Rooms with a view: Historic Manchester farmhouse keeps the old charm but adds modern conveniences

The result is a project that keeps the warmth and feel of an old farmhouse (including a “borning room” where babies were delivered that is now the pantry), but offers elbow room and modern touches.

The addition more than doubled the size of the 1,800-square-foot farmhouse built by the English family and includes 21st century touches such as whole-house sound system that interfaces with i-pods, radios and CD players; an induction cooktop that uses magnetism and doesn’t get hot and a built-in vacuum system.

And then there’s the view. Each room of the addition has a front row seat to the hills and water and open rolling spaces. With no walls to separate them, the kitchen leads into the great room, with bay windows that open outside.

The library, with natural cherry trim, includes a built-in stone-topped counter that runs the width of the room and is used for desk space. It also looks over the view. And the master suite, which includes one of the two decks, also looks out over the rolling hills.

The couple also wanted the house to be environmentally green. With energy efficient building techniques such as geothermal heating and cooling and the installation of a large array of solar panels on the house and an adjacent barn, the house will be close to zero-net energy use, even with the substantial energy use from being a working farm, said Doug Selby, president of Meadowlark Builders. It should come close to producing as much energy as it uses. The system offers 20 kilowatts total.

A geothermal heating and cooling system was installed along with radiant floor heat in much of the house. The old siding was removed and the existing house was wrapped in two inches of rigid polystyrene while the addition used insulated concrete forms and the whole project was covered with a fiber cement exterior that holds paint better than wood and is resistant to mold and mildew. Foam insulation was used in tight spots.

The house, built into the side of a hill, even has a dark basement floor that acts as a solar battery and captures the sun’s energy in winter to help warm the house.

Before the renovation and addition, annual heating costs for the propane reached $18,000, Selby said. The annual propane costs are expected to drop to $1,800, he said. The cost of the green features should pay off in seven years, Selby said.

The 14-month project that is just wrapping up offers a 3,000-foot addition that uses interior and exterior trim to help tie the new to the old. The existing 2 ½ baths were each given a facelift, with new floors and fixtures, the fir and oak floors of the original house were refinished and the single light bulb that hung above the dining room table was replaced with a period-appropriate chandelier.

It was important that the addition keep with the 19th century period, Katherine said, such as the Victorian style tile and wallpaper in the new front foyer. “Our goal was to open the door, walk in and get the feeling you were in an old house,” she said.

But there were elements of old house that needed to be changed.

The original house had only two closets, and armoires were needed for storage. Closets were added to the original house and the addition is bursting with closet space.

And a mudroom, a modern-day amenity, was added. The large mudroom has storage, a slate floor for easy clean-up and a shower, used for the family dog and for the sheep when they need some TLC.