“This is not a fancy
house,” says Marena
Padden. “I never
wanted it to be a
model home.”
Maybe not, but the refreshed ranch she shares with
her husband, Jim, and their three kids is a model of one
thing: togetherness. Its open floor plan means Marena
can fix snacks in the kitchen while one kid does home-
work at the dining table, another reads on the sofa, and
a third plays in the yard—everybody with in earshot,
nobody crowded. But that wasn’t always the case.
Originally, the 1950s house was carved into several
tiny, low-ceilinged rooms. When you walked in the front
door, a huge stone fireplace stared you in the face.
Cooking was a solitary chore in the walled-off kitchen,
with the chef shuttling food to the dining room via a
narrow doorway. “It was a dump,” Marena says, “but my
husband had the vision that we could open it all up.”
No doubt Jim was thinking of visits to a friend’s beach
house on Nantucket, where the two families would hang
out together in the home’s great room, each person doing
his or her own thing but still part of the group. “We fell in
love with that idea,” Marena says.
A six-month remodel dissolved divisions between
the living room, kitchen, and dining area, making half
of the house essentially one big room. Almost every
nonload-bearing wall in that half came down, along with
the imposing fireplace. Windows and skylights were
added. Ceilings were raised, peaked, and covered
in tongue-and-groove paneling, a nod to Nantucket.
All told, the Paddens added 800 square feet, gaining
a spacious foyer, a sitting area and walk-in closet in the
master, and a window-lined dining nook that’s all about
bringing people together. The banquette at one end of
the 9 V
2
-foot table is cozy for family meals, but for a
holiday dinner, Marena can seat 10 more people around
the rest of the table. “I like to stuff people together so
they can really have a conversation,” she says. “You just
make sure you put the person who’s not going to help
with the dishes in the corner!”
3 8
AUGUST 2010
B ETTER H O M ES AND GARDEN S
