The Sunflower Progress
After months of collaborating with the design teams at ART Architects and Katie Rosenfeld & Co. - and substantial demolition on the first floor of the home - The Sunflower project is moving into the next phase – building the custom kitchen.
By removing older renovations that didn’t honor the history of the home (built in 1875), the team created a relatively blank slate upon which to construct the new designs and prepare the home for the next century of family life.
With a motivated client engaged in the process, a dedicated team of professionals, and the KCB team in place, The Sunflower is shaping up to be a remarkable transformation. The professional team recently came together during Boston Design Week to discuss the project in the KCB Boiler Room, in partnership with New England Home Magazine, entitled “Future-Proofing Home: A Holistic Collaboration on a Boston Victorian.”
The definition of “future-proofing” according to Kevin Cradock. “So, to me, it’s a little misleading, right? Because it’s not about building science or anything like that. To me, future-proofing, in this context, is all about good design, holistic design, where you have a complete team of people who are really hitting it from every angle and every perspective and just beating it to death to make sure that we don’t have to re-do it. That is the goal. So that it’s sustainable, so that we have really good, complete design, and there’s no regrets at the end of the project, we all feel great about it, and I come back in ten years to do service or repaint and we’re not like, ‘Oh, we don’t like this; we don’t like that. Let’s change this; let’s change that.’ That’s really, to me, what future-proofing is.”
Hear more of what the panel said by watching the entire discussion on the Kevin Cradock Builders YouTube channel.
Outside In
“The exterior treatment has been very well considered. We are using all wood restoration type windows with insulated historic glass and modern concealed balances, made in Massachusetts. The trim is a composite product made in the US with rice husks and architectural details from the front porch are being reproduced in African Mahogany in our shop in Hyde Park,” explains Jed Orsini, Project Manager.
Similarly to many KCB projects, the level of detail and the stellar quality of the materials being used combine to make this a stand-out renovation.
Choices
As with any project, there are many decision points along the way. We meet often as a team with our clients to walk through the project and discuss choices. One example of this is a discussion about a set of pocket doors. Once we pointed out the location of the custom doors, the clients decided that they wouldn’t actually close them which led to a change and another solution – a wider and taller opening without doors.
In another instance, when discussing the custom banquette, we crafted a life-sized, plywood model of the banquette and table which allowed the clients to sit in the space before the final version of the banquette and table are created.
Stay Tuned
Follow us on Instagram @cradockbuilders and @cradockwoodworking to see the project as it develops. And stay tuned for the final reveal later this fall.
Denise Grothman is the Project Coordinator for The Sunflower. Photographs by Corey Nuffer.