‘Cozy and safe’ near Ocean City

In 2023, Emily and Tom Matera dreamed of owning their first house, where they could help with the design and build, raise a family near their parents and siblings, and put down roots.

They were living in a small apartment in Wilmington, but wanted to be closer to Ocean City where they were raised.

Then, in July 2023, they found a 2,600-square-foot bi-level home in Linwood’s Gold Coast neighborhood. They spent 16 months on a complete gut and renovation, and are now living their dream.

The house was the last project Tom’s dad, Bob, part of Matera Builders for 35 years, oversaw before retiring last year.

“He was the mastermind,” said Tom, a syndicated loan analyst at Truist Bank. “We wanted to be in by Christmas so we really pushed at the end. We hosted our first Christmas with 20 people five days after we moved in.”

The project was a family affair. They hired Ocean City-based Matera Builders, and Modelle Architecture in Somers Point, but Tom and Bob did a lot of the work themselves, following Bob’s vision. Tom’s brother, Michael, helped remove the home’s brick front exterior with a sledgehammer, and Emily’s mom, Nicole Williams, offered interior design help.

They bumped the house out about 20 feet to create a three-bedroom, 2½-bathroom home on three floors.

Walking into the front door, the open space includes a large kitchen and living room. One flight up are the bedrooms, including a large primary bedroom with a bathroom and walk-in closet.

The bottom floor includes a second living room, laundry room, powder room, and large sunroom filled with windows and sliding glass doors on two sides.

The kitchen and adjacent living room are where the couple spend most of their time.

Emily, an avid cook, has a large quartz island for prepping and serving meals, with pop-up electric outlets and phone chargers embedded into the countertop. She created a dedicated coffee nook, and installed a pot filler, a Sub-Zero refrigerator, Cove dishwasher, and Wolf oven and stove.

“We wanted a home where we could entertain,” said Emily, an event and wedding coordinator at Linwood Country Club. “We love having our friends and family over, and most weeks we host Sunday dinner. My mom will come over and we’ll cook together, which is really nice.”

While she cooks, visitors sit at the island or congregate in the living room. If a Philly sports team is playing, guests often watch the game on the TV in the downstairs living room. The adjacent sunroom can be separated by sliding Therma-Tru glass doors. Tom hosts friends for poker nights, and during the day he uses the sun-drenched space for his home office.

Emily’s design style is modern farmhouse. All of the rooms are painted white, and the kitchen cabinets are white with black hardware and chrome plumbing fixtures.

“I love the clean look of white and then I can add color with decorative pieces,” she said. One of their favorites is a watercolor painting gifted to them by their aunt, Lisa Matera.

Most of the rooms include shiplap walls, a project Bob and Tom painstakingly undertook — installation was tricky because walls often aren’t exactly square to the floor and ceiling. The horizontal pattern is designed to make the space seem larger.

“It was a little difficult in the beginning, but once we got the first wall down, we were OK,” Tom said.

They replaced the original brick exterior with Versatex PVC trim siding and repurposed the brick to make a firepit. They had the yard landscaped by Hilltop Landscaping based in Avalon. The grassy backyard includes a doghouse Tom and Bob built for Teddy, a 3-year-old Cavapoo.

One side of the yard features a tiled patio with an outdoor kitchen, complete with a grill, pizza oven, fire pit, prep table, and wicker furniture. The other side has a second patio with an outside shower, perfect for washing off after a day at the beach.

Just 10 minutes from the Ocean City beach, the couple enjoy spending time in the waves near where they grew up. They are expecting their first child in the fall, and are looking forward to raising a family in their new home.

“We’ve been together for 10 years but I feel like this is the start of our lives in the home we created and made our own,” said Emily. “It feels cozy and safe.”

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