Traditional New England character meets a more open, light-filled way of living in this North Shore renovation by Phoenix Architects and Artisan Building Group.
From the street, the home feels familiar. Its scale and architecture remain grounded in the traditional New England homes that surround it.
Behind that exterior, however, the house opens into a series of spaces designed around family life, natural light, and a much stronger connection to the outdoors.
For Phoenix Architects, finding that balance was central to the project from the beginning.
“The vision for the whole home was to create a traditional-style home. The focus was to pack all the program in the back so it wasn’t an overpowering façade from the street, and honor traditional New England design.”
Steven DeFuria, Phoenix Architects
Designing Beyond Today
The renovation was not simply about creating more space. It was about considering how the family would use the home now and how those needs might change over time.
The main living areas were organized around gathering, while other spaces give family members room to separate when they want to.
That longer view became an important part of the design.
“It was really about a family setting and giving them spaces with a long-term vision. The kids are young now. What are they going to need when they get older? Places to go that are separate from the parents.”
Steven DeFuria, Phoenix Architects
The result is a home that can adapt. Open spaces bring the family together, while quieter areas allow the house to function differently as the children grow.
Using Light With Intention
Throughout the home, windows do more than provide daylight.
Their placement, proportion, and scale help define individual spaces, frame the landscape, and direct attention toward specific moments within the architecture.
For DeFuria, getting that balance right means considering natural and artificial light together.
“There’s always a balance between artificial and natural light that comes into a space. You don’t want one to start to overpower the other, and you want to make sure the right moments are being highlighted.”
Steven DeFuria, Phoenix Architects
That approach is especially visible in the kitchen and main living spaces.
Large expanses of glass draw the surrounding landscape into the interior without making the windows themselves the focus. Views extend through the house and toward the backyard, while doors create a direct relationship between the interior rooms and outdoor living areas.
The windows and doors become part of how the architecture is experienced rather than separate elements added to it.
Working Through the Details
Translating that design into the right window and door package required decisions about much more than size and operation.
Window profiles, grille patterns, hardware, finishes, sightlines, and the way each unit would relate to the surrounding architecture all had to be considered together.
JB Sash worked with Phoenix Architects and the project team throughout that process, providing access to Marvin products and helping the team compare the details in person.
“Working with JB Sash, physically being able to go to a showroom and have all the variety of options, window profile, grille thickness, grille profile, hardware, all those things…”
Steven DeFuria, Phoenix Architects
For a project with this level of detail, seeing and operating the products became an important part of making those decisions.
“We always recommend a client, especially a house of this caliber, go to a showroom and physically open it and look at all the different options.”
Steven DeFuria, Phoenix Architects
Those conversations allowed the project team to evaluate individual selections in the context of the larger design rather than treating windows and doors as isolated specifications.
A Home That Feels Connected
What stands out in the finished home is not one individual feature.
It is the relationship between all of them.
The traditional street-facing architecture gives way to bright, open living spaces at the rear. Windows frame the landscape rather than compete with it. Doors extend everyday living outside. Materials, light, and views move naturally from one space to the next.
Most importantly, the house was designed with enough flexibility to continue serving the family well beyond the moment it was completed.
The result is a renovation that respects where the home comes from while making room for where the family is going.
Watch the full project story → North Shore Home Reimagined
Project Team
Architecture: Phoenix Architects
Builder: Artisan Building Group
Windows + Doors: Marvin
Window + Door Partner: JB Sash & Door
