Park House
Cherry Hill, NJ
Daniel and Julie found a 1950 rancher with low ceilings and disjointed rooms, but have two active girls, needed a private wing for Julie’s parents, and wanted to host large, frequent gatherings.
Committed to giving this multi-generational family the dream life they deserve, we carved out 200% more usable space, and raised ceilings 150% higher. Now, it features massive new windows and sliding doors framing stunning views of nature and daylight pouring in at all hours.
Intentional details are what make a home personal. Here, we drew inspiration from the ash trees outside, and fabricated a collection of unique ash features. We wrapped two massive structural beams in hardwood casings to run an elegant horizontal line through the whole home. Also in ash, the custom kitchen island extension is both a showstopper and a multi-purpose surface: homework, casual meals, big celebrations, late-night conversations. Subtler touches: ash shelving transforms into a fireplace mantel and frames an intricately designed fireplace surround below.
Seeing the dramatic transformation, people were knocking on the door with offers mid-construction! The revival was so beloved by the homeowners and surrounding community that it inspired its own Instagram handle.
Space planning is about listening deeply to how a family wants to move through every moment of the day, and understanding it so well that you can give the perfect shape to the entire imagined experience. It’s so much more than a floor plan. It’s experiential.
Here, the entry flows into the living room (which visually rolls right out into the wide open landscape), living glides into the dining and kitchen, kitchen into family room, family into the stair. Private bedrooms extend down the hall.
Raising the ceilings was essential, because Julie and Daniel have a huge extended family who are very tall! To accentuate the soaring cathedral ceiling, we added skylights to frame the sky; expanded windows to frame the trees. Sunlight now comes in from every direction, dancing from wall to wall through the day.
Renovation is harder than new construction because you are wrestling with existing conditions. Expanding usable space without expanding the footprint makes it even harder. But sometimes the right choice is the hardest one. Rather than building up or out, we built down, grounding the home into the earth, preserving the beautiful landscape and lowering construction costs. Doing the most with what you have is good design, good stewardship, and good budget management.
Arriving at the lower level (which we refused to call a “basement” from day one!) you are greeted by a generous view to the backyard. We tucked a bar under the stair, and a banquette under mechanical systems, turning every piece of building infrastructure into aesthetic exploration. An in-law suite for Julie’s parents, office, guest room, laundry, storage, mechanical room and multiple new bathrooms are woven into the space, like pieces in a puzzle. Not one inch is wasted.
