Maleeha and Ian and their two daughters decamped from Brooklyn to Westchester County, just north of the city, for familiar reasons. In need of breathing room, the family—she’s a UX designer, he’s a doctor—settled on a 1910 Mediterranean-style fixer-upper in Pelham, New York, with an elegant terracotta-tiled roof and lots of windows.
They took the time to live in their new place and get to know it. Then, after admiring Thom Dalmas and Bretaigne Walliser’s work on Remodelista (scroll to the end to see several projects), they hired the architect-couple behind TBo to overhaul the house. The remodel came with some surprise requests: in addition to an open-flow ground floor, maximum natural light, and lots of storage, Maleeha and Ian asked TBo to build extreme peace and quiet into the design.
“We wanted our home to be a palate cleanser from the outside world,” Maleeha tells us.”Ian and I are both introverts, so our house needs to be a place for us to retreat into, an escape from the overstimulation.” A rigorous editing process was key to the process. Says Bretaigne: “While working through the designs, at every turn we would pare things back even further with Maleeha and Ian’s input, until the details were almost monastic in their simplicity.” Let’s take a tour—indoor voices, please.
Photography by Kate Jordan, courtesy of TBo.
The wildly overgrown landscape was tamed as part of Stage One of the project, to allow natural light to filter inside. A greenhouse and more plantings are in the works with TBo.
The old, warped flooring was replaced with white oak from Provenance, laid on the diagonal to guide the eye and lend some tonal pattern to the tranquility. Adding the new floor provided an opportunity to replace the cast-iron radiators with radiant heat. “The heated floor feels so good underfoot on winter mornings,” adds Maleeha. The family packed up everything and lived in an apartment during the construction.
The walls are finished with eco-friendly Bauwerk limewash paint selected for its soft, nuanced surface. The &Tradition sofa is reupholstered in caramel wool from Kvadrat and the wicker light is Gubi’s “Chinese Hat” Floor Lamp, a now-classic design from 1935 (currently on sale at DWR).
Shown here: the combination dining area and kitchen off the entry with original stripped casework, a custom ash table, Akademia chairs by Nikari, and Verner Panton Flowerpot Pendant Lights. All of the new millwork was built by the project contractor, DTF Rosemount, a Westchester and Connecticut firm much recommended by TBo.
Above: The large kitchen island is loaded with cabinets and drawers on both sides, so that things can be kept out of sight (and yes, there’s an adjacent playroom for the kids).New double-hung windows and a glass-paneled door, all by Parrett, link the room to the deck and yard.
The fridge is integrated into a wall of custom cabinets painted Farrow & Ball’s Pointing. This “pantry volume” serves as a room divider and performs a multitude of duties (see floor plan below).
Above: Built-in tableware storage is conveniently positioned in the cabinet bank opposite the breakfast table.
The White Porcelain Series Sconce is a Michael Anastassiades’ design. The brass switch plates throughout are by Forbes & Lomax.
The chair is by EB Joinery.
The walls are tadelakt as is the sink base: read about the waterproof plaster finish in Remodelista 101. The basin and faucets are from Waterworks. The oak-backed Rectangular Mirror is a Frama design.
The bath and shower fittings are by Waterworks and the linen shower curtain was custom-made.
Downstairs Floor Plan
Before
We’ve longstanding TBo fans. Here’s but a sampling:
- One for All: TBo Updates a Brooklyn Townhouse for Multigenerational Living
- Steal This Look: A One-Room Cabin in the Catskills
- Inspired Spec: An 1890 Brooklyn Townhouse Reinvented for Modern Times
- A New Red Hook Townhouse in Tune with the Neighborhood’s History
- Brooklyn’s Most Inventive, Under-the-Radar Architecture Firm
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