Rebuilding a Cape Cod
Farmhouse in Nova Scotia
Meeting the Ghosts of an Abandoned Life
On a back-country road from Dublin Shore, Nova Scotia, stood an abandoned farmhouse. The house had become shapeless over the generations. Its inhabitants mended the building at the seams, fattened its attic by a dormer. It was no longer a Cape Cod house!
The farmhouse windows were low, and its rotten deck looked like the prow of a shipwreck. There was vinyl on every surface. Discarded objects of an abandoned life filled each room. We could see the grass through the cracks. And, beyond the edge of the property, apple trees laden with fruit…
Shaping a New One-Floor Layout
Most people saw an outdated, shapeless house with no logical form or structure. I sought a way to integrate the various parts of the home into a harmonious and unified volume. My goal was to preserve the traces of its past and subsequent alterations.
Similarly, I aimed to create a more spacious and inviting living environment by opening up the interior in a cathedral-like fashion. While staying within the 700-square-foot footprint of the old farmhouse, I boldly introduced a tall, open, and welcoming one-floor layout.
The Transformative Nature of Design
As I stand before the rejuvenated farmhouse, I am reminded of the power of vision and the transformative nature of design. Through careful design choices and a modernized approach, we breathed new life into this once shapeless house.
The farmhouse now offers a harmonious blend of old-world charm and contemporary living. It is a place where the stories of the past merge with the promise of the future, inviting all who enter to experience the beauty of this Nova Scotia landscape.
