Authenticity by Design: Two Homes in One on the Wye

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When searching for the perfect spot to build their second and, ultimately, their forever home several years ago, our feature homeowners, had some specific criteria. The property required close proximity to deep water, the water needed to provide opportunities for fruitful fishing, and it needed to be no more than three hours from their primary residence in Pennsylvania.

During that prime search time their three, now college-age sons were in grade school, explains our homeowner. “We wanted a place where we could go that was on the water, and originally we were looking in the Carolinas, but the kids were too young, and that trip was too long,” the homeowner says. 

They often checked in at various Eastern Shore points when making those trips and while visiting Maryland’s celebrated beaches. They found the area scenically appealing and the people warm and welcoming. One area in particular, Queenstown, piqued their interest. About eight years ago they found a piece of property along the Wye River that spoke to them and checked most items on their wish-list. 

Unfortunately, the home that came with the property lacked some creature comforts and conveniences that they knew they would need to address in the future. Six years later, in early 2020, they would begin the process of looking for architects. The connection upon meeting with Cathy Purple Cherry and her team at Purple Cherry Architects in Annapolis was an immediate and reassuring one.

“We just connected,” says the homeowner, who together with her husband, interviewed several potential architects. “When we left Cathy, we just looked at each other and we knew the search was over. It was like, forget it. Done.”

Before the plan and the second-home dream on the Wye River could move forward, however, the homeowners had to contend with the matter of their existing home on the property. It was determined that they were looking at a completely new build, so the old home would need to be deconstructed; its collective parts would be salvaged and donated accordingly amongst several worthy reclamation agencies.

“I was adamant that it would not end up in a landfill,” says the homeowner. “So, we demo-ed it, and deconstructed it board-by-board.”

The only element that would be retained from the original home was its in-ground, amoeba-shaped pool, conveys Purple Cherry. And it would end up dictating where certain living spaces could go—and where they couldn’t.

This, explains the homeowner, resulted in a design that was created from the inside-out. “With Cathy, we built the floor plan first and then we built the house around it.”

And when it came to the actual build, homeowners would look to the venerable team at Mueller Custom Homes and its President, Paul Mueller, Jr., to build anew. “The initial design of the home from the inside out requires tremendous collaboration between the builder and architect,” Mueller says. “While many projects are well-designed, the builder can add tremendous value, as the project progresses, from design to construction. Working as a team creates the best experience for everyone involved and we thoroughly enjoy working with the team at Purple Cherry.”  

Notes From the Drafting Table

Purple Cherry comments that the couple came to her with clearly defined goals for the home and to create a dwelling that would act like a magnet to bring back those college-age sons of theirs for years to come. As with any client, Purple Cherry says their process and approach would be authentic and unique to them. 

“I would say that this is a home where the homeowners could definitely say, ‘This home is what we wanted,’ which you can’t always do. Some homes are influenced by architects. This house is very reflective of what the homeowners loved and wanted.”

And what the homeowners wanted would reflect her love of cooking, his desire to replicate a cherished home office, her passion for painting and art, and their shared dream of a forever home that would age along with them, but retain a contemporary, fun vibe for their sons and guests.

The talents of PCA Associate Architect, Alan Cook, and Lead Interior Designer, Annie Kersey would be integral in creating a floorplan and design scheme that would help the couple address those clearly defined goals.

What was created, describes the homeowner, was a version of a ranch home stacked on top of another ranch home. Logistically this would provide enough separate living space for their grown kids and their friends to enjoy without ever feeling like they were intruding. This concept of stacking would accomplish a totally ADA-compliant style of living on the first floor, which was design priority number one. 

“We didn’t want any steps from the garage into the house, into the showers, or into the front foyer,” the homeowner explains. 

The couple also wanted their owners’ suite on the first floor and had expressed the desire for an open-plan main living area—with a tweak or two. Not only does the homeowner love to cook, which includes a passion for canning, but they both enjoy entertaining in a warm and convivial atmosphere absent of pretention. For these homeowners, this would be an open-plan tweaked to accomplish a natural flow away from the kitchen instead of gravitating toward it.   

“I made it clear that I love to entertain, but I didn’t want everyone congregating in my kitchen,” the homeowner says. “So that’s why we put the bar where it is.” The bar, indeed, would take pride of place just off the right side of the home’s transitionally sophisticated front entry with its statement-making, polished nickel Arden chandelier from Generation Lighting.

And the bar, which then flows back into the main living and informal dining area with its great views of the Wye River, would be constructed of a rich walnut to create the English-pub feel that the homeowners sought to capture. Floors of White Oak were chosen to flow throughout the space. 

“I wanted to modernize it, too,” the homeowner says. “So, we did the floating glass shelves and chose a metallic wallpaper. It has a warm and inviting feel as soon as people come in.”

High Points

This entire living space adds notes of utility and authenticity, accomplished through the meticulous selection of specific appointments and furnishings, per the homeowner. 

Something Purple Cherry encourages all her clients to do when having to furnish their new spaces, especially if they require many new items, is accompany her and their lead designer to the world-famous High Point Market in High Point, North Carolina.

“We know generally the style of the clients before we go and that allows us to determine which showrooms are most important to visit because you can’t see everything at High Point,” Purple Cherry says. 

While the homeowner relays it was a whirlwind, three-day trip, she says the PCA team kept them focused without feeling overwhelmed.

“We picked out my beds, my barstools. I have, I think, 10 barstools, because I have a lot of seating. And we were very specific on dining room chairs. They needed to be on casters. They needed to have arm rests. We had a lot of things that we were very specific [about] and we knew that they would be hard to find.”

Kersey says they took the husband’s inclination toward traditional styling and his wife’s love of a more modern aesthetic and pulled a transitional look together with the homeowners’ requested palette of whites, blacks, blues, and grays by incorporating wallpapers and upholstery fabrics, including fabric that was ordered so the homeowner, a talented seamstress, could fashion some of the home’s window treatments herself.

The kitchen would be another area where the homeowner would want to customize. “We knew that she wanted a light and airy kitchen,” Kersey says. “We know that meant there were going to elements of black and white, and polished nickel.”

To provide clean connectivity to the living space, which included that great bar, the island was crafted of the same wood as the bar and they used the same countertop, a gray Quartzite with white veining throughout. This same Quartzite was then run up the wall to create a seamless, sophisticated backsplash in the kitchen. “That just helped us blend those whites, blacks, and grays together,” Kersey says. 

To provide an optimal scheme for cooking, entertaining, and decorating, the kitchen would require advantageous storage space for every-day, as well, as holiday wares. This was accomplished with concealed under-island storage; storage that is right-at-hand when needed like the homeowner’s inset oil and vinegar niche with pot-filler above the range, and at-arm’s-length storage for larger items such as party platters. 

An adjacent pantry with plenty of storage for both regularly and seldom-used appliances, food stuffs, and those all-important canning supplies, helps keep clutter from amassing on kitchen counters. 

Even the laundry room would reflect the homeowner’s unique take on how she likes to work within the home. “And my laundry room has a window. Because who likes to do laundry?” muses the homeowner. “It’s a chore. So, my laundry room has this big window so I can look out while I’m folding laundry…and I don’t feel like I’m in a closet.”

Second-Level Living 

The goals for the upstairs of the residence were two-fold: provide a way for the homeowner to finally have a personal, creative space of her own, and design separate living and sleeping quarters for their sons. 

After living in a home with three students during the pandemic and not having enough bedrooms, workspace, and flex space, the execution of a purposeful floorplan that would put the “fun” in functional was essential.

So, instead of designing a traditional bedroom for each son, the homeowner took a less conventional approach to take advantage of the utility of integrated Murphy beds.

“That was something that was definitely client-driven,” Cook says, of the application of the Murphy beds. “They liked the idea of that flexibility of being able to arrange things in different ways in that space.” The entire team worked together to ensure a seamless integration so no one would ever know, unless they needed to, that there was a bed built into the wall. 

“The guest rooms were designed and manufactured by our wood shop,” Mueller explains, “…with Murphy beds that hide in plain sight behind a full-height wainscot wall.”

So, no matter who is staying or how many, the smart design of the guest rooms and the added convenience of a casual contemporary living space with access to a water-facing deck, makes the second floor, an enviable home of its own. 

Her Dream, Too!

The second floor would also address a long-standing desire on the homeowner’s part to have a place to call her own. “As you can realize, having four men in the house, there was never any room for me,” the homeowner says kiddingly. “That’s why the art studio was designed in this house because I needed a room that was just for me, where I could go and escape.”

An accomplished woman with many talents, the homeowner worked with the team to conceive a special area designed within a large room to accommodate painting, scrapbooking, and sewing. And this room has prime views out to the water. 

“The homeowner always dreamed of a unique space for her artwork,” Mueller says, who added that the room was also equipped with a separate HVAC system, a modified wet bar for washing paintbrushes, and enhanced barrel ceiling treatments for optimal comfort and convenience.

“It was just amazing,” says the homeowner of the overall collaborative process. “Every time we walked in, [PCA and their team] just made us feel like family. We weren’t just another client. We walked in, and we just immediately felt at home.”