Greg and Rita Raucci had lengthy been searching for a coastal home wherever from Milford to Stonington. Then, in the future in March 2018, Greg noticed a Nineteen Twenties cottage in an actual property flier. It had been available on the market for some time and the value had dropped. And whereas they’d by no means heard of the Indian Neck part of Branford, they determined to Google it and go have a look.
“We weren’t trying to find a waterfront property, however we knew that we needed to be close to the water,” says Rita, whose main house is in Fairfield County. “This cottage met our standards, after which some, sitting just one home away from the seaside. It checked different bins too — metropolis water, metropolis sewer, and a marina close by for Greg’s boat. I don’t notably take care of boating, however I needed to have the ability to take a stroll by the shore.”
After buying the cottage in April 2018, they initially thought they’d repair up the two-bedroom, one-bathroom, 900-square-foot home and winterize it. However after spending their first summer season there, they tapped Joe Sepot of Branford-based Joseph Sepot Architects to design one thing larger and extra aesthetically pleasing. They needed a spot the place their two youngsters may go to with their households in addition to a house during which they may in the future reside year-round.
The main bedroom’s cathedral ceiling and a high-placed window give an impressive and spacious really feel to the smaller residence.
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“I produced a number of preliminary sketches to point out Rita and Greg. I needed to make certain I captured every thing they needed to have of their second residence,” says Sepot, who does a variety of industrial work within the Better New Haven space with Greg’s agency, Bismark Building of Milford. “It’s a really, very tight web site. The footprint of the home is lengthy and slender resulting from native zoning restrictions. We knew it was essential to maximise daylight and create a way of expansiveness inside the compact footprint. We chosen gentle inside finishes to mirror daylight to additional this objective.”
After placing pencil to paper, Sepot put collectively a set of drawings that Greg, who took on the function of contractor, may transfer ahead with. It included an open kitchen, consuming and residing space; main bedroom; a second bed room with a number of beds for the couple’s 5 grandchildren; two bogs; and a laundry space. The plans, which just about doubled the house’s sq. footage, additionally saved the screened-in porch in the back of the home, which was essential to them in sustaining a summery really feel.
The screened-in porch would not technically depend towards the home’s residing space, but it surely’s an expansive and welcome facet in the summertime (and past).
Dennis M. Carbo Pictures“I by no means thought that on that web site that we’d be capable of get the sq. footage that Joe was in a position to get,” Greg says. “The screened porch doesn’t depend as residing sq. footage, however after we open up these huge, 16-foot sliders, the home simply expands. Even within the winter and the opposite seasons, the grandkids are at all times taking part in on the porch, so it’s further house for us.”
The outside of the home radiates appeal and consists of basic detailing historically present in classic Nineteenth-century cottages, as does the indifferent two-car storage, which they restored in the course of the property’s six-month development course of, which started in February 2019. To cut back its horizontal massing, the outside of the house is differentiated by a mix of constructing supplies together with painted board and batten siding and stained cedar shingles.
With such an extended space, the owners may house issues out a bit. “All people stacks the TV and fireside,” Greg Raucci says. “I liked the look of side-by-side. No one ever does it that approach.”
Dennis M. Carbo PicturesGreg provides {that a} aspect pergola is the proper design component towards the white siding and brings the cottage really feel into perspective, “particularly if you see the scale and distinctive flare of the raft tails from our stroll again from the seaside. We have been stunned how the pergola offers shade at instances with the angle of the solar inside the kitchen.”
Sepot says that the pergola visually balances the general elevation of the house. It adjusts the house’s vertical massing, bringing the attention down, and creates an intimate outside residing space that’s excellent for household gatherings and eating al fresco. Plus, it’s positioned off the kitchen for ease of entertaining.
Proof optimistic {that a} slender location needn’t be claustrophobic, the 12-foot-wide kitchen opens to a 24-foot-wide residing house. “You’re trying by these massive, stunning French doorways out to the porch and the view,” Rita Raucci says.
Dennis M. Carbo Pictures“We didn’t construct a type of large mega mansions,” Greg says. “Rita and I appreciated the cottage fashion and we needed to maintain it typical to the world. One among Rita’s stipulations was that we’d nonetheless have a garden for the grandkids to run round. And it labored out nice.”
In truth, Greg thought the home got here out so properly that he instructed Sepot submit it for an award. As luck would have it, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Connecticut not too long ago acknowledged the house with an Alice Washburn Excellence Award within the New Building class. Named for the distinguished Connecticut designer and builder of the Nineteen Twenties, this system acknowledges excellence in conventional home design by the considerate adaptation of custom to handle Twenty first-century wants.
Regardless of a slender footprint, this Branford house is filled with snug options.
Dennis M. Carbo PicturesJurors famous: “Nicely-proportioned, clear, easy strains. Extremely environment friendly use of house and efficient daylighting. A pleasant retreat, scaled to a laid-back day on the seaside. Nice issues are available small packages!”
“On the finish of the day, I simply needed to have a spot the place the household may come,” says Greg, who enjoys being near their foremost residence. “It turned out excellent since our youngsters are inside driving distance. I didn’t need a spot too far the place they’d have a troublesome time being with us in the summertime. When individuals transfer far-off for second houses, I don’t perceive it. You don’t need to go far to search out it.”
