It Started With a Roof Deck
For Jason Douglas, six years of persistence and patience paid off.
When industrial design consultant Jason Douglas transformed what had been a decrepit summer cottage in Quincy into a functional year-round home for himself and his wife, Katherine Arch-Douglas, it was all about the view.
On a sunny fall day, he stops, points to a stretch of Quincy Bay from a bank of west-facing windows, and says, "There goes my neighbor Mike paddling out to his boat." Inside Douglas's home, clever storage and display solutions reveal themselves on each level of the narrow, vertical building. But the irresistible attraction is the expanse of sparkling water. Turning his head to catch another glimpse, Douglas says, "You can't help it. There's always something going on: People windsurfing, sailing, kayaking, or fishing. You can see over Long Island to the Tobin Bridge, clear on the other side of Boston Harbor, and we watch the big cruise ships going in to the docks in South Boston." At low water, the tidal flats and rivulets expose themselves, and there are eider ducks, snowy egrets, blue herons, and buffleheads. "And the sunsets," says Douglas, "you just can't take your eyes off them." The 1,000-square-foot house rises from a sliver of land between a steep hillside and a concrete breakwater. One of a string of former summer cottages, it has a long history with Douglas and his family. His Newton grandparents bought it for seaside vacations in the 1940s when Hough's Neck, a popular resort since the 1890s, was favored by Boston-area families for its accessibility. His grandfather, Arthur Douglas, sold the house, but Douglas's parents, Robert and Diane Douglas, bought it back in 1992. By then, the area's summer cottages had been converted into year-round homes. After living there for six years, Jason and Katherine, a senior manager at the biotech company Acambis in Cambridge, purchased the house from his parents in 2002. Then they kicked into high gear the often-chaotic process of turning it into what it is now: a sleek, thoughtfully designed home that makes the most of its waterfront location and is, at last, functional, attractive, and weather-tight.
"It was in really rough shape when we first moved in," Douglas says. "Everything was crooked. The roof leaked, the windows leaked, and the floor plan was terrible. I was only out of school a few years and didn't have much money, but I did have tons of enthusiasm and drive." He also had a degree in industrial design, plus carpentry experience gained during childhood summers working with his father, an impassioned historic preservationist.
"I didn't think I was going to build a house," Douglas says. "It just sort of evolved. When I started, all I really wanted was a roof deck." He grins as he recounts a years-long process that included removing a 10-by-20-foot porch from the front of the house; lifting up the remaining 15-by-20-foot building and installing a ground-floor bathroom and bedroom; ripping off the roof and building a new staircase, living room, master bedroom, and bath. At times, the couple was left without stairs or even an outside wall. "It was really something to see the house open to the elements like a dollhouse," he says. "Living in a construction zone is extremely trying, and we did that for six years. My wife is a very, very patient woman." He approached the project one room at a time. The design is driven by the lack of floor space and has a streamlined interior full of unexpected storage solutions. A narrow space alongside the staircase provides just enough room for a stack of drawers. A built-in corner table's glass top lets light into the stairwell below. Pocket doors with frosted-glass panels allow natural light into bathrooms.
Beyond the new guest bedroom and bath on the ground floor is the kitchen and living room on the second level. The top floor is given over to the master suite and roof deck. Douglas used hand-woven hardwood lattice for the pergola. "The pergola makes the deck feel intimate," he says, "and the lattice overhead makes is bearable during hot summer days." "My design inspirations were my friends, many of whom are artists and designers," he says. "I would rather learn by doing than to hire professionals. By doing all the work, I could buy better materials, like Southern yellow pine for the floors and granite for the kitchen counters.
"I really enjoyed the process, despite its length," he says. "I like sketching and making things with my hands, and I learned a lot of new skills. Now I can share this wonderful place with all my friends."
Regina Cole is a freelance writer. E-mail her at coleregina@mac.com. 