The house sits on a hill visible from several close by vantage points—a prominent presence on the landscape that the design had to simply accept. Our strategy was to make it approachable without diminishing it. Cedar shingles in a natural, dark shade allow the building to read quietly against the shaded tree line behind. The use of single-story design elements to help ground the building and shade the glass from reflecting glare helped blend the building into its backdrop without trying to disappear into it.
The design intent was specific: somewhere between Classic and Vermont shingle style. Grand enough to receive guests properly, warm enough to feel approachable and welcoming. The entry was the place to establish both. It arrives into a kitchen that looks out towards the mountain ridgeline beyond—a room designed for gathering, for meals, a place to support the energy of a full house. From that same entry, a turn to the right leads through a mudroom and up to the second floor of the barn, where the dogs, the projects, and the less formal life of the property unfold. To the right sends you down the private hallway to the Primary Suite for privacy and acoustic separation from the residence.
Large glass doors open the south side of the kitchen, dining and living room to the mountain view in every season: wide open on a warm summer evening with large roof overhangs to shade the interiors, closed against the cold while still framing the same view in January. The home was designed to be used, fully, regardless of what Vermont is doing outside.
The barn workshop was considered as much as the main house. The workshop sits within a strategically cleared tree island on the property—isolated enough to feel private, connected enough to be part of the daily rhythm and screened from off-site vantage points. The barn is where the dogs run when the weather pushes everyone inside, where family members work on hobbies and projects in the same room, where the boundary between work and play is loose in the way that makes a property feel cozy and embracing.
Architecture, Interior Design, & Landscape Volansky Studio
Builder Sisler Builders
Structural Engineer Artisan Engineering
