Pool, patio and lawn of a whole-home renovation and addition in Westfield, NJ, by Michael Robert Construction

Classic Coastal Colonial: Addition + Remodel, Westfield NJ

Westfield, NJ · Whole-Home Renovation + Addition

Front of a fieldstone and shingle Westfield, NJ home after renovation and addition, with a pedimented entry, bay windows and an attached garage — Worked into a 1930s Colonial rather than imposed on it, down to the walnut floor border.

Dining room in a whole-home renovation and addition in Westfield, NJ

Marble-topped island in a white Westfield, NJ kitchen, with schoolhouse pendants, a stainless range and double wall ovens

White kitchen in a Westfield, NJ renovation, with marble counters, double wall ovens, a hooded range and an island sink on a wood floor

Wet bar in a Westfield, NJ home, with glass-front uppers, a marble counter and bar faucet, open to a living room and a blue front door beyond

Family room of a classic coastal colonial renovation in Westfield, NJ, with a beadboard ceiling, a gray sectional and the kitchen open beyond

Family room of a Westfield, NJ coastal colonial renovation, with a beadboard ceiling, a wall of built-in cabinetry and a sectional on wide-plank floors

Built-in desk and cubbies under the window of a Westfield, NJ coastal colonial renovation, with chalkboard panels in the upper cabinet doors

Mudroom of a Westfield, NJ coastal colonial renovation, with white open lockers, cubbies above and a turquoise glazed back door onto the terracotta tile floor

Living room in a whole-home renovation and addition in Westfield, NJ

Reading nook in a whole-home renovation and addition in Westfield, NJ

Powder room of a Westfield, NJ coastal colonial renovation, papered in a blue block print, with a pedestal basin and a brass-lit mirror

Upstairs landing under a vaulted ceiling, with a stained stair rail, a chandelier and a window set in an arched nook

Primary bedroom in a Westfield, NJ home, with a navy upholstered bed, a bench at the foot, a gilt mirror over a dark dresser and a lantern pendant

Primary bathroom of a Westfield, NJ coastal colonial renovation, with a rolltop tub under two windows and a glass shower along the marble-tiled wall

Double vanity in reclaimed wood with a stone top and pivoting mirrors in the primary bathroom of a Westfield, NJ coastal colonial renovation

Bunk room in a Westfield, NJ home, with a wooden loft bunk and ladder, built-in drawers, plaid curtains and a striped rug

Children's bathroom in a Westfield, NJ coastal colonial renovation, with navy walls above white wainscot, a mosaic tile floor and a plaid shower curtain

Guest bedroom in a Westfield, NJ home, with an upholstered headboard, a slipcovered armchair, a framed landscape and a patterned rug

Guest bathroom of a Westfield, NJ coastal colonial renovation, with a subway-tiled shower, a dark vanity and slate tile underfoot

The Home

A 1939 Colonial on a tree-lined Westfield street that had barely been touched in sixty years. It was Mike and Ellie Mroz's own home — they met as high-school freshmen in Westfield, and came back to their hometown, where both their families still live, to buy it. The front facade and three front rooms — the dining room, the foyer and the formal living room — are the only original spaces left.

Client Goal

To honor the house's Colonial roots and architectural integrity while bringing in every modern amenity, and land on something casual and comfortable rather than formal. In Ellie's words, the brief was to expand and update the house while infusing a clean, classic, coastal style into the existing structure — rather than replacing the structure's character with it.

Solution

A complete renovation in 2011, reworking the floor plan and adding 1,500 square feet, designed and built by Michael Robert Construction with EMD on the interiors. The addition was drawn to mimic the existing structure and style, and the original plan's logic was kept legible. The CBRANJ judging panel noted how well that was achieved: visitors to the house often ask where the addition begins and the original home ends.

Construction

A house unchanged for six decades needs its systems and structure brought forward before anything cosmetic happens. The whole house was reworked, front to back and top to bottom, in seven months. The addition was tied into the existing envelope so the expanded house reads as one building from the street. Its performance was improved with green features from Green Energy Improvements, a sister company of Michael Robert Construction — making it one of the only Energy Star renovations in Westfield.

Design

Clean, classic and coastal, worked into a 1930s Colonial rather than imposed on it. A herringbone hardwood floor with a walnut border runs through the foyer; the kitchen island is nearly ten feet long and sits beside a breakfast nook.

Result

First place for Best Historic Renovation from the Commercial Builders and Remodelers Association of New Jersey, for remodeling and expanding a 1930s Westfield home while preserving its integrity. It is also the first home Mike and Ellie renovated together, and the clearest early statement of what became the MRCxEMD approach: construction and interior decisions made in the same conversation, on a house they had to live in afterwards.

Your project

Planning a significant renovation of your own? Start with MRC Design-Build or bring your architect’s plans. Tell us about your home, your priorities and the investment you have in mind.

Discuss Your Project

Additions Building in Westfield