When attorney Alton Priddy and interior decorator Kathleen Sisk decided to tie the knot 13 years ago, they purchased a 1930s-era brick house in Seneca Gardens. The location, both say, is perfect. "It’s convenient to everything," says Priddy, while Sisk extols the home’s proximity to Seneca Park, along with the beautiful mature trees that grace the neighborhood. Plus, its English Cottage style — with its asymmetrical design, sloping rooflines, dormer window and prominent chimneys — has an unmistakable storybook charm.
They married in the home’s backyard garden and spent the next decade merging and adding to their eclectic collections of art, architectural curiosities and furnishings to create a comfortable home. Yet something was missing. Whenever they entertained, they could never get the party out of their cramped kitchen and into their formal living room. It was longtime fri/files/storyimages/and retired decorator Bob Smith who finally hit the nail on the head when "he made the observation that people never go into a room that has only one way in and out," Priddy recalls. "The house didn’t flow well."
Their living-room quandary came to a head when all three of their children — Sisk’s two daughters and Priddy’s son — got married within an 18-month period. "We needed to add a family room on the back where everyone could be together," Sisk says. "We talked about several different options to take advantage of the garden view, including a glass conservatory. We even had plans drawn up for a Neoclassical addition with a columned porch. But it was architect Tim Winters who came up with the solution we eventually chose: an English storefront design that was true to the integrity of our home’s English Cottage style."
While Winters can and does design new homes, he thrives on the challenge presented by old-house renovations. "With an old house, there are already architectural rules in place," he explains. "I like working within certain periods and creating respectable additions that fit in." For this home he took a cue from celebrated English architect Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens (1869-1944), who, early in his career, designed small homes and large country manors that melded classic British architecture with local building traditions. The result is a family room and kitchen addition reminiscent of a turn-of-the-century London storefront, with huge windows looking out into the garden.
For the exterior, Winters chose traditional stucco. "It’s an English material and its rough texture helps the addition bl/files/storyimages/into the softness of the garden setting," he notes. Inside, wood panels in the new family room help blur the line between indoors and out.
Sisk and Priddy and examples of their holiday trimmings.
Measuring a spacious 21 by 27 feet, the new family room is sized for family gatherings and celebrations. Sisk chose neutral Porter Lincoln Beige for the walls and woodwork. "By making the walls and trim the same color, the eye isn’t immediately drawn to the baseboard and crown molding," she says, although she did select Porter Antique Bronze to accentuate details in the coffered ceiling.
Color comes into play in the furnishings, such as the two full-size couches from The Craftsman Collection — "I wanted lots of comfortable seating," says Sisk — the jewel-toned wool rug from Frances Lee Jasper Oriental Rugs, and two unusual chairs flanking the English game table, which Sisk terms "a great find. They have leather bottoms and dhurrie rug tops. I bought them used and reconditioned the leather." Rather than put a coffee table between the couches, she chose an informal round leather ottoman, which she frequently tops with a large piece of granite when she entertains. "It creates more of a solid, hard surface for setting things on," she says.
Some of the more unusual pieces in the family room include a Biedermeier antique desk; a console table made locally by The Woodshop from an antique zinc storefront panel Priddy has owned since the 1970s; antique French gates in the windows flanking the fireplace; and the castle-like media center, which was custom-made using several different craftsmen. "Al wanted a big TV and I didn’t want it constantly displayed, so Bob Smith suggested that we build the painted glass cabinet," Sisk explains. Priddy had the wooden box constructed by The Woodshop and the surface mirrored by Kentucky Mirror & Plate Glass. Then faux-finisher Mark Kunzman created the medieval citadel design.
The family-room fireplace features a custom-made wooden mantel patterned after the 16th-century Italian Mannerist style. The fireplace, itself, however, is a Rumford, a common fireplace design from 1796 until about 1850, says Winters. Tall and shallow, Rumford fireplaces are designed to direct more heat into the room, while their streamlined throats carry smoke out without letting the warmth escape up the chimney.
In the new kitchen, built on the site of the former dining room, with an additional four-foot bump-out, Sisk kept cabinetry to a minimum so as not to overcrowd the space. A large island divides the room, with the kitchen area against the wall and the breakfast/living area on the garden-window side. Extra-deep sills provide a spot to showcase the couple’s pottery and iron collection. Sisk had scraps of granite left over from the countertops cut to fit the sills. "They protect the paint from marring," she says.
Charcoal-gray-walled drama in the formal music/dining room. Far and near left: the new family room, with Rumford fireplace, beamed ceiling and ingenious use of an antique zinc storefront panel.
Oak plank floors, several folk-art-style hand-painted furnishings, a herringbone-patterned tumbled stone backsplash beneath the cooking mantel and antique fireback above it, and the French glaze on the built-in cabinets make the area warm and inviting. "We usually read the paper and drink our coffee in here," Sisk says. "Often, even when we have company, we choose the kitchen rather than the dining room for its comfort and the charming views of the garden."
The former living room, which remodeler Michael Pfeifer opened to the new family room, now serves as a combination music/dining room. Painted charcoal gray, half the room holds a baby grand piano while their formal dining table occupies the rest. Whimsical masks Priddy and Sisk collected on travels to Maryland, Arizona, Mexico, Italy and Hawaii, as well as at local galleries, provide an "audience" on one wall of the music area. Opposite the masks, silver-leafed alcoves in the dining area showcase quirky teapots and pottery.
A refurbished bar in the galley hall.
The foyer was repainted Porter English Red, and in the galley hall nearby the mirrored bar was embellished with a new wine rack and bottom cabinets to match the ones in the kitchen. Unchanged during the renovation was the remarkable powder room, faux-painted by the previous owners to resemble granite and inlaid wood.
For the master bedroom, Sisk used an aubergine and gray-green color scheme. Once again Bob Smith came to the rescue by suggesting that the room’s built-in closets be painted with scenes of the Italian countryside. Muralist and faux-painter Jim Hurst took the concept a step further and created Venetian music box vignettes on the doors, giving them a European flair. The scroll design that frames the scenes echoes the Gianni Zapata wrought-iron valances above the windows that flank the bed.
Upstairs, the two guest bedrooms and comfortable reading nook are destined to get a workout in the coming months. The Priddy-Sisk complement of grandchildren grew to two with the birth of two granddaughters this year.