A stacked retaining wall divides the front of the property into distinct planting areas. Developing this sizeable home to quietly blend into the quaint neighborhood was among the largest challenges the design team faced.
“There was a wonderful marriage of thoughts,” says interior designer Alexander Baer. “Nobody was afraid of stepping on anyone’s toes,” says architect David Wiley. “The team was fabulous, and the clients were wonderful,” says kitchen designer Trish Houck. “We were working with a high-quality builder with a good aesthetic sense, a sense of humor, and a lot of class. It was a hell of a lotta fun,” says lighting designer Bob Jones. According to the members of this all-star design team, homeowners and avid entertainers Nancy and Tim Grumbacher not only throw a good party, they throw a good project as well.
After visiting family at the beach, the Grumbachers fell in love with the quaint sea-side locale and, according to Nancy, “started renting two weeks at a time. Then we were renting for two more weeks, then the whole summer, so we decided to buy a place.” After selecting a sizeable oceanfront lot, the Grumbachers put together a team of professionals to create what would become their Nantucket-style dream retreat.
The group they called upon included interior, kitchen, lighting, and landscape designers, an architect, and a builder. Preliminary discussions began “about a year before the first spade of sand was taken,” says Jones. Although the plans for the home were large, the couple wanted their house to feel inviting, like a home away from home. The house needed space enough to accommodate lots of friends and children and grandchildren while still being comfortable for two.
Because of its beachfront location, the house was under strict size restraints. The group settled on a more vertical than horizontal layout to make the necessary accommodations—the children’s, grandchildren’s, and family rooms on the first level; the main living area and two guest rooms on the second; and the master suite, office, exerciseroom, and sitting room on the third. “We tried to situate the bedrooms with a certain amount of privacy,” says Wiley, “without being too far away.”
A wide, custom staircase, the most complicated architectural detail, floats between the three floors. Using plenty of steel engineering and patience, artist Rob Hoffmann crafted the stair with handmade pieces. This “sculpture,” which appears to be individually stacked steps, combines various turned wood baluster styles with dramatic newels and handrailings. Light from a large window gives the space an airy backdrop indicative of the beachfront property.
Another grand window in the living room overlooks the courtyard and allows sunlight to generously flow into the spacious area. “The quality of light and the views of the water are great,” notes Beth Raymond of Alexander Baer Associates. “It is a really open, warm, and welcoming house.”
These homeowners prefer the intimacy of a round dining table to the "head of the table" formally associated with rectangular tables.
Not wanting the house to feel closed in, the team developed a flowing living space to include the living room, dining room, and furniture-style kitchen. “Nancy wanted to be a part of the entertaining area even when she was in the kitchen,” says Baer. Combining counters made of silver sea granite and reclaimed wood with painted materials, kitchen designer Trish Houck infused the room with seashore appeal. The Sub-Zero 700 refrigerator was built into the cabinetry so that not even the hinges are visible. “The dishwasher was also paneled. The only appliances that show are the cooktop, oven, and convection microwave, but these pieces aren’t at eye level, which helps to hide them,” says Houck.
The spotlight shines on the immense kitchen island. Built as a single piece off-site and then disassembled for transport, “the island is basically a table with cabinets stuck into it,” says Houck. So as not to become simply a floating mass, the island needed grace and comfort. Hand-turned legs (inspired by a photograph that Nancy had seen) and an antique light fixture with custom shades cozy up the kitchen with a furniture feel that coordinates with adjacent spaces.
To help define the second-floor “rooms,” the team varied ceiling heights and styles—a 2-story cathedral ceiling in the living room; coffered ceilings in the den; and low, intimate ceilings accented with antique light fixtures in the kitchen and dining room. “The dining room has a fairly simple, forged iron chandelier. It was a challenge finding a light fixture large enough for the enormous dining room table but short enough to hang from the 8-foot ceiling,” says Bob Jones of Jones Lighting Specialists. The simplicity of the dining room fixture balances lighting elements in neigh-boring rooms.
“This was not a highly decorative project for us,” says Jones. “We wanted the lighting to complement the architecture without detracting from the view.” Decorative lighting features in the living, dining, and kitchen areas also needed to accent each other, since the rooms are situated in one fluid space. The living room required little artificial light, so Jones used antique bronze sconces on either side of the large window. The sconces—female forms that look like mermaids, according to Jones—function more as art than lighting. Having previously worked with the Grumbachers, he was fortunate to be aware of the owners’ tastes. Antique lighting fixtures lend the house the character of an older space—“they give the house a patina,” reflects Baer.
Areas of the main level are further defined by architectural lighting—lights can be brightened in a reading area and dimmed in others. Using a low-voltage system to main-tain visual comfort, Jones highlighted the Grumbachers’ art collection—Americana, tramp, and self-taught visionary art—with a variety of bulbs, some offering a wash of light, others just a pinpoint. “Nancy’s collection is an ever-evolving mix,” he says. “We designed a system that can adapt to changing pieces.”
Like the lighting, the furnishings in this relaxed house are simple and clean. “I wanted to give Nancy and Tim a house they wouldn’t worry about, not a precious type of house,” says Baer. Using natural cottons, linens, and sisal, Baer and the Grumbachers worked with a beige palette. The neutral effect allows the eye to travel outside to the view rather than stopping on patterns. “The beauty of the house is the inside/outside relationship,” Baer notes.
Nancy consulted with Baer for the upholstery and furniture, but “very rarely did Alexander buy accessories for the house,” she says. “I do the art and antiques and accessories.” Nancy’s eye for collecting and hands-on involvement give the house character and personality.
The furnishings are a mix of old and new pieces. “I had to add a lot more than I thought I would,” says Nancy. “The house is huge, and it eats things up.” French country, English country, and American antiques are scattered throughout, interwoven with the Grum-bachers’ art collection in a comfortable, cleanstyle. “The house doesn’t look like a designer just came in and made it pretty,” she says.
With a whole team of design minds involved, this personalized style required much client attention. And the Grumbachers’ concern didn’t stop with the interior. Along with landscape designer Carol Macht, ASLA, principal of Hord Coplan Macht, the couple created an exterior aesthetic reminiscent of a Hamptons classic. “We covered almost everyinch of the site with hardscape or plantings,” says Macht. Nancy wanted the landscape to be lush and natural, and the relationship of the house to the street was a top priority. To help connect the home to the community, Nancy toured the neighborhood with the landscape designer, pointing out plants that she liked, taking notes on what combinations looked good and what was thriving in the beach environment.
Cozy porches, elegant terraces, and a carefully sited courtyard speak of the homeowners' appreciation of the shore.
Before the planting design could begin though, Macht wanted to organize the site elements—the pool, the terrace, the cabana. “After that, we needed to organize the materials and geometries of the terraces and pathways.” Much of the hardscape including the pool terrace, enclosed porches, and center terrace was crafted from Pennsylvania bluestone and arranged in playful patterns. In front, Macht and the Grumbachers added a low retaining wall so that plantings would be on a level plane with the house rather than awkwardly sloping to the street. The wall, made of dry-laid stone for a stacked look and accented with louvered lights, divides the front yard into three distinct planting areas—an upper level, a lower level, and a row of street plantings.
One of the team’s challenges, the pool’s location was originally in the center of the oceanside courtyard, but Macht felt there were better opportunities for its position. “The pool was in the center of a key space that’s visible from many rooms in the house. But it would have a cover on for half of the year that no one wants to look at,” she says.
Moving the pool to the side yard made good use of what seemed like leftover space and opened the main courtyard for a year-round terrace garden. The pool, small to begin with, needed to be reshaped to fit the new space and still adhere to zoning requirements. A longer, narrower design gives it the illusion of being bigger; the pool’s bull-nosed bluestone coping was cut in longer pieces to intensify this illusion.
Once the hardscape was set, the team went about selecting plant material that would succeed in the world of ocean, sand (amended with lots of soil), and unprotected land. Macht referenced a number of books for ideas on companions, light conditions, and seaside aesthetics—combining her research with a list of Nancy’s favorites, she was able to develop a planting plan. “We used lots of perennials,” says Nancy. “The landscape has a summer feel.” Hydrangeas, climbing roses, black-eyed Susans, daylilies, lavender, salvia, coneflower, and Russian sage drift in free form, while trees are more carefully ordered. Leyland cypress frames the exterior, four honey locusts create a grid in the central space, Mugo pine appears in repeated groupings, and London plane trees line the street.
With a pool and pergola, arbors and trellises, a birdhouse and fencing all scattered about, the possibilities for exterior lighting features seemed endless, but “we knew it would be ridiculous to light them all,” says Jones. The team’s top goal was for the lighting to disappear. So Jones and Macht settled upon the most important elements, balancing landscape and decorative exterior lighting. Neither is too imposing, and the result is a picturesque display of shadow and form that accents points of architectural and plant interest.
Although the house is “sort of in your face,” according to Nancy, it has a lot of charm. The scale of each room is nicely proportioned for the activities that take place within. This grand home’s ability to wrap its arms around homeowners and guests was born from the heart of the team that built it. “I think Nancy and Tim really appreciated the care that went into the project,” says Baer. And so the Grumbachers offered a toast (and a fabulous party to boot) to celebrate this dream house.
Lauren Brooks is the Assistant Editor for ChesapeakeHome.
Contacts:
Alexander Baer and Beth Raymond,Alexander Baer Associates: 410-727-4100
Bob Jones, Jones Lighting Specialists: 410-828-1010
Carol Macht, Hord Coplan Macht,Inc.: hcm2.com or 410-837-7311
David Wiley, Olivieri, Shousky & Kiss Architects and Planners: olivieriarchitects.com or 856-854-0580
Distinctive Woodworking by Rob Hoffmann: 609-877-8122
Joseph G. Popper & Son Custom Builder,Inc.: 609-729-0467
Trish Houck, Kitchen Concepts by Trish Houck: TrishHouckKitchens.com or 410-461-3510
