An Arts & Crafts Home for the Holidays

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A simple, open floor plan forms the backdrop for subtle style and an appreciation of texture and art in Rob and Mary Patridge's new Medford home. The couple has fit four bedrooms, three baths and a treasure trove of understated beauty into 2,900 square feet.

“We wanted an east-meets-west, contemporary feeling in a house that's built for entertainment,” says Rob, president of the development company for Vista Pointe. The vision is apparent from the first step over the threshold onto the tea-stained bamboo floors.

Defined by an imposing columnar cabinet that anchors the L-shaped sink, counter and breakfast bar, the kitchen is both open and tucked away. Part of what lends the space privacy is the Patridge's dark, two-toned cabinetry, stained with a custom mix to enhance the bamboo floor. Black bead and board paneling on the living room side of the bar adds visual and textural interest, as does the old-fashioned bubble glass windows in the upper transom cupboards.

Sparkling blue Labrador granite countertops on the bi-level bar adds more contrast to the black granite prep counters and black splashboards, the latter accented with inset acanthus leaf tiles.

From the refined kitchen it's easy to navigate the great room. An opening between the breakfast bar (where another structural column creates girth) and a kitchen wall offers access to the “huge open floor plan that facilitates our family lifestyle,” says Rob.

The Patridge children often do their homework at a graceful side table snugged against one wall and flanked by two wasabi-green leather wingback chairs.

“The base of the table is an antique drum stand,” says Nora LaBrocca, the designer at Terra Firma Home in Medford who helped the Patridges to choose a color palette and decorate. “I took it to my woodworker and did a black top for it and got it into scale.”

This iconoclastic detail is far from the only artistic accent in the great room, which features taupe and rust chenille furniture and a plasma TV mounted over a gas insert fireplace.

Neutrally elegant furniture and design choices allowed the Patridges and LaBrocca to share the couple's passion for tribal rugs with their guests. Exquisite textiles, from floor runners to full-sized woolen rugs, illustrate the story of each weaver's tribe.

“It was a really big part of the décor, so we kept everything else simple,” says LaBrocca. “These will become family heirlooms.”

Appreciation for antiquity continues in the dining room, where an antique prayer shawl hangs next to an ancient abacus. Overlooking the long, dark table with oxblood leather chairs is a triptych of musicians painted by Mary's watercolorist aunt. “You've got some modern stuff mixed with some older stuff and that adds soul to the place,” says Rob.

Past the dining room is a compact exercise room. Tiled in travertine, the room houses equipment, a bath, sauna and doors that open onto the patio.

Kids love the family room at the top of the stairs, where red leather furniture and a giant TV promise relaxation and a small workspace is set up for crafts and games. Mary and Rob can often be found next door in the petite pocket office that offers just enough room for their computer desks.

Although the master suite continues the theme of simplicity, it has been given a quirky retro wink with its soft custard-hued walls, light teal velvet chair and eye-catching teal and green bedclothes. A gorgeous nude by Mary's aunt provides artistic outlet, and architectural interest comes from a small, airy vaulted ceiling and cozy outside deck.

Gray mottled travertine lends the master bath a feeling of having been lined in intricate petrified stone. Elements of nature also inspired the rain showerhead, visible through glass shower doors.

By working with LaBrocca in the early design stages, the Patridges were able to customize their home to embrace their young, vivacious family and lifestyle.

“We allowed their personalities to grow within the home by not just running out and buying a bunch of stuff, but by using their personal heirlooms and finding new heirlooms that are significant to them,” says the designer.

This blend of personal history and discovered art lends a simple, elegant feel to the Patridge abode.

by Jennifer Strange for Homelife

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