth out the house’s kinks and add more space without compromising its character, the couple sought out Rye, New York, architect Paul Shainberg, who specializes in historical houses and had designed additions for some of the houses they admire in the area. A farmhouse sink is centered under new casement windows. Custom range hood: François & Co Custom tile: Tabarka Studio | Right: The custom tiles on the kitchen wall show their terra-cotta edges, a nod to the brick of the mudroom floor. Hand-painted tile covers the entire range wall. Left: Over time, the pewter range hood will oxidize and deepen in color. Plus, the front entry was dark and enclosed, giving a gloomy first impression. Elsewhere, there was one bathroom for all three children, and no mudroom where a young family could stash boots, coats, and backpacks. The laundry room, which had been squeezed into a tiny corner alcove, had no countertop, and, when the door was open, impeded traffic flow in the cook space. The lack of prep space was a major downside for John, the family chef, who makes dinner nightly. The kitchen felt particularly small and closed in, with four doors opening into it. They found themselves itching for a little more elbowroom throughout. “When the twins came along a few years later, the house suddenly got very small,” Katherine recalls with a laugh. “When we saw it through new eyes, the eyes of house-hunters who had lived elsewhere, we fell in love with a street I had known all my life,” says Katherine, who points out that while the neighborhood has quite a few Tudors, they are all different.īack when they bought the 2,700-square-foot house, with its three bedrooms and two and a half baths, they had only one child, a daughter, who was 2. Sinks: Rohl Faucets: Perrin & Rowe | Tim Lee The one they landed just happens to be around the corner from Katherine’s childhood home, where her parents still live.Įntering from the dining room, there are now sight lines through the kitchen, past the oversize marble-topped island, to the family room at one end and to the breakfast room to the side. “We wanted a house with character,” John says. Looking to move back to the area for Katherine’s job, they found themselves on the hunt for a house with an easy commute into Manhattan, a diverse school system, a good yard, and plenty of architectural interest. That’s what Katherine and John Breese discovered over time, having reeled in their dream home, a 1930s Tudor Revival in White Plains, New York, where they both grew up. Often the evocative exterior of an old house hooks us, but the interior doesn’t prove to be as much of a catch. Paint: Benjamin Moore’s Calm (walls ), Shale (trim), Nantucket Gray (ceiling), Cromwell Gray (beams) Chandelier: Barn Light Electric | Tim Lee Past the French doors, a former sunroom now serves as homeowner Katherine Breese’s home office. With nearly every interior surface refreshed, the living room retains its original ceiling beams and carved-oak fireplace surround.
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