Janet Butler
Approaching the front door of Northway, conceptualized and realized by Castro Design Studio, you see a picture-perfect traditional home façade. A wide stone walk, a graceful front stairway with curved rails, and a hardwood door with side windows all speak “traditional styling” fluently. From a foyer, you glimpse a sedate formal dining room, complete with china hutch and crystal chandelier, and a parlor with wrought-iron chandelier and woodburning fireplace. Proceed into the kitchen, however, and you feel a subtle shift: all-white cabinets — and an unexpected wood grain oven hood. An open floor plan leads into a beamed family room with plump couches and pillows — and sleek coffee tables. Part of the fun of this mix is color: vivid blue on twin beds in one room, poppy-red curtains in another. Part of it is shape: geometric-abstract light fixtures repose in style above old-fashioned armchairs and traditional dressers.
Down a hallway of native stone, a combination office/laundry room/kitchenette is splashed with turquoise; a bathroom to envy — fittingly in pale green — bears two walls of white cabinets, twin sinks, a deep tub, and an entire corner that is nothing but shower. By the time you get outdoors, you know that this house is a design potpourri: behind arched stone pillars, there’s an outdoor fireplace area with two sets of tables and chairs that don’t have a shred of artificial dignity about them. But don’t fret: there’s still plenty of “class” in the manicured grounds and flowerbeds, shining pool, and pool house/garage, surrounded by wrought-iron fencing…not to mention a badminton net. It all adds up to happy mix of the tried-and-true and the surprising — a welcoming combination at Northway.
