Having raised a family in a 1950s ranch on property they adore which borders conservation land, the owners aspire to transform their family home into their retirement retreat.

To do so, we’ve designed renovations and additions to be implemented over time in three phases. Overall, the proposed design aims to better connect the house with the rear wooded yard, open up the common living space to view and daylight, create a new more gracious master suite and bath, and reconfigure the garage and entry to improve function and flow. The proposed design embraces the home’s ranch-style roots and complements it with inverted shed-roofed additions.

To better access daylight and the yard, the kitchen is relocated to the south and augmented with a new screen porch facing the woods. The dining area is repositioned to the north and features a new banquette bay which helps add depth to what had been a long and flat existing front elevation. The new master suite is positioned to the southeast to take best advantage of view and daylight. It also features a wider hall, more accessible bathroom, and wider doors. A new deck borders it and the new screen porch.

The new garage and new entry are also pushed to the north to further mitigate the shallow expanse of the existing front elevation. The existing bedroom wing to the west receives new windows, a new rear deck, and a renovated bathroom, but is otherwise only lightly altered in order to save resources for the rest of the project.

Once complete, the renovations and additions to the Wenham ranch will reflect the owners’ vision of retiring on the property they love in the home of their dreams.