Almost Everything in This Refurbished 1780s House Was Salvaged
It's not every day a designer gets to work on a 250 year-old house—but this was the case for Sandra Funk on a home nicknamed "Sunset" for its breathtaking views. "They wanted everything to be as eco-friendly, sustainable, and as small of a carbon footprint as possible, while still making it a cook's kitchen and a big gathering place for their family," Funk tells House Beautiful. At the same time, though, she says, "We wanted it to feel cozy and warm and also a little bit quirky and vintage."
That was the jumping-off point for Funk's first sustainable decision: Reclaim whenever possible. "All the floors in the home are made of reclaimed wood," the designer says. It's a decision that lends coziness to the space and also keeps it feeling tied to its original era, when wide, rough wood floorboards would have been the norm.
The designer scoured internet auction sites for vintage pieces like the wash stand in the powder room and a set of cubbies for the mudroom. A pair of doors in the kitchen with a statement medallion were salvaged locally and refinished. Meanwhile, in the sun-filled dining nook, Funk had a piece of marble cut to fit atop a vintage table base found at a local flea market. But Funk added a but of modern day tech, too, wiring the entire table with a built-in charging port.
In the kitchen, the designer went back to the home's roots by designing for something that would have been common in the 1700s: a kitchen garden. "We bumped out a little sunroom area, which allowed us to continue their wraparound porch and create a new exit from the sunroom into the new kitchen garden," she explains. "They can really pick the vegetables that morning for what they're cooking. I mean it's just it's a beautiful way to live."
The rearranged layout also allowed Funk to install a row of windows where the range had once stood, providing for a better view of the home's property—and its namesake sunsets.
Those windows are sustainable, too: "We used the most eco-friendly windows we could find and added skylights, too," says the designer. This enables the homeowners to keep the home temperature-controlled using less energy—something that's often near impossible in older homes with less-than-ideal insulation. "We added a film to the existing vintage windows too, to keep the hot or cold air from getting through, depending on the season," says Funk.
Also contributing to air quality? The selection of live plants which Funk peppered throughout the home to act as "natural air purifiers." In the sunroom, where plants live in winter, Funk installed solar shades to further control temperatures. The perfect lighting and heat control? Sustainability and style never looked so good together.
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