A NEW KITCHEN WITH A PRESERVATION ETHIC

Before 1994, when she fell in love with and bought this house, Sarah Blank hadn't heard of Royal Barry Wills. Then she learned that the Cape, built in 1957, in New Canaan, Connecticut, was typical of the work of the famous Colonial Revival architect who was a prolific designer as well as America's best-selling architectural writer. A Massachusetts native who opened his Boston firm in 1925, Wills loved New England's small, historic houses and made a specialty of designing updated yet authentically proportioned versions of Capes, saltboxes, and garrison colonials. Hundreds of his houses stand, including the 1500-square-foot Cape that Blank proceeded to enlarge.

- REGINA COLE

"I NEEDED A BIGGER, updated kitchen, a bigger garage, and more bedrooms and baths," says the interior designer, who is based in Greenwich with offices in Palm Beach, Florida, and New York City. "I am passionate about classicism and its vocabulary, and this house was an important learning experience for me. To guide the additions, I used the book Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn: The Connected Farm Buildings of New England, published by Thomas Hubka, in 1984."

Blank added a second storey to the house's central block and a rear addition to house a new primary bedroom suite and an enlarged living room. She added a mudroom and breezeway telescoping towards a new garage along one side and, on the opposite side of the house, she transformed the old kitchen and garage ell into a new kitchen. "The house grew to 4500 square feet. The kitchen, which had measured 10 x 12 feet, is now 16 x 18 feet," Blank says.