Modern Drama: A Look Inside This Month's Featured Home on Ray's Creek

by

Featured Homes

THE PROJECT: And it was along these lines that the project proceeded. They would scrap an uninspiring rambling ranch floorplan for a more dynamic two-story farmhouse-style home that would not only reflect its idyllic water-side setting but would serve as a reflection of the homeowners’ flair for the dramatic, their love of the natural world, and their desire to optimize the home for total efficiency. (The homeowner is the proprietor of Total Home Performance of Easton, so this residence would represent a model for what home efficiency feels like and how quiet it should be.)

THE PLACE: The homeowner, a native of St. Michael’s, is excited to be raising his young family along the familiar banks of Ray’s Creek, an ideal place for a family that loves and enjoys the outdoors as much as they do. This location would also provide the homeowners with the opportunity to create the ultimate outdoor living area with an in-ground pool, a spacious indoor/outdoor patio and entertainment area, and an enviable outdoor kitchen that goes way beyond the grill.

EXECUTING THE PLAN: The upgraded plan, explains Paquin, was thoughtfully implemented to enhance the lifestyle of being on the water and leaned into the couple’s desire to connect with the outside world even when they couldn’t be outside.

The homeowners of this thoroughly modern farmhouse-style home had design plans on the table for several years before realizing their official move-in day. The original plan would merely extend the floorplan of their existing mid-sized ranch home on the property to offer more square footage to better accommodate their young, growing family. 

Not being 100-percent sold on the simple scheme, it occurred to the homeowner to show the plans to someone he knew well in the building industry, someone who could help him figure out what was holding him back from proceeding with his design.

“I had been sitting on a set of plans that I had been working on literally over the course of five years, which was basically adding on to my existing brick rancher,” says the homeowner. “And then I showed them to Brent one day,” he adds, referring to his business associate and close friend, Brent Paquin, owner of Paquin Design/Build in Grasonville.

“It just wasn’t going to be a good fit for the property,” the homeowner adds. “And Brent expressed the benefits of going up rather than out.”

“When you walk in the front door, you’re looking through the great room to a really big open piece of glass that looks directly out at his pier and his boat,” Paquin says. “They also like to entertain a lot, so we wanted to make sure that the great room and the kitchen and the eating area were nice and large.” 

Paquin designed a custom window scheme that incorporated several smaller windows of both orientations to create one large aperture to the water and one wow of a first impression upon walking into the home. This space, now flooded with light, provides the perfect canvas for the living room which the homeowners again chose to infuse with drama and elements of the natural world, where unique woods would play an outstanding role.

For all the floors on the main level, the couple chose a stained Rift and Quarter Sawn White Oak in random lengths. To this they added a dramatic fireplace wall with a substantial piece of black walnut crafted for the mantle. This is juxtaposed with a Graphic Planc tile by Surface Shop which they extended to the ceiling to create a striking accent wall.

“The black walnut is also the countertop material that’s in the entertainment center,” says the homeowner. “That kind of ties those two sides together.”

The floorplan takes off at this point with a breezy transitional space to the kitchen and dining area where a casual conversation zone was created with a pair of comfy, swiveling leather chairs with eyes to the grand gathering space, the outdoor living area, and waterfront. 

The enormous kitchen and its center island were originally intended to work in tandem with a long dining table that would run parallel with the room and the island. That vision, upon further examination, the homeowner says, was adapted to create a better sense of flow in the room by turning the table on the perpendicular and adding a cozy and communal integrated bench wall instead.

The couple, who both love to cook, added many bells and whistles to their nearly commercial-grade kitchen that included a 60-inch Wolf gas range and custom hood. Alive with color, the couple chose Shiloh Cabinetry with Hartford Flat-Panel Door-style in Benjamin Moore’s Pacific Sea Teal, bringing an aspect of the aquatic, indoors. 

“I had a lot of fun laying out this kitchen and just thinking about where the spice cabinet would be in relationship to the pots, pans, and utensil cabinets,” explains the homeowner, who adds his wife had much input when it came to the overall aesthetic of the kitchen.

The island was outfitted with a large slab of Cristallo Iceberg Quartzite, and white oak butcher block tops were chosen for the rest of the countertop, along with floating wood shelving for easy access to daily dishware essentials. Three gorgeous brass custom pendant lights were imported from Morocco to provide utility lighting over the island. 

The ultimate finishing touch in this room came in the form of a neutral-colored Marazzi Rice backsplash tile that they chose to run the height of the wall to the ceiling. What the homeowner says was a choice made of necessity due to the location of the windows and other wall elements, became a signature unifying aspect of the space, all at once bringing in a sense of warmth and style. 

Performance & Optimization

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the kitchen, however, is not something you can see or even hear, says the homeowner. 

“This is a very high-performing home.” 

What that means in terms of the kitchen, is in the noise from the range’s hood fan that you don’t hear because the traditional placement of the motor for the hood was relocated. 

“My kitchen exhaust hood is, rather than having the motor right there at the oven, I just put it in-line in the duct. “And then my fan motor is 15-feet away from my oven, and it’s up in the attic, so I can’t even hear it, but it works,” the homeowner continues. “I installed a silencer on the duct work, and it all works in harmony so when the kitchen exhaust turns on, it opens the damper to allow fresh air to come in and be immediately drawn back up the range hood and out.”

This work-around, he says, is something any owner can apply to their home in coordination with other measures that can be adapted to traditional HVAC systems to reduce the common noises they produce. Along with managing noise, he says, there are also some great ways that homeowners can ensure their home is as healthy a place to be as it can be. 

“This home has a whole-house ventilation system known as an ERV or Energy Recovery Ventilator. So, I have tempered and filtered fresh air that is supplied to every bedroom and common living area in the house, which really helps the house feel fresh, smell good, and maintain good indoor air quality,” explains the homeowner. “And then to regulate humidity, the house is also fitted with two whole-house dehumidifiers, which is something that is commonly overlooked, especially as construction is getting more and more airtight, especially in Maryland, where clearly when it’s hot, it can be humid.”

Addressing noise, optimizing air quality, and improving overall efficiency like this homeowner also did by adding exterior insulation during their build, are layers of performance-related practices available to any homeowner during the building process or that can be applied to an existing home. 

Street Seen

Last but certainly not least, this home is a stand-out for its remarkable curb appeal. The homeowner conveys that it was absolutely necessary for them to have their home be different and unique in an obvious way, and so they chose to express that desire in color and detail. 

“My initial vision was an all-black house, but it had to have natural wood accents,” the homeowner says. For those accents the owner chose solid yellow cedar with a dark oak stain for the home’s posts, gable, and rake board features. Additional natural aspects were reflected in their choice of a Random Ashlar stone veneer in Coyote Gray by Get Real Stone. 

The home’s dramatic dark exterior was accomplished with James Hardie Select Cedar Mill board and batten in Midnight Soot. Complementary roof shingles by Landmark’s Pro Certaineed line in Moire Black, and Pac-Clad metal roofing in Matte Black completed the façade presentation.

The couple matched the wow factor of the front of their home with an amazing rustic resort approach to outdoor living around the back of their home. Maximized for nearly year-round utility, the home opens from the kitchen and dining area to an expansive screened-in porch.

This airy transitional space provides cover from summer showers and bugs and has a casual pub-like vibe with its crisp Bluestone pavers, yellow cedar ceiling, and cozy beverage bar. This covered, outdoor dining area flows into a covered outdoor living area with an enviable outdoor fireplace with a black-tiled insert and surround laid out in an eye-catching herringbone pattern. A custom piece of live-edge cedar wood carved by a local artisan and friend adds that finishing touch to this gracious entertainment and gathering area. 

Much thought was put into the entire hardscape of the back of the home to encourage long days spent outside in nature, whether they are in the pool or cooking in their ultimate version of an outdoor kitchen complete with firepit, wet bar, pellet smoker, grill, and a power-burner that comes in handy for boiling up some tasty crab.

Because for this Eastern Shore native and his family, that’s a perfect day well spent along his favorite little creek in St. Michaels.