Phyllis Edgerly Ring David Petty

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Angelique Murray and chocolate lab Jake relax in the dining room.

Warm colors and wood tones make for a welcoming kitchen where windows flood the room with daylight.

Homeowners Angelique and Mike Murray weren’t looking to build their own home, at least yet. And they certainly never expected to build it in a well-established neighborhood within walking distance of downtown Portsmouth, N.H.

The couple was actually looking to buy a home when their realtor called with the kind of opportunity that comes along more rarely than even a blue moon: a buildable, already subdivided lot in a prime, in-town location. For decades, it had been part of a larger parcel belonging to the adjacent home. That homeowner had recently died, and now the lot was on the market.

Whether or not they’d been planning to build, the Murrays were certain of three things: they couldn’t pass up this opportunity; they’d build a home that would fit the architectural tone of the neighborhood; and its construction would be energy-efficient.

The guiding vision for the cozy bungalow where the couple and their 11-year-old chocolate lab, Jake, now reside came from the work of author/architect, Sarah Susanka. In national bestsellers like The Not So Big House and Home by Design, Susanka encourages a “build better, not bigger” approach to redefining residential design.

“She emphasizes quality, not quantity,” Angelique says, “and is encouraging people away from those huge homes that place so much emphasis on square footage. Instead, the goal is to create more moderate spaces that are still aesthetic, and designed for the way you actually want to live in a home.”

“Susanka’s strategies help smaller home designs convey the illusion of uncrowded space, capitalizing on such elements as creative use of detail, lighting effects, and built-in furniture and storage,” says Mike. The designs also tend to be environmentally friendly and energy-efficient.

“It’s paying attention to detail that makes all the difference in a home like this, both inside and out,” says builder George Bogosian of Big Ocean Builders in York, Maine. “Susanka emphasizes creating a feeling of luxury through selective use of detail and material as opposed to through volume. Mixing textures like tile, stone, and wood in small areas, accenting trim around interior doors and window detailing, and carrying some horizon lines through the house are all ways that you can design spaces that really work without being overly large and still give a higher-end look to a house.”

Ray Trace computer renderings of the back of the house created by Wendy Welton, RA, of Art Form Architecture, Inc.

Architect Wendy Welton of Art Form Architecture of Portsmouth helped the Murrays tailor the design they wanted. “We went around to different neighborhoods and took photos of features and designs that interested us, like doorways, landings, and porches,” says Angelique. These features were incorporated into Wendy’s basic bungalow design, which was further modified to fit the footprint and house size dictated by the lot’s zoning setbacks and other city requirements.

“I like to encourage collaboration and find it essential for home design and construction,” says Wendy. “The Murrays worked with me on the plan and the big picture.”

“Wendy used an actual photo of the lot with the existing trees and elements and then fit the proposed house into that space,” Angelique explains as she shows one of the architect’s computer-generated projections of what the house would look like when finished (shown above). The image could have been photographed that very afternoon.

Over just a few months, the long-empty lot on the corner of Portsmouth’s busy Islington Street and its more quietly residential Thaxter Road, about a third of an acre in size, underwent a dramatic transformation.

“We found out about the land in June of 2004,” says Mike. “In August, when we broke ground, it was a grassy lot. By the first week of March 2005, we could pretty much move in with only some upstairs work left and some inside trim to paint. Part of the reason for that rapid progress is that the guys who came in after the framers pretty much stayed with the job through the winter, even through some bitterly cold mornings.”

The thought and detail incorporated into the design of the home’s period-perfect exterior make it hard to believe that it hasn’t been sitting on its lot for years. “An advantage today,” says George, “is that it’s possible, even affordable, to blend the very best of traditional craftsmanship with the most beneficial advantages that technology offers for green building. Many of the materials used in this house reduce the need for maintenance, too.”

The home’s barn-red exterior employs a mix of traditional cedar shingles and James Hardie Siding, concrete-fiber siding manufactured with a wood-grain finish to resemble conventional wood lap siding. The boards are also pre-soaked in paint color, which doesn’t have to be renewed for about 25 years, says Mike with a smile. Other maintenance reducers include Azek trim boards, a durable synthetic polymer product that won’t rot.

“For detail, the shingles on the pillars and dormer are real,” says Mike. “We also used a second paint color, sage green, just above windows to draw the eye toward the cedar brackets under the roof, and the mahogany soffit under the gable.”

The Murrays credit Jason Neuffer of Selectwood of Portsmouth as “instrumental” in helping them make decisions about the use of wood both inside and out. “He really guided us in making good choices, as well as in integrating all the different tradespeople who were involved,” says Mike.

Columns, built-in cabinets, and bookcases frame in the living room while maintaining the ground floor’s open-concept spaciousness.

A view from the kitchen toward the front door and French doors that lead to the dining room. Visitors tend to be irresistibly drawn to this counter between living room and kitchen.

The warm glow that wood gives the home’s interior spaces is enhanced by the cherry used in the trim and floors. “We also deliberately chose pieces that were unusual or whose grain was distinctive or different,” says Angelique.

Beyond its pleasing exterior with its welcoming front porch, appealing aspects of this house’s design and detail greet you immediately upon stepping inside the front door. A pair of low, built-in bookcase cabinets framed in with posts creates the illusion of a passageway leading from front to back. Lighting and carpets enhance this impression, and the use of differing ceiling heights, soffits, and other defining features in what is, essentially, one open space, helps give each living area the feeling of a unique room while maintaining an openness that allows you to see from one room to the next.

A counter and stools between living room and kitchen “conjoins these two, so that visitors can feel as though they’re with you in the kitchen, the way everyone always wants to be, yet not be right on top of you,” says Angelique.

“The layout on the ground-floor living area flows really well. It has a nice openness that really maximizes the space and is very well thought-out,” says Jason Neuffer of Selectwood. “But if you want a room that you can close off, the dining room’s French doors allow for that, yet their glass still lets lots of light into the front entry and living room, too.”

While the house has the snug feel of a traditional bungalow, its open spaces admit far more light. “We originally wanted even more windows, but then Wendy wisely asked, ‘Where you going to hang your pictures?’” says Angelique.

The house’s energy efficiency is boosted by a few accessible and smart choices, says George, who builds many Energy Star homes like this one. “A main factor in green building is insulation, and so many products now do a great job of cutting down on how much outside air can infiltrate.” In the Murray’s home, wood cellulose made from recycled newspaper has been blown in and then held in place with mesh wire.

“This is very effective, efficient, environmentally friendly, and less expensive than urethane-type materials,” says George. “This is not your father’s insulation, not the stuff that can settle or that mice will enjoy. This gets applied with high spray under pressure and not only has a huge R value above fiberglass, but also seals corners and cavities so well that you get insulation from both heat loss and noise. Here’s a house that sits right on the corner of a busy street—yet when you’re inside, it’s nice and quiet.”

Outside, Angelique has accentuated the home’s settled-in feeling and continued the couple’s sustainability focus with a collection of garden beds, many of which grow organic produce for the couple’s table. Trellises hold nine varieties of tomatoes, and she uses crop rotation to control pests in the kitchen-garden beds on each side of the house, and regularly “consults the gurus at Portsmouth’s Farmers Market” for advice. Her accent plantings all incorporate species that are endemic to the region.

Mike says that they appreciated having such a collaborative connection with the people they worked with, which made it easy to make decisions and move forward while planning and constructing their new home.

“We came to view this house less as a product and more as the outcome of a process,” says Mike. “In order to enjoy that process, you have to not mind having things out of your control in the short term, as long as you have a pretty good plan and good people to help carry it out.”

Continue to the next two pages to see the floorplan.