New Blue, Part 3

Boyle responded by adding more large windows on the second story and two exterior sliding barn doors, each with its own tiny rectangular windows, to cover screen doors. At the living area end of the great-room he added an unusually low row of five small windows to give those seated on the couch a view of the owner's beloved gardens. Outside, he added a deck that slopes with the land like a ramp. Inside, Boyle put a more contemporary, lofty spin on the make-do architecture, using exposed brick and an entire barn's worth of salvaged chestnut wood planks for decorative effect on ceilings, floors, and closet doors.

When interior designer Zina Glazebrook came on the job, she took cues from the airy layout and simple materials. She laid woven rugs on the plank floors and limited furnishings to a few carefully selected pieces in earth tones and whites. "Space is its own luxury," she says. "It heightens your appreciation of a piece of furniture, a folk art object, or an architectural detail." This time the owner might have been content, but Glazebrook wanted more. She pushed for nature-based paint colors to help soften the roughness of old wood and brick. The result, she explains, was a happy marriage as "the strong architecture met soft, bright color to become even stronger."

When recycling wood, consider how to use it. This home's chestnut planks from a North Carolina tobacco barn give a variety of effects.

• The worn, whitewashed exterior side of the wood was installed face out on doors to complement walls of salvaged bricks.
• Ceilings and floors show the reverse, or interior, side of these same planks. The floorboards shine from a clear gloss sealer, while the untreated ceiling planks appear bleached and raw.
• Brian Boyle advises looking for lumber at least 3x4 inch thick and using it for decorative, not structural, purposes. Old planks can cover a ceiling's structural beams, for instance. Search for salvage companies online or in wood magazines, or call your local demolition contractors.