Renovations Modernize a 1970s New Jersey Colonial With Columns

Knight added a new mudroom side entry and porch as well as a new bluestone sidewalk that ties in with the rest of the front yard. She also replaced the front door. New plantings replaced overgrown shrubs.

BEFORE: The home was originally designed by prolific local architect William Thompson. It still had a lot of charm but was ready for an update.

AFTER: Columns and sidelights give the entry a classic presence; the porch roof provides protection when the owners are fumbling for keys in the rain. The French door and sidelights let in natural light.

Knight replaced the breakfast room with a mudroom designed to stand up to a young family and East Coast weather. "This California Gold slate tile, with its browns, grays and golds, is the best tile in the world for hiding dirt in a mudroom," she says.

 

Built-in cubbies, hooks and baskets give everyone room to store coats, shoes, hats, gloves and sports equipment. "After designing the bottom cubbies with drawers for many clients, my contractor Eric Franzoni told me that after my part of the job was done, most people were taking the drawers out to leave them open for kicking off or grabbing their shoes," she says. She's since switched to cubbies over drawers in her mudroom designs.

The wife requested a mudroom desk as a landing strip for mail and paperwork. The counter is cherry with a dark stain. A charging station overhead hides cords and provides space for juicing up phones and other electronic accessories. The hardworking room has openings to the garage, the main house and a walk-in closet.

BEFORE: The long, narrow living room did not have access to the backyard patio, pool and large entertainment space. The kitchen beyond it was closed off.

AFTER: Knight designed this dining area in a small new addition to serve as a breakfast room (the columns mark where the exterior wall with the large window is in the previous picture.) However, it didn't take long for the family to turn it into their only formal dining area. "They realized they liked to gather here for all occasions while the kids hung out in the family room," she says. They turned the intended formal dining room, on the other side of the media wall, into a quiet sitting room.

 

"The couple realized that when the TV was on, they needed a separate room on the first floor where they could escape it," she says. "Small-space expert Sarah Susanka says you need a quiet room on a first floor with an open plan, and she's right." Knight finds that many clients are opting for libraries in lieu of traditional formal dining rooms these days.

One of the main objectives was creating an open space where their kids could have their friends over and hang out. Knight opened up the former living room to the kitchen and a new breakfast area, which you see part of in the foreground. The TV sits in the middle of custom media cabinets and bookshelves.

The new dining addition includes the area from the French doors to the columns, as far as the new slanted roofline. Three sets of French doors with transoms and skylights open up the back of the house to the yard and let in the light.

 

French doors, transoms: Marvin

BEFORE: The kitchen was closed off from the rest of the house. Behind the corner near the window here, Knight reconfigured a "rat's maze" of a laundry room, guest bath, guest room and hallway to accommodate a bar complete with a bar refrigerator and microwave drawer. She relocated the laundry room upstairs for convenience.

AFTER: In the newly renovated kitchen, the double doors on the left open to a vestibule, which opens to a reconfigured full guest bath.

 

An 11-foot-long island with a granite counter accommodates the whole family. It has room for dining and homework on one side, and room for food prep, a sink and a dishwasher on the other. Two sets of double doors reinforce symmetry. The set on the right leads to a pantry.

Counters: Absolute Black granite with leather finish

AFTER: Out back the small addition's new French doors open to a new terrace that leads to the patio and pool. Now the family can enjoy the view of the yard as well as plenty of easy access to it.

BEFORE: The master bath had been added in a previous renovation. "This space is over the garage, and the owners had a ladder with a heater on top of it set up in the garage to keep the pipes from freezing in the winter," Knight says.

AFTER: In addition to fixing the more serious issues, she redesigned the entire bathroom, adding elegant marble countertops and cherry cabinets.