DEL.ICIO.USREMODELING
LaVista Park ranch house gets airy turnaround
Renovations transform ’50s home from creepy to comfortable
For The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, October 19, 2008
When partners Drew Plant and Bill Golden first saw their house in DeKalb’s LaVista Park neighborhood, they got goose bumps. But they weren’t the good kind.
“The neighbors used to call this the Boo Radley house,” Plant said, referring to the creepy character of the book “To Kill a Mockingbird.” “The only thing you could see from the street was the light of the doorbell.”
ALLEN SULLIVAN/aesullivan@ajc.com
The home of Bill Golden and Drew Plant in the LaVista Park neighborhood of DeKalb came with a pool, a two-car garage, and lots of 1950s character.
ALLEN SULLIVAN/aesullivan@ajc.com
In the living room, Golden and Plant chose to keep the original fireplace, but they changed the vaulted ceiling – which included a skylight – into a tray ceiling with recessed lights. They also took out windows and put in two sets of French doors. The windows were later used in the dining room.
Close inspection uncovered a 1952 brick ranch with a two-car garage, private lot, swimming pool, hardwood floors and basically good bones. After eight months of renovations and hacking away the overgrown landscape, the two took up residence five years ago.
“We kept the basic layout and made changes from there,” Golden said. “In the living room, we kept the original fireplace but changed a vaulted ceiling with a skylight into a tray ceiling with recessed lights. We took out windows and put in two sets of French doors.”
One of the biggest changes came in the dining room. “It was a tiny space with no windows next to a screened porch,” Golden said. “We added hardwoods to match the living room and added a bigger screened porch off the back. And we reused the old living room windows to give light on one side of the room.”
In the kitchen, the light hardwoods give way to a darker wood floor. The reconfigured space is now big enough to hold two dishwashers, double ovens, two sinks, a granite breakfast bar and a built-in hutch with glass-fronted cabinets.
Just when the couple thought their remodeling days were over, the master bath demanded attention.
“We hadn’t done anything in there because we thought we’d like to do an addition,” Plant said. “But when our hot water heater went out last February, the plumber discovered the floors underneath were rotted. So we decided to go ahead and put in the bath we wanted.”
A custom-built double door with frosted panes swings open into the rectangular space. A few feet were added to the end to create elbow room. A splashy shower was installed, with seafoam-shaded subway tile, a river rock floor and double shower heads. The heated floor is a honed white Carrera marble; the same marble frames the mirror and double Silestone sinks. Built into the mirrors are matching medicine cabinets. The dark cabinetry below came from Home Depot.
Along with having more elbow room in the bath, it keeps the character of the house, Plant said.
“The design keeps with the feel of the ’50s,” he said. “And I really love the ’50s ranch houses. There was a time when that put me in a class by myself, but there’s been a renewed interest in them and more people are discovering how great they are.”
RESOURCES
Following people, businesses involved in remodeling of Drew Plant’s, Bill Golden’s home.
Design: Rick Dent, ASID, Mathews Furniture Galleries, www.mathewsfurniture.com
Iberia Tiles: www.iberiatiles.com
Restoration Hardware: Medicine cabinets, sconces and trash cans, www.RestorationHardware.com
Smyrna Custom Glass & Mirror: Mirrors and custom frameless shower door, 770-436-4342
Smith and Noble: custom window blind, www.smithnoble.com
Showoffs wanted! Share your renovated room, kitchen, basement, attic or house. Call 404-514-6162 or e-mail hm_cauley@yahoo.com.
Services »