12 / matters magazine / home&garden 2018 T om Conway likes to joke about how his wife, Mary, couldn’t imagine raising a family in the dinky little cottage he had bought before they were married. A partner at the Summit-based archi- tecture firm, Rosen Kelly Conway, Tom appreciates the good bones of a home and this gem positioned at the entrance of Washing- ton Park in Maplewood was one of a kind. But Mary was from a big family and this house with its tiny bedrooms carved into the eaves and scant storage, wasn’t anything she had imagined for herself. After all, it was built in 1926 as a weekend cottage for a New York-based engineer, not as a family home. Nevertheless, in 2000, four years after Tom bought the house, he and Mary tied the knot. She learned to love the house for all of its idiosyncracies and with Tom’s pristine design sense they made it a beautiful home. In time, they added Dexter, a yellow Labrador to the mix. And then came son Aidan and daughter Eileen. When Tom’s mother died last February, they de- cided that it made sense to move his dad to their home since he now needed full-time care. But this required more space than they had – two new bed- rooms (one each for his dad and caregiver) and bath – plus special accommodations for a man who was no longer steady on his feet. Tom got to work and designed a two-car garage with two bedrooms and a bath above. Given Tom’s profession, every detail was carefully considered and planned. To connect the addition to the rest of the house, he moved some walls and doorways and re- configured a staircase. He also ensured that the space be ADA-compliant, adding wide entryways with no steps to get indoors as well as an elevator. This is Home A local architect tackles his own home renovation, keeping it personal BY ELLEN DONKER PHOTOS BY JULIA VERDEROSA Eileen, Mary, Aidan and Tom enjoy time with Brewster in the sun room.