I had in mind a cottage in the woods with a beautiful garden and all of the amenities that I was used to in my much larger home. It would be a house to heal myself and my family in. I wanted a place to write the next chapter of our family history together and I wanted it to be small and manageable too. I looked at dozens of homes over many months and finally one day I found the perfect place or sh
ould I say the perfect garden. The setting was so lovely and cared for that I was fascinated. The house was a tired and ugly affair built in 1950. It was just the kind of house I told my agent never to show me-a raised ranch. Yet somehow I was drawn to this place. The moment I saw it I knew exactly how to fix it and correct its multitude of design deficiencies. Since the setting was so charming and it was located in my favorite little Hudson River enclave I decided to buy it. My friends and family thought that I had lost my mind and their response did make me think that I had a momentary lapse in judgment but it was too late to turn around. I was a determined woman already in love with my own vision. I wanted to recover mid century modern architecture without tearing it down and building new. The day after my bid was accepted I put pencil to paper and designed the entire renovation. Since I was replacing the bathrooms and appliances for energy efficiency I immediately made all of my selections. I placed the furniture I had in the plan and filled in the blanks. The day after I closed, the work began. My contractors were wonderful and understood my vision completely. We reused as much of the original construction as possible. We used products made of recycled materials for the insulation and roofing. We put in more energy efficient appliances, windows and doors. This alone cut my electric bill in half. We recycled the old appliances by sending them to a charity that reworks them and resells them to lower income families at reduced prices. We sliced boulders on the property for siding, patios and walls. We then used the old tiles from the bathrooms we demolished and ground up for aggregate to use in the concrete. We reused the cabinets and granite counters from the kitchen but rearranged and refinished them to suit the new appliances and look. We built in an antique shop counter for the new breakfast bar, (a remnant from my former life), and took down walls and raised the ceiling to enhance the interior view to the garden. We kept two windows and a skylight because they were newly installed by the previous owner. Since the windows were modern in style we added leaded glass panels of antique glass to give it an old world feel. As we took down walls we saved the wood flooring and were able to successfully patch it in a way that is impossible to tell it had ever been done. When we were finished some nine months later I had added a full bathroom, an entry foyer, a bedroom, a laundry room and four closets just by adding forty- eight inches to my garage and changing some outdated duct work. The master bedroom was expanded to include a sitting room and I was also able to add some storage to my garage and still have plenty of room for my car. The last thing I had left to do was name my new home. Perched on a hill surrounded by Oak trees I chose to name my home Acorn Cottage after nature’s perfect food- the acorn. This home has fed my soul and nourished my heart. My life is wonderful now and full. We have become a new kind of family, one that has stayed together through the toughest of times. My friends and former husband and in-laws and all the new family members to come are all welcome at Acorn Cottage.
