Dwellings

Lake Spaces

How We Live at the Lake

p. 44 A local registered architect dreams up the perfect home renovation in Davidson for her family.

DWELLINGS A Modern Cottage

The front door lets light in and gives guests a welcomed feel and a glimpse through to the kitchen and the wooded lot beyond.

Before

The Perri family home is located one mile east of Main Street in Davidson, accessible to town, and backs up to nature trails.

davIdson archITecT creaTes a Woodland reTreaT for her famIly

by Bek Mitchell-Kidd photography by Kelsie Elizabeth Photography

Nicole Perri, a Davidson resident and registered architect, took on a project close to her heart when she reimagined a 1970s ranch into a sleek and beautiful family home.

“We chose to do a renovation versus a teardown to reclaim the place and preserve the surrounding landscape and elements of the house,” she says. “By using the existing foundation, we avoided the clear-cutting and leveling that usually happens with a teardown, and we benefited from the shade of mature trees.” Through the process, she sourced other local reclaimed items, such as heart pine floors and beams from the home that formerly stood where the Community School of Davidson built their athletic fields, and a newel post from the Houston house at Pine Lake Prep’s campus.

“With a 1970s era home, there was not much on the inside to preserve other than the existing woodburning fireplace,” Perri explains. “The original living/dining/kitchen was opened up into one kitchen and dining space with the fireplace as a keeping room element alongside our locally made 10-foot walnut table.”

She says she specifically chose the angled roof for its cottage feel. With the second story in the roof, it keeps down the scale of the

The color palette is greens and gray which draws in the nature hues surrounding the house, even all the tile selections have movement with herringbone and curved chevron patterns or are handmade and perfectly imperfect. The soft white walls provide the ideal backdrop for the collections of local and regional artists and family heirlooms on display throughout the home.

3,900-square-foot home and adds depth and character to all the elevations. The front of the house is on the southeast corner, so Perri positioned the windows to provide natural light but also preserve privacy from the street. The front porch beckons its residents (and visitors) to sit and enjoy the front yard with a basketball court, fire pit and gardens.

The backyard is accessed through a four-panel slider to a covered porch with a small hearth. A few months a year, the family leaves the doors wide open to enjoy the nature sounds of the birds and frogs cavorting in the nearby creek. There’s also a secondary access point, a garden door across from the pantry, which connects the back mudroom and dog entry.

“The sun sets at the back of the house so the large window in the gathering room faces more northwest to avoid the western sun angle. Clerestory windows let in the southern light. Whenever possible I tried to filter light from room to room or from at least two sides to give sunlight to our family and many house plants,” says Perri.

The staircase is open and two-stories high, and the anchor of the home. While the home is open concept there are many intentional gathering spaces. Nooks, small spaces, and arch doorways epitomize the cottage feel. There’s definition of space without anywhere feeling constricted.

There are three fireplaces in the home, each with a different scale and feel; the gathering room has the grandest rising 12-feet tall, with a reclaimed mantle with supports cut to show the end grain and rings of the heart pine.

The primary bedroom is on the main level, and feels like more like a retreat, even for the family’s two blue weimaraners. “The dogs love all the windows and watch intently for intruders or squirrels,” says Perri.

It’s not just the dogs who love the home. Perri’s design recently received an American Residential Design Grand Winner Award in the Renovation (Built) Reclaimed Modern Cottage category, with Perri’s peers praising the biophilic design.

“Above all we all feel connected to this home and this site, having all contributed to the design and witnessed the construction process (with all of its challenges and joys). It was a family endeavor, and we are thankful that our children have this memory of building a house in the woods. I pray it holds generations to come. It has especially given me empathy for my clients, with the stress of budget, schedule and construction parts of the process,” Perri says.

The family refers to the kitchen and dining area as the keeping room, which Perri says feels right whether it’s just their family of five or they’re hosting 20 guests. The gathering area encompasses movement between spaces, through an arched threshold and down two steps to a space with a vaulted ceiling and a painted brick hearth.

“Our goal is to share the gift of hospitality and open our home up to neighbors and friends,” Perri explains. “Each family member hosts their people weekly either on the court or in the bonus room. The island sits seven to eight comfortably and has been a wonderful way to cook and greet guests informally as they arrive. We like to be all together; we enjoy the comfortable and meaningful spaces.”

The sea haze painted shelves are tucked under the stairs and designed to frame the Cole Family pottery collection, including the signature shape “Rebecca Jug.”

The mudroom is off the garage and links the garage to the main hall with custom built-ins.

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