In our age of highly customized, down-to-the-studs renovations, it’s rare to see a project where designers go out of their way to leave things just as they are—and not because of budgetary constraints. During the update of this 18th-century farmhouse in the Berkshires, both client and designer—Lauren and Suzanne McGrath McGrath II-Agreed that it would be a shame to change the quaint layout of the property, not to mention the plethora of beautifully crafted wooden beams.
“Sometimes someone hands you a project that doesn’t need to be wasted, where the best thing to do is just accept it and make it work,” says Lauren. “This house is romantic to me, it has a real soul and great bones.”
Originally built in 1764, the wood-sided, two-story house has mostly low ceilings, small bedrooms, and an odd configuration on the ground floor, in which a lobby, living room, and dining room exist in a kind of open space. The old beams on the ceiling, door frames and simple wooden stairs, which were left untouched during the 2006 renovation, provide a hard-to-replicate rusticity. The work that was done at that time included a 1,000-square-foot wing containing a double-height parlor, as well as a study with a bedroom immediately above it. Fortunately the owners at the time also wanted to preserve the character of the house and designed the addition to blend in with the original structure. “It was very well done, very harmonious,” says Suzanne, Lauren’s mother and longtime design partner. “Our clients hired us to make it feel more elevated while still maintaining the charm.”
