Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/60293
'Nothing will grow in heavily shaded acid soil that's carpeted with pine needles,' he told me." The Parisis more than proved him wrong. Among the tall, straight tree trunks grow rhododendrons, azaleas, dogwood, hydrangea, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and pink lady's slippers. As early as February, snowdrops bloom in sheltered spots. "I am Portuguese, so I have garden DNA," Phil says with a laugh. Parisi grew up in Gloucester before he traveled the world with the Air Force, settling to live in Wiesbaden, Germany, for three years. "I thought I'd live there; that's where all the good design was," he says. When Pamela and Phil retired a few years ago, they began their latest house-building phase. Working with Lee Kimball, the Win- chester design-build firm known for its kitchens, they converted the formerly unfinished basement into a sunny family room that doubles as a guest bedroom and installed a gleaming state-of-the- art kitchen for Phil, a gifted home chef. "They're quality- and idea-driven," says E.J. Krupinsky, Lee Kimball architect and manager of the project. "They knew they wanted to relate the new downstairs family/guest room to the garden, and to expand the kitchen, making it beautiful and func- tional." He succeeded on both fronts with both new spaces, each of which has two personalities. The kitchen includes a built-in break- fast nook oriented around the slab table, while the business end is Phil's domain. "I like to be left alone to cook, so I didn't want my end of the kitchen to be too welcoming," he says. The family room converts to a guest room with a Murphy bed. The bed stored in the wall holds perennial appeal to space-saving homeowners, while its descent holds a singular place in early 20th century slapstick comedy. This ground-level room has become the Parisi's sitting room of choice. They take advantage of its immedi- ate access to the outside with a closet for muddy gardening garb. "E.J. and the rest of the staff at Lee Kimball did the one thing we really needed: they listened to us," Phil Parisi says. Krupinsky used interior windows to bring light into the below- ground bath that accompanies the new downstairs room. No hint of the former basement remains. Next to their front door, Phil and Pamela Parisi display a stone THIS PAGE Phil's kitchen was planned for a devoted home cook. First-floor living spaces feature vaulted ceilings and a lovingly displayed collection of art from around the world. OPPOSITE Businesslike implements and bold colors in the kitchen. three-foot Mahakala figure they found in Bali. The diagonally slatted stair landing and the house's flat board siding could only date to the 1970s. The statue, a fierce depiction of Shiva, is pitted, covered with lichen, and timeless. "In the Far East, figures of Mahakala are commonly used to protect homes from evil," Pamela explains. Nearby, bronze Paolo Soleri bells cast on an Arizona mesa chime gently as the wind moves through the tall trees. Before stepping in the door, guests at Pamela's and Phil's home have already begun the multisensory tour of time and space the couple has created on this Reading hilltop. "This is us," says the lady of the house. "Modern, but not cold, and constantly changing as our collec- tions grow and change." 149