An Inside Look at The Westport Project: Listing is Live!
The story behind the most talked-about home build in Westport, and why The O’Dell Group is proud to share it with you.
Front Exterior of 16 Westport Avenue in Westport, built by The O’Group. Image by Estative Media.
There are projects you build locally, and then there are projects that build something bigger than a house — that create waves well beyond the local community. The Westport Project is the latter. It's a custom home build in Westport, CT that has captured the attention of design lovers, real estate watchers, and lifestyle media across the country, and this summer, the listing officially went live.
For those who have been following along on YouTube, through People.com's coverage, or on social media, you already know this isn't just another luxury home in Fairfield County. The Westport Project is a home designed and built by The O'Dell Group, brought to a wider audience through a creative partnership with Eva Amurri, actress, founder of the lifestyle blog Happily Eva After, and Marketing Partner and Host of The Westport Project YouTube series.
Now that the listing is live, we wanted to take a step back and share what this project has meant to our team, what makes it special, and why we believe it represents the future of custom home building in Connecticut.
What The Westport Project Set Out to Prove
From day one, The Westport Project had a thesis: that design-build done right can create a home that is both magazine-worthy and ultra-optimized for lifestyle. Not a showpiece that looks beautiful but doesn't function. Not a builder-grade box with luxury finishes glued on top, but something better…. a home where every detail is intentional, every system is integrated, and every room is designed around how people actually live.
Every design decision, material palette, spatial flow, the way light moves through each room, the integration of smart-home and energy systems, was led in-house by The O'Dell Group's design-build team. That single point of accountability is what lets a home like this hold together: no decorator's-best-guess, no value-engineered substitutions, no handoff seams between architect, builder, and finisher.
Eva's role was to help the right audience find it. As Creative Marketing Partner and Host of The Westport Project YouTube series, she brought a storyteller's eye to how the home was documented and shared, translating the craft behind the build into something a national audience could feel. Eva’s platform gave the project a narrative reach most custom builds never get, and we're grateful for the partnership that helps our custom craftsman get the airtime it deserves.
“Demo Day” Party: Kicking Off The Adventure with a Bang
When this adventure began, we had an and a vision, along with many passionate and supportive partners along the way. Watch the demolition get started here in Episode 1: New Beginnings.
But vision without execution is just a Pinterest board. Every design and construction decision on The Westport Project — from the structural envelope to the last cabinetry pull — was led in-house by The O'Dell Group, with Chris O'Dell heading the design-build team from concept through completion. That single point of accountability is what let the home hold together at this level: no decorator's-best-guess, no value-engineered substitutions, no handoff seams between architect, builder, and finisher.
The result is a custom home in Westport, CT that proves you don't have to choose between beauty and function, between design ambition and real-world practicality. The Westport Project set out to prove that a true design-build team — under one roof, accountable for the whole — produces a better home than the fragmented approach. The finished house, and the listing now live, speak for themselves.
The O'Dell Group's Role
The O'Dell Group designed The Westport Project, built it, and managed every physical aspect of bringing it to life. From foundation to finish, our team led the design intent, the scheduling, the subcontractor coordination, the material sourcing, the quality control, and the day-to-day construction operations that kept an ambitious project on track from start to delivery. Chris O'Dell led the team through the kind of complex, detail-rich process that separates true custom homes from production builds with custom price tags. Every wall, every roofline, every transition between materials was executed with precision because that's what a project at this level demanded.
The technology layer is something buyers in the Westport luxury home market increasingly expect, and The Westport Project delivers it at a level that sets a new standard for what's possible in a design-build Connecticut project.
One of the elements we're most proud of is the smart home integration, and it's something we do differently than most builders: our custom integrations team is in-house. Corbin, Fahad, and Victor are part of The O'Dell Group Custom Integrations division (O’Dell Integration), working alongside our design and construction leads from the earliest framing stages, not a low-voltage subcontractor brought in at the end. That's why this house doesn't feel like a smart-home retrofit. Lighting control, climate management, integrated audio, security, and automated shading were all planned, pre-wired, and commissioned as part of the construction timeline… resulting in a home that feels effortlessly modern, with no visible wires and no awkward retrofits.
The technology layer is something buyers in the Westport luxury home market increasingly expect, and The Westport Project delivers it at a level that sets a new standard for what's possible in a design-build Connecticut project, in large part because the people who designed the systems work down the hall from the people who built the house.
A Creative Partnership Worth Naming
A house this distinctive deserved to be seen by the right audience. That's where Eva Amurri came in, as a creative Marketing Partner, to Host “The Westport Project” YouTube series. Eva, actress and founder of the lifestyle blog Happily Eva After, brought a storyteller's eye to how the home was documented, hosting the series from the framing stage all the way through the finale. Her platform gave the project a national reach most custom builds never get, and her on-camera presence translated the craft behind the build into something a broader audience could feel. The series wrapped earlier this summer. We're grateful for the partnership, and for the audience it built around the home.
Design Highlights You'll See in the Listing
The listing and the completed YouTube series remain the best way to experience this home end-to-end. A few of the highlights worth calling out:
The Kitchen
The heart of the home, designed to function that way. Custom white oak cabinetry, a layout engineered for both entertaining and everyday meals, and finishes that balance warmth with sophistication. Every surface, every appliance placement (shoutout Aitoro Appliance , every sight line was considered with both aesthetics and real-life usability in mind.
The kitchen at 16 Westport Ave. Photo by Caryn B. Davis.
The Primary Suite
A true retreat. Spa-inspired bathroom finishes, thoughtful storage, and a sense of calm that holds even when the rest of the house is full. The proportions, the natural light, and the material choices work together to create something that feels luxurious without being overdone.
The Primary Bathroom at 16 Westport Avenue with views of Compo Beach in Westport, Connecticut. Photo by Caryn B. Davis.
Outdoor Living
Westport living is about indoor-outdoor flow, and this home delivers. The outdoor spaces were designed as true extensions of the interior — heated gunite spa, functional gathering area on the roof deck, and loggia on the lower level that transitions seamlessly between inside and outside. The kind of outdoor living that makes summer in Coastal Connecticut feel like they last forever.
Roof Deck with Wet bar and views of Long Island Sound. Image by Caryn B. Davis.
Custom Integrations: Smart Home Features
The technology is integrated, not added. Lighting, climate, invisible audio, and security respond intuitively from the moment you walk in. It's the kind of smart-home experience that makes you wonder why every new build doesn't work this way. The answer, frankly, is that most builders don't plan for it early enough. We did.
The Family Room located adjacent to the kitchen with curved white oak and travertine floating fireplace with back lighting and integrated Frame TV. Origin Acoustics invisible speakers are integrated in the ceiling and can be controlled by the homeowner via phone or tablet. Photo by Caryn B. Davis.
What This Project Means for Westport
The Westport Project was always going to be more than a single home. The coverage it drew confirmed it. DesignPort featured the home on their SNOOP series, a video walkthrough led by Anita Avakian, Principal Designer at The O'Dell Group, alongside Eva, talking through the design language, the material selections, and the smart-home choices that shape the way the house lives. ("This is not your typical spec house," as Anita put it.) That kind of recognition from a design-industry platform, covering style, selections, and execution at the level designers actually care about, meant a lot to our team.
Compass Sports & Entertainment ran a long-form feature framing the project as a net-zero dream home on Compo Beach that "brought Westport together" a piece that landed the house in front of a national, high-net-worth audience that doesn't usually find a Westport build through traditional real estate channels.
We also partnered with Clarendon Fine Art on a content series timed to the home's debut showings. Anita and Clarendon's Eve Gianni curated and installed an exhibition-quality collection of works inside the house, Basquiat, Toby Mulligan, Natasha Barnes, Gee Gee Collins, choosing pieces specifically for the rooms they hung in. A home and a collection, curated in tandem, so buyers walking through could see how art lives in the architecture rather than imagining it onto bare walls. The series itself documented how the right works and the right rooms find each other.
The YouTube series gave a different kind of audience a different kind of view: what the custom home build process actually looks like, episode by episode… the good, the challenging, the decisions that keep you up at night, and the moments when everything comes together. The willingness to document the project openly created something rare in the building world: extreme transparency.
And for The O'Dell Group, that transparency has been a point of pride. For the Westport community specifically, the project raised the bar. It showed prospective buyers what a truly custom, thoughtfully designed home looks like. It demonstrated that the design-build model, where the same team is accountable from concept through completion, produces better results than the traditional fragmented approach. And it brought positive attention to a town that deserves to be known for its design culture and lifestyle, not just its zip code.
Watch, Follow, and Visit
The build is complete, the series has wrapped, and the listing is live. If you're discovering The Westport Project for the first time, here's where to catch up:
The completed YouTube series: Every episode of The Westport Project, from framing through finale, is on YouTube — start here.
The project archive: Press coverage, behind-the-scenes content, and the full project record live at thewestportproject.com/press.
The listing: 16 Westport Avenue on KMS Compass — photos, floor plans, and private showings with the KMS Team at Compass.
Follow our next builds: @theodellgroup on Instagram for what's coming up next.
Whether you're a Westport resident, a Fairfield County buyer, or simply someone who loves watching a beautiful home come together, The Westport Project has something for you. The series is complete. The house is ready. The next chapter belongs to the family that walks through the door and decides 16 Westport is home.
The O'Dell Group brings this same level of craft, design accountability, and attention to detail to every project we take on — whether it's a marquee build like The Westport Project or a kitchen renovation down the street. If you're thinking about building, renovating, or preparing your Westport home for market, we'd love to hear from you. Let's build something worth talking about.
