
Last week, I had the opportunity to take a designers’ tour of the HGTV Green Home 2010 in Plymouth, MA. Shaw Industries, who provides the majority of the floor and surface materials for the home, along with local Shaw distributor Ideal Floor of Cape Cod, hosted a lovely breakfast for local designers and media folks, followed by the house tour. (click on images for full size view)
The white shingle house is approximately 2,100 square feet which fits with the green concept. The wrap-around porch with the deep overhang offers protection from the sun’s heat, which keeps the inside cooler, reducing the need for air conditioning.

HGTV House Planner Jack Thomasson told us that their mission is to have their homes fit into their specific environments. In this case, Jack said the house is “A classic Cape Cod design, with a twist”.

The open floor plan of the first floor features the living room, dining area and kitchen. The living room is filled with bright pattern and colors, with lots of textural pieces and original art from local artists. The room featured bead board coffered ceilings and a stone fireplace.

The geographic coffee table is by Audry Sterk Home Collection, available at Nantucket Looms. I like the sprightly red sofa (a theme color of the home), although not so much the pillows.
The dining area is situated next to the living room area.
This vintage wire basket fixture was purchased at Found in Houston. I believe that the designers prefer to select pieces that come from stores local to the home, however, designer Linda Woodrum told me that this piece was so perfect that she felt she needed to use it regardless. Totally the right choice – how fabulous is this?? I have been dreaming of how I can make one and where I would put it! The dining room table is by West Barnstable Tables. Simple wicker chairs and creamy white stoneware pieces finish off the space.
The kitchen runs along the backside of the room – and I must admit – I don’t love it. For a relatively small space, there is too much going on. I would have preferred something a little simpler and less over-styled. However, the individual elements are gorgeous.


The blue mini-subway tile back splash is Shaw’s Glass Essential Block. The farmhouse sink is surrounded by Shaker style cabinetry painted in Sherwin William’s Extra White.

Interior designer Linda Woodrum of Hilton Head, has designed nearly all of the HGTV Green and Dream homes for the last fifteen years. A pretty good gig! She was very open and generous with information, answering whatever questions the crowd of decorators had to ask. She acknowledged that it was a bit nerve wracking to have other designers viewing her space while she’s there. Because, of course, we all have our own opinions!

Clearly, the ruby red Caesarstone natural quartz center island counter top is the showstopper of the place. Just gorgeous! The fabulous rusty vintage wire urns are from Dovetales in Plymouth.
My favorite space in the house is this fabulous laundry/mud room tucked down a hall from the main room. Nearly everyone who walked in oohed and aahed over the red washer and dryer, set off against the medium dark blue gray (Sherwin William’s Cityscape) bead board woodwork.
Storage shelves filled with New Hampshire Hancock baskets are on the opposing wall.

Moving upstairs:
Filling up the long tall staircase wall is this colorful sculpture by Carrie McGee through Lanoue Fine Art on Newbury Street in Boston. I’d blogged about Carrie’s work when I saw it in an art show a couple years ago, so was pleased to see another one of her fabulous pieces on display.
This is the second floor landing. The flooring is Rosedown Hickory by Shaw, which has 50 percent recycled content and comes from managed domestic forests. The stairs continue up to a tiny third floor tower room, which I didn’t get up into because there was an interview going on.
This is the sitting area at the top of the stairs, outside the master bedroom. I have a lot of questions about the usefulness of this space, which I’ll get to later on. Meanwhile, it’s a cute little area most notable for the ceiling treatment which is a continuation of the wall treatment and also conceals the attic access.
Below is the master bedroom which is very cheery and bright. The four-poster bed was custom built out of old doors and painted in Sherwin Williams Heartthrob. The bed is mounted on industrial style casters, which Jack Thomasson told us was for ease of movement so the bed could be pulled out and cleaned behind. The bed is snugged in the eves and between a closet on the left and a false closet on the right. This is actually the other side of the en suite bathroom in the second bedroom – another area of confusion for me.

You can see the small closet in the background of this photo. Initially, I thought this was the only closet in the room, however, review of the HGTV website shows that I missed a fairly big walk-in closet in the room. So, I am feeling better about the design plan. The wall color is Sherwin Williams Windy Blue.
Here is the master bathroom. This isn’t a great photograph, but it helps orient the bathroom, which is off the bedroom right behind the chair above.

The double-sink vanity area is very nice. The Caesarstone natural quartz counters are topped with simple white vessel sinks and modern wall mounted faucets. The planked walls are topped by a series of shuttered windows overhead. Lot’s of windows and great light with no privacy issues. The Chippendale style mirrors are a nice reminder of the history of the area, although the applied stars are a little hokey.
I will admit to loving the outdoor shower feel of the shower area behind the soaking tub. A false “roof” complete with shingles, was built around the shower with a rain head faucet mounted above. Living so close to the beach, many of our homes have outdoor showers to help clean off before treading sand through the house. So, this was a nice touch.

And now we head into the second “bedroom” of the home. There are only two and unfortunately, this small room doesn’t really qualify as a bedroom. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts requires that for a room to be called a bedroom, it must have a closet. This small bedroom, staged like a boys room, has no closet, but does have an ensuite bath room. I think there was a better option for this arrangement, which I will go into below.
The snappy orange and green (SW Hearts of Palm is the paint) color palette was inspired by the bathroom tile. There is a loft-style bunk bed which is modern and sleek looking. The carpet is Desirable Statement by Shaw. The mirror is a lot of fun, but ironically (in a “smoke and mirrors” kind of way), the mirror was propped up straight in the back by a wad of what looked like paper towel.

There is no room for a desk or any kind of work space in the room and as I said, there is no closet.

The ceiling is painted the same color as the walls, which certainly worked to open up the space.
The en suite bathroom is also a fun space for a kid – although I would say that the choice of orange for the tile was a bold one that is likely to cause problems for future homeowners. But, as a decorative statement, the glass tiles are beautiful.
So, what’s my problem?
To my mind, it didn’t make the best sense to build in a full bathroom as part of the second bedroom. First, there wasn’t even room for the sink in the bathroom. If you notice in the photo below, the sink is actually open to the main room in the so-called closet area. The bathroom is to the left. If nothing else, had they installed a stall shower instead of a full bathtub, the sink could have been accommodated inside the bathroom proper. Or they could have done a small linen closet. Instead, you can see the linens are to the right side of the sink. There is no closet in this room and the tiny area to the right of the sink is not sufficient for anything but baby-sized clothing. And as I mentioned above, a room with no closet is not an acceptable bedroom in Massachusetts. So, the winner may find selling the house down the road as a two bedroom to be a problem as realtor’s will generally not list a room as a bedroom without a closet. And whoever lives in the bedroom will most certainly have issues with storage, unless they remain an infant.
Here is the floor plan as it is (plan courtesy of HGTV.com)
And here is what I might have done:
As you can see, I have removed the pretty blue sitting area at the top of the stairs and installed the second bathroom there. It could be a 3/4-bath with a nice stall shower if a bathtub doesn’t fit. A tiny two bedroom home does not need two bathtubs and since there is one in the master, then a stall is fine in this bathroom.
REVISED TO ADD:
An eagle-eyed design friend of mind noticed in my suggested plan above that I was missing a doorway into the master bedroom. See what happens when you rush design? So, here is my revised, revised plan. In this version, I have added an inset into the newly located second bathroom to accommodate entrance into the master bedroom. Because of this, I’ve pushed the second bath into the master closet space and then pushed the master closet into what was the shower/toilet closet space in the master bathroom. Thus, we’ve had to lose the soaking tub in the master. However, we now have more room for a tub and shower in the second bathroom.

While the sitting area is pretty, it’s not a terribly necessary space. The third floor tower room (which is staged as a home office with a day bed) is right up the stairs. So, the result is two semi-private sitting areas in close proximity. Plus, you have the entire downstairs, a covered veranda and yard. There is a lot of private space for the home’s inhabitants. By moving the second bath to this space, the loft then becomes a potential guest room with access to a bathroom. The two en suite bathrooms are basically off-limits to guests. Not very pleasant.

If you notice, the master bed is recessed between two closets. In fact, the right hand “closet” is actually not a closet- the door opens to a mirror. The second bedroom bath takes up this space. So, in addition to all the reasons I’ve outlined above for the poor location of the second bath, the final is that it encroaches on the master bedroom, which is already quite small for a master. As there is a nice walk-in closet for the master, there might have been an option to remove both closets flanking the bed, which would have significantly enlarged the space. Or, there could be two closets, or on could have been turned into a built-in book case, vanity space, display cabinets, set of drawers. There are lots of options.
(photography by Linda Merrill for ::Surroundings::)
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Great post Linda. It is styled within and inch of it's life. And while I applaud the red kitchen counter — been waiting to see one of those in rosso alicante — the red-white-blue scheme in the kitchen notsomuch. For me, laundry room has the more seductive scheme.
So, how does someone get in on the house lottery?
Speaking of winning, we have a kitchen backsplash giveaway closing tomorrow with a new Friday giveaway link up. Best, Jane F.
Thanks for visiting us. I love the opportunity to discover your blog.
I LOVE everything Linda designs her taste seems to be in step with mine. One talented lady if you ask me !!
This house is not one of my faves…. of course if I win it that could change LOL
Thanks for the tour….can't wait for part II
Have a nice day,
Kathy 🙂
I can sympathize with Ms. Woodrum on having a room full of critiques… but being discriminating is the nature of being a designer…
You are right about the pillows on the sofa that just don't seem to relate to the overall area of that part of the room… that seems to be the case with the other areas as well… almost like they couldn't decide which direction to go in…
the laundry room is nicely done, which seems to be a cleaner, simpler design ~Terri
That red ceasar stone counter is stunning thanks for showing us!
You are right that laundry room is darling. I might just enjoy folding clothes! Thanks for sharing this lovely home. I always am concerned that a winner may not take care of one of these beauties.~olive~
It's so different than last year's house! You know what, I feel like I am seeing more and more of those blinds with the dark (i don't know what to call them) suspensions. I like the contrast. It's sharp and fresh! Thanks for sharing, I had forgotten about this.
I agree with you on the laundry/mud room. Beautiful! I would like to do something similar when we replace our washer & dryer with front loading units without stands. My husband is hesitant to install a countertop over the washer & dryer. He thinks that it will be too difficult to get to the back of the units, if necessary. Do you have any thoughts on this?
They did a beautiful job on the home (of course now I'm curious and want to hear what Kimberly would change). My nephew & his girlfriend put their name in on this "sweepstakes" every day, ha, ha.. I think they even set their alarm to be sure they didn't forget every day! Many people could be very happy in that home.
When are they drawing the winner Linda?
I'm sure it's even more lovely in person. But… being from that exact area, I already knew what I would need to change in order for someone to actually buy it if necessary. You know us stodgy New Englander's.
Can't wait to read about the second floor. That loft/office looks pretty good to me!