At Home in the Country

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After years of wondering whether or not one particular historic lot of subdivided farmlands would be put up for sale in the pastoral reaches of Central Maryland, our feature homeowners finally got the call they were hoping for in 2020. 

“Our only requirements for the lot were that we wanted at least an acre and wanted to keep the kids in their existing schools,” says homeowner Whitney Kutney, adding that undeveloped lots in their preferred location were few and far between.

“I knew of a few farmed areas that were within our desired school district and suspected those were our best chance. After some digging through county property records, I was able to determine that the farmed area had been passed through the same family since the early 1800s and had been subdivided in the early 1980s. It took about eight months of letter writing and phone calls before we were able to write a contract to purchase a lot.”

“When we first went out there, I mean this was all rural farmland and this piece of property in particular had its challenges because of the way that the approach is with the driveway coming off the road and where it sits,” explains the President of Mueller Homes, P.J. Mueller. “It is all very calculated because it is the highest point around. The view out the front of the rolling hills, trees, and farmland is absolutely amazing and you have that very estate-like vibe.”

THE PROJECT: With that all-important ‘location, location, location’ finally locked in, the Kutneys desired a new build that would incorporate both the family’s love of farmhouse architecture and an interior that would speak to a relaxed English Country cottage aesthetic. 

THE PLACE: Located on a bluff amongst the picturesque rolling, rural countryside of Clarksburg, Maryland. 

EXECUTING THE PLAN: The homeowners chose Annapolis-based Mueller Homes and architect Jonathan Rivera to put the dream to a plan. They felt Mueller Homes had the reputation and the skillset to tackle some tricky complications associated with the siting of the structure on their land, and they were impressed with the firm’s everything-under-one-roof-approach to their build, also using Mueller’s preferred design team of Ella Lee Interiors to curate an interior style personalized to the family. 

Exterior Optimization 

The rural estate vibe, says Mueller, was accomplished with optimal siting, and expert attention to detail with its exterior presentation. 

“It looks like the house was added onto where you had the old farmhouse you started out with and then it was added onto at separate times, which is very in time-keeping with a farmhouse property or even a Federal period home on the Eastern Shore,” says Mueller, who adds that exterior details like Flemish bond brick, the paint color chosen for the Hardie plank siding, and the wrap-around porch drive this home’s classic farmhouse narrative. 

A Kitchen-First Interior Approach

Among the initial conversations the owners would have with Rivera about the home’s defining interior characteristics and flow, would be a review of Kutney’s intentions for how their kitchen should be laid out. 

“Whitney wanted the kitchen to be open and at the center of the home with a scullery that would be used daily and hide the typical aspects of kitchen life,” Rivera explains.  

Once that portion of the home was clearly defined, it was used as a jumping off point for where the rest of the living spaces would be located and how transitions would work from room to room. Then a thoughtful approach to how materials and details would play their roles throughout was executed.

“Furthermore, we wanted the house to be filled with light, so the plan was designed to allow daylight into the main space at any time of day, with cross light that moves from daybreak to sunset,” Rivera says.

“Last, but not least, was the desire to have an office that would be on the first floor, private but one that would not block the main family area of light. The sunrises and sunsets are beautiful on the hill—and a wrap-around porch would thread into the farmhouse aesthetic and capture both. 

“Whitney had a clear vision of what she wanted her home to become and given her requirements, we came back with architecture that maximized every square foot for everyday use, while maintaining the farmhouse feel,” Rivera adds.

And the deep dive on the kitchen’s aesthetic reveals a homeowner who has some serious skills in the part of the home. From the get-go, Kutney envisioned a kitchen that would accommodate her love of baking and cooking without compromising their open-plan living goals. Plus, both her and her husband maintain busy professional careers and they’re raising three children. So, an adapted version of the servers’ kitchens of old was created by dividing up some square footage and adding an entire prep kitchen to the back of the open-plan kitchen. The result was a totally workable space with its own particular enhancements optimized for the way she likes to work in and move within her kitchen space.

“I don’t think I fully appreciated how functional a custom-designed space could be,” Kutney explains. “The cabinetry and shelving ensure everything has a place, two dishwashers allow us to keep countertops tidy and sinks empty—everything feels intentional and built for the things we have and the way we use the space.” 

 That said, each kitchen performs to the criteria to which it was designed. The open-plan facing option offers an elevated English cottage appeal and a decidedly British twist to cooking with its state-of-the-art AGA range with induction top. 

“The homeowner was really interested in expanding her range of appliances in that front kitchen to keep the aesthetic of the English cottage feel. She wanted it to feel really warm and inviting, but again, it keeps that functionality of using panel-front appliances and certain types of hardware and latches for types of cabinetry finishes,” says Kalyn Henderson, Associate Designer of Ella Lee Interiors. 

The choice of a free-standing island was also intentional, adds Henderson. Painted in an olive-y green called Garden Gate by Sherwin-Williams, this statement-making room element presents more like a piece of furniture, which is exactly the statement the homeowner desired to make. Custom-upholstered Harvey Wallbanger counter stools from Vanguard were added and among the items on the homeowner’s initial must-have list for the room.

“She was really adamant, too, about wanting the island to be a focal point,” Henderson explains. “So, we utilized a beautiful piece of marble as a countertop, kept the perimeter counters very clean, but still unique with soapstone, which was really nice to mix those elements into one space.”

 Gorgeous Reese pendant lighting from Visual Comfort’s Signature Collection suspended above the island features a vintage look with its inner candlestick-style filaments. Below, the couple chose classic red oak floorboards of varying widths to lend character throughout the open-plan and working kitchen space.

The Transitions

These boards work extremely well with the paint colors chosen throughout as the kitchen transitions to a comfortable, yet elegantly understated living room, and an adjacent dining room that is formal in name only, as it conveys a roomy, happy, light-filled room.  

“We used a very neutral tone throughout all three spaces which is really what allowed the kitchen to stand out with the mushroom and olive green tone that also followed into the living room, bringing in that fireplace, and the dark fireplace element, but keeping it simple,” Henderson says.

The dining room gave the homeowners the opportunity to pull some of their favorite existing pieces of furniture into their new residence, and the process became a fine example of melding cherished pieces with carefully curated new ones to create a totally unified room scheme. And while the owners’ Breuer Cesca dining chairs were not quite farmhouse or English county, they worked, Henderson says, because they were purposefully paired with a captain’s style armchair from Vanguard with custom Haystack Linen upholstery to pull the look together. 

One piece of furniture they were lacking, however, was a working desk for the husband’s home office. Kutney explains she was particular about the design and style of the desk, but she had been unable to acquire the ideal piece.

“I casually mentioned my struggles with finalizing a desk design with a custom furniture builder while I was in the Ella Lee Design Studio one afternoon,” Kutney says. “Ella Lee offered to help with the design and nailed it. Looking back, I should have started with them. They knew my style and the space better than anyone else—it was an obvious fit.”

Kutney adds that once the design was created, Mueller’s in-house wood and mill working team, Charles Henry Fine Woodworking, crafted the custom walnut desk down to every conceivable detail.

And it is the work of this team that can be seen throughout the home in its solid and stylish cabinetry and various wood trim treatments, including the coffered ceiling in the office and the gorgeous cedar ceiling inlay of the wraparound and screened porches.

At the end of the day, these are the details that perhaps best define the elegant, timeless look of this rural residence—a residence the homeowner described as elevated, tailored, and warm. And while the journey to get here was, at times, a precarious and complicated one, the family couldn’t be happier with the result.

“We knew there was some risk to get the lot to a buildable state but had assumed that time and money could resolve any hurdles that we came across,” Kutney says. “We had some issues with septic testing and some challenges with rock under the surface, but the sunsets here made it worth the effort!”