This Old House’s 7th Idea House is a modern farmhouse set on a rolling lawn overlooking Long Island Sound and the 14th green of Norwalk’s Shore Haven Golf Club.
The gracious 3,700-square-foot Farmhouse in Fairfield County was designed by Connecticut’s celebrated Jamieson Architects, and built by the gifted craftsmen of Greyrock Homes. This fresh farmhouse features a host of luxury amenities – indoors and out – including a grand, vaulted great room that looks out across Long Island Sound; a chef’s kitchen and butler’s pantry; a covered porch and patio outfitted with an outdoor kitchen, retractable screens, plunge pool, fire pit, and personal putting green; a spacious ground-floor master suite; two additional bedrooms and baths; a bunk room; and three-car garage. Jerry and Sandy Effren, the husband-and-wife team behind custom building firm Greyrock Homes, worked with longtime collaborator Jim Jamieson to create a contemporary farmhouse that would be filled with modern amenities and plenty of room, indoors and out, for entertaining family and friends. Shortly after construction began, they realized the house they were building was one they needed for themselves—and now the Effrens are proud to call it home. Sandy and her design collaboration team (kitchen and bath designer Karen Berkemeyer of Karen Berkemeyer Homes, and design consultants Catherine Devine and Sally Rypkema) brought their vision to life with open spaces, clean lines, and custom finishes. Home stager Leia Ward of LTW Design outfitted the house in a style she calls casually sophisticated—modern, yet approachable, with clean lines and comfortable furnishings and warm, pleasing textures throughout the space. Effren says, “It was an extremely exciting project on many levels, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results. We look forward to sharing the final product with everyone virtually.” This Old House has been covering the build with live webcams, galleries, videos, an OTT video series and continual social posts since Greyrock Homes broke ground last January. The in-progress content is curated on an Idea House landing page where the furnished reveal will also be posted on October 15. To celebrate the completion of the project, the general public is invited to join the livestream tour on Wednesday, October 14th at 12:00pm EST via Facebook, where Jerry and Sandy will “walk” guests through each space calling out the innovative products, building techniques, and trends they incorporated. There will be a live Q&A following the tour, hosted by This Old House editor Chris Ermides. The TOH 2020 Farmhouse in Fairfield County Idea House boasts an impressive roster of sponsors including: Baird Brothers Fine Hardwoods, Elkay, GAF, House of Antique Hardware, InSinkErator, IPEX, Kubota, LP SmartSide, Marvin, Mr. Steam, Phantom Screens, Ring’s End, Rockwool, Schluter-Systems, Trane, VELUX, Weyerhaeuser and Wood-Mode. About This Old House Ventures, LLC This Old House Ventures, LLC is the number one multi-platform home enthusiast brand, serving over 20 million house-proud consumers each month with trusted information and expert advice through its award-winning television shows This Old House and Ask This Old House, its highly regarded This Old House magazine and its inspiration and information-driven digital properties, including ThisOldHouse.com, podcasts (Clearstory and Ask This Old House), social platforms and popular YouTube channel. This Old House and Ask This Old House are produced by This Old House Ventures, LLC, and are presented on PBS by WETA Washington, DC. National underwriting for This Old House is provided by The Home Depot, GMC, Gorilla Glue, Marvin, HomeAdvisor, Consumer Cellular, Kubota and Stihl. About Jamieson Architects Jamieson Architects is a boutique architectural design firm that has been specializing in the creation of unique architectural throughout New England for over 20 years. Our architectural design solutions focus on the client, not the size of the project. We are dedicated to providing customized professional architectural design services for each client regardless of the size of the budget or the scope and complexity of the project. Stylistically we tailor each architectural design solution to the dreams and identity of the individual client. Nothing is more fulfilling than to share a client’s satisfaction upon completion of their unique architectural design solution. To learn more, visit: http://jamiesonarchitects.com/ About Greyrock Homes Greyrock Homes has built over 750 homes in Connecticut since 1979 ranging in size from 1,200 to 12,000 square feet. Led by Principal Jerry Effren, Greyrock has earned numerous awards for its development efforts, including the prestigious HOBI “Builder of the Year” in 1990 and 2004 for the State of Connecticut and in 2003 for Fairfield County Home Builders & Remodelers Association.
To learn more, visit: https://www.greyrockhomes.com/