Sneak Peek: Joint Adventure

Mike and Mary Helen Fabacher’s New Canaan home, featured in our upcoming spring issue of New England Home’s Connecticut, was built–at least in part–a little under 300 years ago: a fact that might be completely overlooked if you were to visit. If you take a closer look you can see past the modern luxury to the classic soul of the home’s structure. The design team–including interior designer Nancy Serafini and architect Mark Howland–has done a painstaking job of honoring the house’s double life as a comfortable home for a modern family as well as a historically preserved landmark.

The updates are even more impressive when you think of the obstacles they had to overcome. An old home can suffer through a lot in three centuries; not everyone who has owned it had preservation in mind. Luckily the Fabachers started by stripping the house down to its basics (and removing the wall that had separated the property into two condos), using the sturdy original structure as inspiration.

It’s a stretch to say that the house could be grateful to its new caretakers, but I’d have to wager that it is at least as happy as it was the day it was built–about fifty years before George Washington was elected.

–Jared Ainscough