Connecticut Duplex: Reveal

The Connecticut duplex is complete!

This project was particularly rewarding because it was relatively quick–about two and half months and the transformation is striking. I drew inspiration from this project from my neighbors 2000 miles to the west in Venice Beach, California. I wanted a little of a Venice bungalow feel and I had to squeeze a completely lackluster 1950s ranch duplex in to that mold. Many of the Venice bungalows were constructed during the craftsman era and use a lot of the classic craftsman elements and that’s what we did here.

The turquoise doors, boring tan paint color and the rickety railings and posts are gone.

Our friends from Butler Constructs landscaping planted the Confederate Jasmine to crawl up our trellis on each end of the duplex to create a green privacy wall and it will produce a sweet fragrance and white flowers in the spring. The variegated plant that thrives in the shade in the foreground is Fatsia.

The addition of the arbor was key to add dimension and character to the long, straight lines of the duplex. Our carpentry crew from Locklear Brothers Home Improvement executed those brackets perfectly. The style of the bracket under the arbor echoes the straight lines of the simple corbels on the gables over each entrance.

Benjamin Moore’s Midnight Oil changes during the day and has a beautiful sheen and looks incredibly rich in the shade. It is the perfect color for this project.