Before & After: The Connecticut Basket House Project: Part 1

If this project were a song, it would be the theme from The Holiday, the one that makes you believe in second chances and cozy endings. The CBH Project has that same irresistible pull: warmth, light, and the feeling of running, coat unbuttoned, cheeks flushed, down a long New England lane toward something familiar and full of promise!

It’s our Cameron Diaz moment: joy, relief, and a little disbelief that it could all feel this right. The Connecticut Basket House is where the story lands, a home that glows from within, where every detail hums like a favorite melody you can’t quite stop playing.

When we first walked through the house before you’ve seen it gracing the pages of Architectural Digest, the client and I knew immediately how much potential, tucked behind narrow hallways and closed doors, the home had. So, we did what any good designer (or host) would do, we invited the light in, moved a few walls for layout, and let the rooms start a conversation with one another.

We layered in terracotta tiles, laddish to emulate a basket weave, custom millwork to bring in more character, linen drapes that billow ever so slightly, a handmade ceramic plates dripping the walls like beautiful artwork. Every choice was made with the same intention, to make the home feel effortless, gracious, and alive, just like our client Barbara, or as you may know, Brunch with Babs!

-THE FRONT EXTERIOR-

The exterior of the Connecticut Basket House greets you with it’s soft, timeworn beauty, so we kept the home’s 1850s architecture fully intact, honoring its roots as a historic basket shop, then blacksmith shop and now, Brunch with Babs home.

We wanted to make the home, when you first see it, to be marked by a buttery yellow Dutch door, a cheerful invitation that sets the tone for the entire home. Terracotta pots brimming with herbs and boxwood frame the steps, while woven baskets and vintage planters nod to the home’s original craft. Barbra reimagined the landscaping with a light touch soft paths, layered greens, like a beautiful french garden.

Every element, from the lanterns by the porch to the rhythm of the shingles, was intentional to balance preservation and renewal.

— THE SITTING ROOM & POWDER ROOM —

When we first stepped into the Connecticut Basket House, the heart of the home felt tucked away and confined with low ceilings, small boxed rooms, all historically lovely, but not ideal for hosting, and a large family with over 7 grandchildren. This was our biggest challenge, was to reimagining the architecture to better serve modern life while honoring the home’s 19th-century bones.

The most transformative move came with the relocation and redesign of the staircase, it visually interrupting the flow of the home and was reoriented near the entry, restoring symmetry to the home and improved accessibility for Babs and her family.

The former kitchen, once confined and heavily detailed in blue-and-white pattern, has been reimagined as a sitting room, a space where texture and tone now do the storytelling. Plaster-finished walls, soft botanical prints, and custom millwork create a continuity that feels effortless yet deeply considered. Beneath the new stair, is hidden storage designed for function and extra storage.

A powder bath, tucked just off this sitting area, continues the home’s new reconfiguration narrative. The bead-board wainscoting, tailored skirted sink, and hand-finished detailing was made to feel like it has always been there.

The challenge of these reconfiguration was about refining how each space relates and flows within next, we transformed what was once a series of small confined rooms into a open concept space that still is historic with the custom-mill work without fully losing sight of its past design.

— THE BANQUETTE —

What was once the home’s open porch, charming but underutilized, has now become one of its most intimate and inviting spaces: a custom banquette enveloped in light. The new room feels like a natural extension of the house, thanks to its seamless architectural detailing and quiet reverence for the home’s historic history.

The windows, a series of tall divided-light casements echoing early 20th-century millwork, were designed to preserve the home’s traditional proportions while flooding the room with the dappled glow of the river beyond. Their presence gives the banquette a garden-room sensibility, making it feel as though you’re seated among the trees.

Above, a band of intricate dentil molding runs continuously from the sitting room through to the banquette, visually tying the reconfigured spaces together. It’s a subtle gesture of continuity, a design thread that carries your eye from one end of the home to the other.

The walls and ceiling are wrapped in custom latticework, hand-painted in a sage tone that softly mirrors the home’s exterior. This detail, both structural and decorative, pays homage to the home’s origins as a working basket shop. The woven pattern casts gentle shadows across the space throughout the day, evoking the texture and craft of handwoven cane or wicker.

The banquette itself was designed for functional seating: a built-in curve upholstered in a neutral basketweave linen, edged with a braided trim detail that nods again to the home’s history. A collection of down-filled pillows and a round pedestal table anchor the scene, inviting lingering breakfasts and long, late-afternoon tea.

The client and I wanted a space where craftsmanship and comfort meet in perfect proportion to create a space that brought the outside in, without technically being outside. Like much of the Connecticut Basket House, it tells a story of heritage made new: every beam, braid, and brushstroke in quiet conversation with the past.

— THE KITCHEN —

The kitchen to us is always the heart of the home. Especially to Babs as she is a mom, grandmother, cook, and host first, social media personal second.

And… can you believe that this room was once a bedroom and then completely transformed into a kitchen that feels equal parts heritage and homecoming.

We placed the new stove exactly where the original fireplace once stood, honoring the room’s early beginnings while giving it a new role in the life of the house. The walls are dressed in hand-painted KV Tiles, each one a tiny piece of art, a soft echo of the craftsmanship that has always lived here. Removing the old door and opening the kitchen to the pantry allowed the space to breathe, suddenly the rooms speak to each other, sharing light, movement, and the quiet hum of daily rhythm.

Skylights now pull the morning sun straight into the center of the room, a wash of brightness that instantly changes the way the space feels. It’s as though the house inhales here. The custom island sits confidently beneath that glow, designed for effortless cooking and the kind of gathering that just happens naturally—someone slicing herbs, someone stealing a bite, someone telling a story that makes everyone pause.

We positioned the main sink beneath a window overlooking the river, so the first light of day arrives as a reflection on the water. It’s a small moment, but a meaningful one: a reminder that life here moves at a gentler pace.

The original beams, worn but beyond repair, had to be removed due to unrepairable damage and unkept overtime, but their spirit wasn’t lost. In their place, we added new beams hand-painted with subtle detailing, a nod to the home’s heritage and the craftsmanship that shaped its earliest days. They hold the room not just structurally, but emotionally, stitching the past to the present.

This kitchen now is an invitation to gather, to cook, to linger.

— THE GREENROOM —

If the kitchen is where the day begins, the former greenroom, now the dining room, is where the home truly comes alive. It is the highlight of the Connecticut Basket House, the place where everything we touched came together in a single, luminous breath.

Once a sweet but underutilized greenroom, the space always hinted at something more. It had the right bones, the right light, the right hush of possibility. So we leaned in. We opened the narrow doorway into a wide set of French doors, now painted in the softest sage, a color that shifts from misty gray to warm green as the sun winds its way across the garden. The transformation is immediate and emotional: the room no longer ends at the wall, but pours out into the landscape, blurring the line between indoors and the wild, whispering green beyond.

As seen in Architectural Digest, this room is where the home’s soul reveals itself. The new doors frame the garden like a living painting, and when they’re open, the breeze carries in the scent of herbs and hydrangea. It’s impossible not to linger.

Underfoot, we added Americana tiles that feel collected rather than installed—each one bringing a note of charm, a touch of patina, a sense of history joining hands with the present. The pattern grounds the room, giving it a timelessness that feels both old-world and freshly imagined.

With the kitchen and pantry just steps away, the flow becomes effortless: morning coffee drifting into long lunches, afternoons turning into candlelit dinners. The dining room now acts as the home’s gathering space, the place where stories are told, seasons are celebrated, and life feels deeply, beautifully connected.