A Connecticut Colonial Three Centuries Old Gets a New Wing That Looks Like It Was Always Part of the House

In Connecticut, restaurateur Rose Bonura's 300-year-old Colonial has a new wing, and the designer behind it, Ryan Lawson, set out to make it look as old as the main house. The wing started as a worn garage on the property, and the two, who are friends, rebuilt it in the manner of a barn, with its character drawn from earlier eras rather than from the present. Adding onto a house that has stood for three centuries is a test of restraint: any new room sits next to work that has had 300 years to settle into its site. Here the measure of success is that a visitor shouldn't be able to tell where the original Colonial ends and the addition begins. Turning a utility building into living space, and making it match a house this old, is the kind of quiet craft that rarely announces itself. No sale is involved and no figures have been made public, so this story is about the work itself.

With reporting from Elle Decor.