A Revitalized 1887 Victorian Home in Glen Ridge, NJ

When this house was built in 1887, gracious living and beautiful Victorian homes held sway here in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. Back then, the elegant front porch—with its open balustrades and bracketed posts—was the spot to greet friends, listen to birdsong, and watch the world go by.

Today, a whole-house renovation has brought that gracious front porch back once again—while also correcting structural, mechanical, and floor plan issues throughout the entire three-story structure. The renovation, led by New Jersey builder Zack Dettmore, was documented as part of This Old House 45^th season.

Designing for Multigenerational Living

The plan was to update the house that Sunita and Shankar Chaudhuri have lived in for 27 years and remake the interior layout for multigenerational living, so they can welcome their now-grown daughter, Asha, and her husband, Jason, who plan to raise their own family under the same roof.

“It is our dream to age in place in our home, while Asha and Jason raise their family,” says Shankar. “My mother lived here with us when Asha and her brother were growing up, so multigenerational living and taking care of each other is ingrained in our family.”

Realizing that dream has taken 11 months of hard work to address multiple known issues: uneven floors, a dysfunctional heating system, an awkward interior layout, a rotting front porch, drafty windows, and asbestos siding covering the once-grand house.

The work paid off: “It feels like a completely different house,” says Sunita. “The floor layout is open and the space is better utilized, so the house feels bigger and more spacious. Also, the walls are so well insulated, and the floors are level resulting in a completely different feel.”

At the heart of the renovation was the family’s multigenerational vision and architect Dan Kopec’s plan to restore character to the house while creating a modern layout on all three floors: shared spaces with open-plan kitchen, dining, and living areas on the first floor; a primary suite for Asha and Jason with bedrooms for their future family on the second floor; and a retreat for Sunita and Shankar carved out of underused attic space on the third floor.

Open-Plan Dining and Parlor Transformation

Key to the first floor’s transformation was removing walls to create an open-plan kitchen-dining area stretching from the front to the back along the house’s west side. “The kitchen and breakfast nook are my favorite spaces now because they are finally open enough that we can all share the space comfortably and work simultaneously in our own area,” says Asha. “It’s a true collaboration space as we intended.”

In the kitchen, a long run of white-painted maple cabinetry and gleaming white quartz countertops along a side wall create the main prep and cooking zone, containing the sink and induction oven. An island designed by Dan Kopec and built by Zack using salvaged 1887 wood adds extra work surface with an old Victorian feel. The oven vent hood’s trim is also salvaged wood. “It took many hours of stripping and sanding to be able to reuse the old floor joists, but it adds a tangible sentimental value to the room,” says Zack.

The dining room occupies the front half of the first floor, just steps inside the front door, which features a glass sidelite designed by Asha. The wall sconces, chandelier, and paneled wainscot add period charm. – Raquel Langworthy

1 of 7

New thinking led to the transformation of the first-floor parlor as well, where the previously large double parlor now functions as a distinct living room, with TV and built-in sound system, at the back of the house and a more formal sitting room at the front. The sitting room and the first-floor’s full bathroom represent a future-proofing mindset: Zack built pocket doors in the sitting room’s two doorways so it can be closed off as a first-floor bedroom if needed one day.

Primary Suite Addition and Attic Retreat

The reworked second floor layout is notable for the extra square footage added to create a large primary suite that includes an office—one of Jason’s favorite spaces—as well as a laundry room that can be shared by the family.

The second-floor primary bedroom occupies space added at the back of the house during the renovation. – Raquel Langworthy

1 of 4

Perhaps the most satisfying makeover lies on the third floor where previously underused, cramped attic space is now a cozy retreat for Sunita and Shankar, complete with sitting area, bedroom, and bathroom.

“The third floor is a huge refuge from the din and bustle of the house,” says Shankar, who considers it one of his favorite spaces. “It’s a sanctuary for contemplation, thinking, and reading.”

An Unexpected Redo

One of the most transformative features of the renovated house lies just inside the original front door: an elegant new stairway. Although not in the plans initially, the team took a bad situation and turned it into an opportunity after Zack discovered extensive termite damage and they had to rebuild the flooring systems for the first and second floors.

“Once we realized that we had to replace the bulk of the floor framing, we took the opportunity to re-work the layout. Previously the stair was narrow and projected close to the front door. It was an imposing element. We pushed it back, widened it, and made a generous opening in the second floor to make a grand and inviting entrance hall,” says architect Kopec:

The new stairway is one of Sunita’s favorite features: “It’s stunning, and so inviting,” she adds.

Restoring Original Details

Understated period-appropriate molding profiles, new wood windows, and white oak flooring help add continuity throughout the house. Soothing white hues on painted walls are accented with bold colors, such as the teal blue accent wall in the second-floor primary bedroom and the kitchen’s deep blue butler’s pantry cabinets—all chosen by the mother-daughter team of Sunita and Asha. The exterior features a period-appropriate combination of clapboards on the first floor, cedar shingles on the second floor, and decorative diamond shingles in the gables—and here again, Sunita and Asha collaborated to choose the creamy white color for the trim and the pale green hue for the siding.

Efficiency Upgrades

Comfort is another factor that is dramatically improved. The house is airtight, thanks to smart choices made by Zack for the exterior’s weather-resistive house wrap barriers and his zealous devotion to many types of insulation—closed-cell foam under the roof on the third floor and in the crawl space under an existing concrete slab in the kitchen, plus wood-fiber insulation blown into the bays of the exterior walls. All the old mini-splits and radiators were removed and replaced by two efficient smart heat pumps.

“This house previously had a hodgepodge of heating systems and Zack did the right thing starting over,” says Richard Trethewey, TOH plumbing and heating expert. “The new inverter heat pump system will keep multiple generations of the family comfortable year-round.”

An Exterior Built for the Future

For the landscape, mature plantings around the house meant that there wasn’t a need to do many new plantings. Instead, TOH landscape contractor Jenn Nawada tagged trees that needed protecting and also suggested changes to enhance the property. For example, she recommended removing overgrown hollies near the front steps and suggested a brick walkway to replace a concrete one.

“The beautiful tree-lined streets and established plantings in the entire neighborhood really give the area a distinctive feel. All it takes is a little planning and maintaining to create such a charming place.” Jenn Nawada claims.

As for the front porch, it has been rebuilt with turned posts topped with brackets and a new open balustrade system for the railing—all replicating original details. Best of all, it has plenty of room for multiple generations of the family to take a seat, relax, and watch the world go by.

Directory and Resources