Namequoit River House awarded a BRICC Gold Award

October 24, 2025

Namequoit River House renovation & addition

Builder: Philbrook Construction Services Group
Kitchen: White Wood Kitchens
Photography: Grattan Imaging

A3 was honored to be awarded BRICC Gold for Best Remodel from $250,000-$500,000 for our Namequoit River House Renovation & Addition with Philbrook Construction.

We began work on an existing cape in February 2020 (right before everything shut down for COVID!) on the Namequoit River in South Orleans. The existing home had an amazing view of the river and was sited perfectly, but the existing windows were small and existing floor plan didn’t take full advantage of the view. We added a new large sundeck facing the river off the living room and dining room. We also re-worked the main floor plan to allow for two 4 Panel sliding doors to be located off those spaces and relocated existing laundry & the half bath from the river side of the house to a new mudroom addition on the driveway side of the house. The new living room and dining room connect immediately to the exterior and highlight the amazing river views.

Existing South Orleans Cape on the Namequoit River

Renovated South Orleans Cape on the Namequoit River

Namequoit River House Renovation & Addition - Living room & Dining room with new 4 panel slider and deck with views of river beyond.

Namequoit River House Renovation & Addition - Living Room

Namequoit River House Renovation & Addition - New Mudroom Addition

Namequoit River House Renovation & Addition - New Deck

Screen Porch

The existing home had a lovely rustic screen porch located directly off the kitchen. The location was perfect – we simply added a door off the screen porch to connect to the new deck and stair down to the yard. Along with new screens, there are glass inserts to extend the life of the screen porch into the shoulder months!

Namequoit River House Renovation & Addition - Screen Porch

Existing Namequoit River House Screen Porch

the kitchen

The existing location of the kitchen was facing the river, which was lovely when standing at the sink, but did restrict the view. After a lot of discussion with the homeowners, we decided to flip the location of the kitchen. The windows at the kitchen sink now face the side yard, but the new location allows for optimal wall space (pantry cabinet, wall ovens, refrigerator!) without taking away from the river view. At the existing kitchen location, we added a large 4 panel sliding door that highlights the river view and connects the dining room and kitchen seamlessly to the new large sundeck facing the river.

Namequoit River House Renovation & Addition - New Kitchen

The Bedrooms

Namequoit River House Renovation & Addition - New Primary Bedroom with floor to ceiling windows and view of river beyond

Namequoit River House Renovation & Addition - New Primary Bedroom. New walk-in closet & primary bathroom behind bed wall

Renovated 2nd floor bedrooms

Namequoit River House - Renovated 2nd Floor Bedroom

Existing Namequoit River House - 2nd Floor Bedroom

Bathrooms

Spotlight: Brewster Flats House

February 25, 2019

Expats Stu and Nancy had spent the last 10 or so living in Asia, and despite raising their family on the west coast, when it came time to put down permanent roots, the answer was Brewster. Nancy’s father had built a small cottage on the top of a small hill on their lot that afforded peeks of the Bay from the front of the house. We decided to save the existing foundation, and rebuild up from there to create a larger and brighter family home that still fits in the streetscape of the existing seaside neighborhood along the Bay.

In addition to gathering art from all over far East, the homeowners saved many items from the existing cottage including the brick flooring from the old sunroom to use in the new mudroom. These touches help to remember the old but the new is decidedly more modern. With high ceiling and large double hung windows, the new living room is bright and airy. The new kitchen facing south has a dramatic vaulted ceiling and more windows overlooking the leafy backyard.

The large open floor living, dining and kitchen have natural light all day, with a small cozy study located off of the dining area. This office serves are workspace as well as gallery. The master bedroom is located to the east with a spa-like master bathroom. The functional mudroom entry connects living areas to garage with functional pantry and laundry areas. The 2nd floor contains 2 additional bedroom and connected bathrooms with high cathedral ceilings.

Project Details:

Location: Brewster, Massachusetts
House Type: Single Family Residence
Construction type: New Construction w/ salvaged brick fireplace and foundation
Extg House sqft (demolished): 1680 sqft
Renovated House w/ new addition sqft: 2770 sqft

Builder: TA LaBarge

Photographer: Dan Cutrona

For more images: Brewster Flats House

Brewster Flats house Construction slideshow

Spotlight: Historic Harwichport Cape

December 17, 2018

Homeowner’s Steve and Peggy from Dallas Texas asked us to help them create a real family gathering space in their historic Harwichport home. The home, which has been in Steve’s family for over 100 years, consists of an historic half-Cape (the antique), a dated 50s kitchen connector and a 1980s addition (the annex). Steve grew up coming to Harwichport in the summer and wanted to provide that for the next generation.

We decided to leave the antique and the annex largely intact and worked on connecting them better with a more modern gathering space that could accommodate their extended family.

The modern addition acts as connector – from old to new, inside to out and front to back. It consists of a large kitchen, dining and living areas. Since the existing rooms are all small and have low ceilings, we thought the new modern rooms should be expansive and have some height to them. The spaces are all open to one another, but the living room ceiling is vaulted to follow the gabled roof line.

From the exterior the new addition gabled entry signals a more modern approach in the back. It pulls visitors to the new entry into the new living room. The new simple bluestone patio in the back is a private oasis for summer parties.

The Clients hope to spend more time in Harwichport moving forward!

Project Details: