who lives here: This is a holiday home for a couple with three adult children
Place: near Woodstock, Vermont
size: 5,290 square feet (491 m²); five bedrooms, six bathrooms
Designer: Ann Shriver Sargent (interior design), David Sargent (architectural design), Sargent Design
Wooden frame: bensonwood
Builder: housewife construction
The original home on the more than 100-acre property is a Cape-style farmhouse built in 1823. Its longtime owners—whose primary residence is in Massachusetts—hired David and Ann Shriver Sargent, the husband-and-wife team behind the interior and architecture. Design firm Sargent Design built a guesthouse when the farmhouse seemed too small for their growing family and friends.
The farmhouse is situated at the bottom of a hill close to the road. To accommodate the slope of the property while remaining consistent with the local architecture, Sargent proposed modeling the guest quarters on the traditional wood-framed side barn – a style of barn built into a hill, with two separate -There are “ground level” entrances on different floors. , The couple agreed, then largely handed over the reins.
This mudroom entrance is next to the garage on the lowest level, which is essentially a walkout basement. Ann Sargent, who handled all the interior design, installed antique rugs over heated slate floors and plenty of hooks on the wall for visitors to grab jackets to keep from the cold. All exterior doors in the home, including this door, are made of reclaimed chestnut and feature custom strap hinges and doorknob escutcheon (rear) plates made by Vermont Country Iron.
Scroll down to see floor plans for all three levels.