Wynkoop – French Country Redesign of Contemporary Home
March 28 2017The original large 1980s house had all the trappings of a typical suburban builder house: clunky soaring ceilings, off-the-shelf details and a showy but pedestrian aesthetic. It even had a small indoor pool. The challenge was to somehow reinvent the house by changing up the surfaces while not getting into any structural modifications that would involve serious construction.
A decision was made to use a French Country style and to find ways to transform the house that would run counter to the typical builder design tropes. The floors were whitewashed. The window sashes were painted a dark gray to give the house a certain moodiness. The dark wood kitchen was painted off-white. And the fireplace was clad in mushroom wood to add an earthy warmth and to become the focal point of the house.
The one area that needed some serious construction was the master bath, which was dark and landlocked. Three French doors were added, including two that connected the master bath to the sun room– an unusual move, but necessary to get natural light into the bath. The same encaustic cement tiles were used in both spaces so that master bath spilled seamlessly out into the sun room. A commode was added so the French doors could remain open more often and would be shut only when privacy was needed for bathing. Mushroom wood was used to clad a wall of French doors to add earthiness and to absorb light from the other three walls of windows.
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