Before & After: A Former Foundry Becomes a Jaw-Dropping New Home
The industrial building in a New York forest features dark timber floors, crisp white walls and a charred-wood mezzanine
For most people, pop-up ads are an annoyance that comes with browsing the internet, and rarely – if ever – get clicked. But for Claire Benoist, clicking on a real estate pop-up ad led to a life-changing event.
Benoist, a professional photographer, and her husband, Derek Kilner, a United Nations humanitarian officer, were looking for an apartment to buy in Brooklyn, USA, at the time. Randomly, Benoist clicked on an ad for Westchester County, about an hour and 15 minutes north of New York City, USA. “I just fooled around on the website for a second,” she says. “Then I saw this house, and I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. I felt this pull toward it.”
The pull was coming from a former masonry foundry built in the early 1890s for handling ore. The building had been converted to a home in the 1950s by artists, and had been segmented and added to over the decades. But Benoist saw its potential as a weekend home away from busy New York City.
Benoist, a professional photographer, and her husband, Derek Kilner, a United Nations humanitarian officer, were looking for an apartment to buy in Brooklyn, USA, at the time. Randomly, Benoist clicked on an ad for Westchester County, about an hour and 15 minutes north of New York City, USA. “I just fooled around on the website for a second,” she says. “Then I saw this house, and I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. I felt this pull toward it.”
The pull was coming from a former masonry foundry built in the early 1890s for handling ore. The building had been converted to a home in the 1950s by artists, and had been segmented and added to over the decades. But Benoist saw its potential as a weekend home away from busy New York City.
Before: The existing structure was built to handle heavy loads of ore, so the 35-centimetre-thick masonry walls, all load-bearing, were in good shape.
Benoist liked the idea of having a weekend escape, a place near nature where the couple could grow their family. They looked at their budget and decided they could buy a smaller apartment in Brooklyn, USA, than they had planned, and use the rest to buy the old foundry and fix it up.
Though before going all-in, the couple had an architect friend, Ravi Raj, and a builder inspect the house. “I could see the potential right off the bat,” says Raj. “From a structural standpoint there was never a doubt that it was in good shape. Cosmetically, we looked at how to address patching the roof and holes in the masonry and bring comfort to the bedrooms.”
Find an architect near you on Houzz to design your dream home
Benoist liked the idea of having a weekend escape, a place near nature where the couple could grow their family. They looked at their budget and decided they could buy a smaller apartment in Brooklyn, USA, than they had planned, and use the rest to buy the old foundry and fix it up.
Though before going all-in, the couple had an architect friend, Ravi Raj, and a builder inspect the house. “I could see the potential right off the bat,” says Raj. “From a structural standpoint there was never a doubt that it was in good shape. Cosmetically, we looked at how to address patching the roof and holes in the masonry and bring comfort to the bedrooms.”
Find an architect near you on Houzz to design your dream home
After: Most of the couple’s budget went towards updating the building’s interiors, including the plumbing, electrical wiring, heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems – little was needed for the exterior. Raj and builder John McNamara added a timber balustrade to the exterior and painted it and the second-story deck black. New windows and a door in black trim and a black roofline add architectural interest.
The door seen here is the main entrance to the home. Around the left side and up the stairs is a secondary entrance that leads into the ‘great room’ on the second-floor.
The door seen here is the main entrance to the home. Around the left side and up the stairs is a secondary entrance that leads into the ‘great room’ on the second-floor.
Before: The second-floor’s so-called great room was the main selling point for the couple. Previous owners had built their master bedroom off this room and positioned the kitchen on the ground floor. Benoist and Kilner immediately knew they wanted to bring the kitchen up to this dramatically tall and light-filled room. “It takes a lot of imagination to walk in and be able to believe in it,” says Benoist.
The brick had already been painted white and the flooring had a dark finish. “It looked like this weird, waxy paint that was dark brown,” says Benoist.
The brick had already been painted white and the flooring had a dark finish. “It looked like this weird, waxy paint that was dark brown,” says Benoist.
After: The couple added fresh white paint (Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore) throughout the house. “It’s a thick, warm white that’s not as glaring as a museum white or a decorator’s white,” says Raj.
But the main feature in this room is the wood-burning fireplace and its snaking flue that extends up to the almost eight-metre ceiling.
Benoist says friends warned the couple they would never be able to warm the huge draughty place. But the insulated fireplace, coupled with a ducted heating system, gets the job done. “It’s such a cosy, awesome place to curl up with a book,” says Benoist. “We do a lot of cooking and hanging out by the fireplace all winter long. During snowstorms it’s like a snow globe. You wake up in a white forest.”
But the main feature in this room is the wood-burning fireplace and its snaking flue that extends up to the almost eight-metre ceiling.
Benoist says friends warned the couple they would never be able to warm the huge draughty place. But the insulated fireplace, coupled with a ducted heating system, gets the job done. “It’s such a cosy, awesome place to curl up with a book,” says Benoist. “We do a lot of cooking and hanging out by the fireplace all winter long. During snowstorms it’s like a snow globe. You wake up in a white forest.”
The couple originally wanted light grey Scandinavian-style floors, but when they stripped the existing finish, they noticed different kinds of timber from different time periods.
Oak featured strongly, but some flooring appeared to have been patched with pine. Unidentified timber covered a 2.4 x 3.6-metre opening in the dining area, which had once been used to pass hay bales to cows on the ground floor when the building was used as a dairy farm.
The quotes the homeowners received to refinish the existing flooring to a point where they could sand down all the crevices and match the tones among the three different timbers were way out of their budget. “The only solution was to go dark,” says Benoist. “And it looks so much better. The contrast calls out the beams. It really worked out.”
Oak featured strongly, but some flooring appeared to have been patched with pine. Unidentified timber covered a 2.4 x 3.6-metre opening in the dining area, which had once been used to pass hay bales to cows on the ground floor when the building was used as a dairy farm.
The quotes the homeowners received to refinish the existing flooring to a point where they could sand down all the crevices and match the tones among the three different timbers were way out of their budget. “The only solution was to go dark,” says Benoist. “And it looks so much better. The contrast calls out the beams. It really worked out.”
Before: Many of the home’s renovations did not comply with current building codes, including a mezzanine off the great room above the master bedroom.
After: The team updated the mezzanine and converted it into a bedroom. They wrapped it in charred-oak slats and built out a kitchen below it in place of the bedroom. “We wanted to add texture back to the space to offset it being a white box – a more materially interesting white box,” says Raj.
The biggest surprise was the electrical wiring, which the couple discovered had been hacked together from a different property and split in two. “It was well below code,” says Benoist. They knew this when they bought the house, but they didn’t know the challenge they would face updating it. They had to coordinate with the New York state energy and gas company to bring an electrical line over to the property.
“It’s a hard property to access,” says Benoist. “It’s not really on a road. You have to drive up a 2.2-kilometre gravel driveway, and there’s a couple of acres of forest all around. It took multiple visits to dig a trench and run an electrical line from a neighbouring property to finally get our own service.”
Nevertheless, the couple had some good luck throughout the project that helped balance out the bad without impacting their budget too much. Originally, they were told they would most likely need a new roof. But upon inspection it turned out to be in good shape and only needed some patching.
The biggest surprise was the electrical wiring, which the couple discovered had been hacked together from a different property and split in two. “It was well below code,” says Benoist. They knew this when they bought the house, but they didn’t know the challenge they would face updating it. They had to coordinate with the New York state energy and gas company to bring an electrical line over to the property.
“It’s a hard property to access,” says Benoist. “It’s not really on a road. You have to drive up a 2.2-kilometre gravel driveway, and there’s a couple of acres of forest all around. It took multiple visits to dig a trench and run an electrical line from a neighbouring property to finally get our own service.”
Nevertheless, the couple had some good luck throughout the project that helped balance out the bad without impacting their budget too much. Originally, they were told they would most likely need a new roof. But upon inspection it turned out to be in good shape and only needed some patching.
Before: Here’s a closer look at the existing ground-floor master bedroom area that the previous owners had created, which Benoist and Kilner converted into a kitchen. The couple designed their master bedroom in what was once used as an attached mother-in-law’s unit (pictured later in this story).
After: Benoist, shown here in the new kitchen, wanted a showpiece island facing the great room. Raj wrapped the piece in Grigio Trambiserra marble. The cabinets are Ikea with custom dark-stained sawn-oak fronts.
Bringing a single window measuring 1.5 x 3.9 metres into the space above the dining room proved challenging. The window manufacturer would not bring it all the way up to the house on the gravel road for fear it would shatter, with concerns they would be liable. So McNamara and his team brought it to the site, hoisted it in and set it into the masonry.
The whitewashed plywood landing is 76 centimetres high and doesn’t require a balustrade, as per the local building code. It doubles as a seat to take off and put on shoes. The staircase leading from the landing ascends to the mezzanine, and the home’s secondary entrance opens onto the landing.
For the steps leading down from the entrance/landing to the ground floor, Raj inlaid whitewashed timber between the original plywood pieces to help hide wear and tear.
The staircase leading up to the mezzanine features exposed raw plywood edges for both treads and risers. Raj had the tops of the bolts that secure the railing to the treads ground down and painted, so they are hidden for a cleaner, minimalist look.
On the first floor, the mezzanine guest bedroom looks over the living space below. It includes a secondary mezzanine reading nook, accessed by the ladder shown here. “It sounds cheesy, but it’s kind of like a room within a room within a room,” says Raj.
Here’s a look from the guest bedroom into the living room below.
Before: As mentioned earlier, the previous owners had added a small structure for their mother-in-law, seen here. By the time Benoist and Kilner bought the property, the addition had fallen into disrepair.
“It was in a horrible state,” says Raj. “The walls were rotting; the floor had to be replaced. We wondered if we should just demolish it, but in the end the cost of renovating it was okay, so we turned it into a simple container for the master bedroom.”
“It was in a horrible state,” says Raj. “The walls were rotting; the floor had to be replaced. We wondered if we should just demolish it, but in the end the cost of renovating it was okay, so we turned it into a simple container for the master bedroom.”
After: The revamped space is now clad in black-painted timber panelling.
Inside, a Shaker-style Wittus stove warms the interior. The couple inherited most of the furniture in the bedroom and throughout the home from Benoist’s family.
In the master bathroom, 20 x 20-centimetre tiles wrap the walls and floor. “The tile has a nice worn, homemade feel,” says Raj.
The vanity is a simple custom-made floating plywood box with a pedestal sink mounted on top.
The vanity is a simple custom-made floating plywood box with a pedestal sink mounted on top.
All-black tiles were originally supposed to wrap the entire powder room, but when budget constraints got in the way, Benoist chose black paint instead (Witching Hour by Benjamin Moore).
After: To make the ground level more comfortable, the couple wanted to replace the flooring. But tearing out all the bluestone pavers would have been too expensive.
Instead, Raj found a sub-contractor to apply an architectural concrete screed on top of the pavers. The screed is almost like a plaster, he says, and includes white pigment, which helps brighten the room, as well as a sand mixture that gives the flooring a textured appearance. “It gave us the feel and look without necessarily redoing the entire structure,” says Raj.
Instead, Raj found a sub-contractor to apply an architectural concrete screed on top of the pavers. The screed is almost like a plaster, he says, and includes white pigment, which helps brighten the room, as well as a sand mixture that gives the flooring a textured appearance. “It gave us the feel and look without necessarily redoing the entire structure,” says Raj.
The couple found these original oak doors during the renovation and wanted to incorporate them into the house. McNamara and his team cleaned them up and planed the sides to make them fit the opening. “It’s one of the nicest compositions in the house,” says Raj.
Ground floor: This floor plan shows the layout of the ground floor. The main entrance to the home (also seen in the third image of this article) is area number one at the bottom.
Second floor: The main level of the home includes the great room (area three) and kitchen (area five). Here you can also see the secondary entrance (area two), which leads into the great room.
Mezzanine: The mezzanine over the kitchen includes a bedroom (area three) and a second mezzanine reading nook (area one).
Despite their initial hesitation about the huge endeavour, Benoist and Kilner are glad they persisted with the renovation –especially as the entire project took only six months and came in right on budget.
Your turn
Which features in this home do you most admire? Tell us in the Comments below. And if you enjoyed this story, like it, share it, save the images, and join the conversation.
More
Keen to see more stunning before and after transformations? Don’t miss this story, Before & After: Punchy Patterns Bring a Drab Front Room to Life
Despite their initial hesitation about the huge endeavour, Benoist and Kilner are glad they persisted with the renovation –especially as the entire project took only six months and came in right on budget.
Your turn
Which features in this home do you most admire? Tell us in the Comments below. And if you enjoyed this story, like it, share it, save the images, and join the conversation.
More
Keen to see more stunning before and after transformations? Don’t miss this story, Before & After: Punchy Patterns Bring a Drab Front Room to Life
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Claire Benoist, a photographer, and Derek Kilner, a United Nations humanitarian officer
Location: Somers, New York, USA
Size: 302 square metres with four bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms
Designer: Ravi Raj Architect
Builder: John McNamara of McNamara Carpentry
On a whim, Benoist and Kilner checked out the house that weekend. “We had nothing else to do, and this was just a funny thing to do, so we drove the hour north,” says Benoist. “I walked in, and I knew I needed this. As cliché as it sounds, it just called to me. My husband, not so much. He’s more of a realist.”