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Old World Meets Modern Living

A Saunderstown family transforms a home from bachelor pad to family-friendly manse

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Finding your dream home can be a lot like true romance, theorizes Ann McCrory. “I know that feeling… when people fall in love with another person, it’s like, ‘this is it.’” She likened the feeling to the first time she and her husband Glenn steered down the wooded driveway off Vineyard Road in scenic Saunderstown in 1993. Though the English country manorstyle house evoked Old World charm and remarkable architectural detail, it lacked the amenities and appeal best suited for a young family. The awkward layout and other surface issues, the couple says, is what likely scared off other potential buyers. “When it was on the market, it just had all those obstacles they couldn’t see though,” says Glenn. The McCrorys, however, saw a diamond in the rough.

“We waited a little bit to move in – it was pretty incomplete,” explains Glenn. “The guy we bought it from at the time was a single guy and had started the building project.” But the ambitious bachelor met a girl, fell in love and the two decided to start their life together in a more urban setting. “[The house] was a little too far in the woods for her,” laughs Glenn. Though unfinished, the previous owner had brought back numerous century-old pieces from his many trips to England and incorporated each throughout the house. Glenn complemented the European aesthetic with an all-stone exterior from native stone harvested on the property so that the home looked as if it had been nestled in the woods there for centuries. “You would swear it was 300-years-old,” says Glenn.

Though they appreciated what the previous homeowner had started, Glenn and Ann had their work cut out for them – in many cases, quite literally. “The challenge was to find stuff here to complement it,” says Glenn. “What he had started, we continued, making it our own… We had a lot of stuff made and the end result was a very European cottage-style home.”

Glenn, a South County native and experienced contractor, was hardly intimidated by an extensive renovation project. Nor was he in a rush. He and Ann wanted to do things right. “We worked on it for probably 12 years. The kids were young then; our son was 11 and our daughter was eight. They lived through the whole thing with us.” In order to build an addition in the same fashion as the heart of the home, Glenn mined more stone with the help of dynamite and his neighbor. “The original owner had hired a friend of his, a stone mason from Nova Scotia, and he built things like they did 100 years ago,” explains Glenn. “The walls were literally 22” thick. It was a challenge, a big undertaking if you wanted to move something. We joke that this is the best hurricane or bomb shelter in Rhode Island!”

About eight years ago, the couple re-examined the layout and flow of the home and decided to better merge the spaces for a more modern and traffic-friendly floor plan. “We now have a big kitchen, dining and living room all open to each other,” describes Glenn. “It was one of the things the house really needed.”

Both Ann and Glenn agree that one of the spaces they enjoy the most isn’t in the house at all – it’s the outdoorpatio where they grill and entertain their family, which includes their children and grandchildren. Set a mile back from the road, privacy is ever-present and the rustic surroundings allow for an inspired backdrop. Inside, ample windows afford the same bucolic views and seven impressive fireplaces create a warm atmosphere. Choosing wall colors, repurposing antiques and finding furnishings indulged Ann’s passion for design. “I like to fix things and make things look better,” she says simply, albeit an understatement.

Today, the house is a testament of Glenn’s love for building and design, and Ann’s appetite for making a property realize its full potential. “It’s my livelihood and my passion,” Glenn says. “It’s been a love affair building the house, and a chore keeping it up.” But it’s been a labor of love.

Neither Ann nor Glenn can pinpoint one particular space in the home that is their favorite and it’s easy to see why. Each space has been an emotional and financial investment, which will make it all the more hard when the time comes to downsize. “We are at the point now where it is way too big for the two of us,” says Ann of their beloved empty nest. “I still love the house, it just doesn’t make sense.” As a real estate agent, Ann knows there are some equally amazing smaller properties out there, and she hopes they will find another stone house or something unique. “I like things that don’t look like the everyday house,” she explains.

What the couple can say for certain is that they have no plans to leave the community they have called home for most of their lives. “I sell houses to people from all over and what’s attractive about North Kingstown is that it’s a bedroom community and it is a real community,” she says, citing the strong school system, sports teams for kids and adults, farmers’ markets and more. “We have open space, lots of water, just so many pretty features. It’s relaxing… I love South County; there’s a great quality of life here.”

Modern, Home, Dream Home, South County, Saunderstown, Rhode Island, Vineyard Road, Glenn and Ann McCrory, House, Renovation

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