This Old House

PERIOD PIECES

FEW THINGS ARE AS GREAT as getting your home’s particulars just the way you want them: the marble slab at the right height for rolling out pie dough, a dimmer control that correctly calibrates the lighting, a barstool that’s not just cool but comfy.

But it’s not everyone who conjures a wish list like Joan Riddle’s.

“You saw the sinks: We struggled with them. That’s Joan,” says her longtime general contractor and major fan, Mark Hoopes. Those sinks would be the two cast-iron wall hangers in the master bath. Except she didn’t want them to hang, but to sit. “She gets these quirky ideas, but then she does her research and makes it happen,” Hoopes continues, “and that’s why it’s

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