Napa couple redesigns their vintage cottage Article and photos by indra fort ney Dan Worden, an interior designer, and Emanuel Donval, a landscape architect, teamed up to unite home and garden in their Napa cottage remodel. Originally there were two cottages, a front unit built in 1930 and a back unit built in 1940. In the back lot, where the gardens are now, there was also an old barn. Dan thought about starting from scratch, taking down the barn and building a new house in its place, but in the end he decided to merge the two cottages into one and keep the barn. The integration came with some challenges, and one of those was leveling. The front and back of the house were original, with the addition sandwiched in between. Dan points out adjustments that were made to visually amend for structural differences, such as the six-foot wall mirror in the living room with a frame that is 3 inches thicker at one end and tapers out to less than 1 inch, which gives the illusion of a flat frame on a wall that’s actually not straight, and the addition of a narrow cabinet (cleverly concealing an interior mailbox) to fill in an awkward asymmetrical space in the corner. When the property was purchased, it had been renovated with a flair for bad 1970s design. Dan wanted to bring the house back to its roots. Honing in on the charm of a cottage, he added elements that would have once been original to the house: wainscoting, thick molding and large-framed doorway openings, which lead from the old section to the new addition. The front of the house is somewhat hidden from view by the garden. It’s “a productive garden,” Emanuel points out, meaning much of what is grown here is edible. This includes blueberries, blackberries, peas, persimmons, jelly palm dates and an unusual black finger lime. Emanuel holds up his pinky finger as he described them to me—“The limes are this big.” A perfect house to entertain in, the home features living spaces that flow into one another. Back door entrance to mudroom Dining room opens to the kitchen and living room beyond house + home Inside and OUT 40 www. n A PAVA L L E Y L I F Emagaz ine .com
NVLife_SeptOct_2014
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