A Coastal Dream Realized: Inside a St. Michaels Waterfront Home Built from the Ground Up

“We were fortunate enough to acquire a property that met all our requirements—close to town, beautiful and everchanging views, and best of all, great neighbors,” adds Janice. Both grew up in seaside towns—Robert in Woodbury, Long Island, and Janice in Westport, Connecticut—where summers were filled with sailing, water skiing, and enjoying the beach. Moving to St. Michaels reminds them of fond childhood memories while also giving them the opportunity to make new ones.

The initial plan was to renovate the existing house, but after consultations with their builder, Winchester Inc., and a local architect, it soon became apparent that the best way to take advantage of the riverfront setting was to tear down what was there and start from scratch. The builder then introduced the Vitales to David Neumann of Neumann Lewis Buchanan Architects and Tracy Morris of Tracy Morris Design, who all worked in tandem to achieve the owners’ goals.

“The effort on our part was to elongate and expand the amount of spaces that had views to the east and south as well as to capture the sunlight,” says Neumann. With a homesite parallel to the shoreline, Neumann designed a foyer that stretches from front to back. “The entryway provides a point of pause,” adds Morris. From the meandering driveway to the meadows and greenhouse to the traditional colonial facade with a portico to the back loggia and pool, “the home is the embodiment of what we were hoping for at this stage in our lives,” says Robert.

Considering how the owners live their daily lives was important to establish early on so that nothing had to be retrofitted after the building was underway. “You are able to lay the proper foundation for the entire interior of the home when you are brought in during the planning phase,” says Morris, who worked closely with the owners to bring their vision of a home filled with blues and creams to life.

When designing a waterfront home, “the trick is to always try to capture the view,” says Morris, who used furniture and textures that complement the focus of the home. In addition, the designer repurposed some pieces from their Virginia home, including a 40-foot runner that was resized and used in multiple places. Morris also worked with Janice to find an artisan to create stained glass rondels to surround the entry door. “When the sun sets to our west, the rondels cast a beautiful, soft colored light across the front foyer,” Janice says.

One of the best spaces to start the interior design process is in the kitchen. “How you want your kitchen to feel and appear will determine the rest of house,” Morris says. In this kitchen, which was a collaboration with Lobkovich Kitchen Designs, one of the smallest elements—the custom blue cabinet at the end of the island—became one of the most impactful. “I took the blue in the end cabinet and sprinkled it throughout the rest of the home,” Morris adds. “The spacious kitchen has all the bells and whistles for someone who likes to cook,” adds Neumann. It’s pretty, yet highly functional.

The kitchen opens to a remarkable breakfast room with 180-degree views of the water as well as an expansive great room with two seating areas, including one with four chairs for quiet reflection and reading, and a more robust spot with two sofas and two chairs for gatherings with family and friends. The rear room provides a passageway to the loggia, featuring a vaulted ceiling and half-round opening as well as a pool and porches deep enough for longue chairs. Second-floor balconies off the bedrooms and repeating arches create an exterior that is a bit more playful than the traditional facade, the architect adds.

“For us, it’s a house that embodies all the larger and smaller elements that we’ve always told ourselves one day we’d enjoy,” Janice adds. “We’re very happy that day has finally arrived.”