Cozy chic — God is in the details
The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
Laura Barry and Ellen Marcil like the cheerful warm corals and turquoises — seen in the cushions and echoed in the carpet — of their enclosed front porch. “We spend all our time here,” said Marcil. This was a spur-of-the-moment, as-you-are photo shoot, suggested less than half an hour before. So this is the way that the couple’s McKownville home really looks.
GUILDERLAND — During the decade since they moved into their McKownville home, Laura Barry and Ellen Marcil have done a lot to restore original details and add new ones that highlight its Craftsman-style warmth.
The Arts and Crafts movement was popular in the early 20th Century as a reaction to the ornateness of the Victorian era; it favored natural materials and straightforward design.
The simple, clean lines of the home’s glowing wood form a perfect backdrop for the eclectic items they have lovingly collected. On the top of one shelf, a large wasp’s nest found along the Mohawk River is backed by a spidery tree branch that climbs to the ceiling, casting shadows behind it. The fireplace mantel is home to several birds’ nests that Barry and Marcil have decorated with unusual feathers they find on the ground.
“We’re really lucky,” said Barry, “that so much was preserved. It might not have been well maintained, but it wasn’t destroyed,” she said, referring to elements like the oak wainscoting on the ceilings of the front and back porches and the brick fireplace and stained glass windows in the living room.
They’ve done structural work inside and out, including redoing a sewer line, installing a new furnace, rebuilding the chimney, putting on a new roof, pouring a new floor in the basement, and refinishing all the wood floors.
“And every piece of the house has been repainted,” Barry said.
The women created a large, peaceful garden in the backyard, planted gardens along the side, and fenced in the existing built-in pool. They put on a front stoop, replacing three steps that, Barry said, “were risers with boards.”
Laura Barry, at left, and Ellen Marcil walk along the alley behind their home. McKownville is known for its six alleyways that run behind and alongside many of the area’s homes. No one owns the alleys, Barry said — not the town and not the homeowners — although homeowners are asked to cooperate with one another in maintaining them, so that the town can access public utilities such as water lines and stormwater pipes that are located there.
Of working with glaze, Barry said, “There’s an art to it, like frosting a cake. I’m lucky my father taught me when I was a child.” The process, she explained, entails scraping out all the old glaze, replacing any cracked window panes, putting in new glaze and allowing it to harden, then priming and painting it.
Freehand: Laura Barry painted patterns freehand in turquoise, terra cotta, ivory, and red on her home’s original solid-wood staircase, using only colors that she and her spouse already had in the house without buying any new.
The biggest project left to do, said Marcil, is the kitchen, “to make it more workable.” The couple likes to entertain, and needs more counter space and more standing room.
They plan to open up the room by removing the original pantry and flipping the refrigerator from the center of the room out of the way, into that space, and taking out the breakfast nook. They may add a small island with a couple of stools, “just for us,” Marcil said.
Barry, who teaches physical education at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, and Marcil, a social worker with the Visiting Nurses of Northeastern New York, met at Russell Sage when both were involved in student government: Barry was running the elections, and Marcil was running for office.
On either side of this painting of a sparrow are nests, of a Baltimore oriole and a finch, decorated with feathers that the homeowners have found.
They have been together for 35 years and married in 2005 in Toronto, Ontario, before same-sex marriage was legalized in the United States. They bought the house the following year.
“There’s a lot more to do, it’s non-stop,” said Barry. “But it’s a good hobby, you know?”