Finding Direction

Laura Lesniewski had been holding out for one of the homes in downtown's Westside neighborhood to go on the market. Having lived with her brother down the street for several years, she knew the area and its collection of century-old architecture well, so when an 1880s Italianate became available in 2004, she jumped at the chance to buy it. But once she owned the property, she wasn't sure what direction to go.

Laura, an architect, knew how to proceed in general, but when it came to designing such a personal space for herself, the decisions didn't come as easily. During a three-and-a-half-year renovation, she employed a design-as-you-build approach. “I think it took so long because I was in denial about what to do,” Laura says. “When you are an architect and it's your space, there can be a false pressure to think every decision needs to be perfect, that you can't make mistakes, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Plus, the scale of work required was much more than I estimated.”

The condition of the house could have paralyzed anyone from moving forward. It had been vacant two years, the floor sloped six inches at one point, the spaces were choppy, the kitchen was too small, and a toilet had been plumbed in the living room, the remnant of a former tenant's inability to climb steps to reach the only bathroom upstairs. Through this, though, Laura saw potential. After all, the structure was a simple form — narrow, tall and with few details — and had just two bedrooms.

She made decisions as the options presented themselves, starting with a consultation with historic preservationists about restoring the home to its original state. Realizing she wouldn't be allowed to move the staircase that was in a stand off with the front door, she decided not to go that route. What was most important to her was opening up the space, which would require moving the stairs, a wall between the dining and living rooms, and another wall to a makeshift bedroom on the first floor.

With that decision made, she began the demolition process with her friend Willy Abraham, and then construction with friend and   fellow architect Eddy Krygiel, taking off work on Fridays so they'd have long weekends to get the job done. They also bumped out the back of the house six feet to make room for a bathroom, laundry area and extra square footage in the kitchen. Once they completed the framing, Laura hired professionals to do the interior work.

“Anything old I tried to keep,” she notes. Some things, such as stripping the trim, weren't worth the energy or time, so she replaced the trim and the windows, too, most of which stayed in their original locations. Because of termite damage to the floors, she removed hardwood planks from both floors, having enough to complete only the first-level flooring, and replaced the upstairs floor with bamboo. At the top of the flight, she put back a portion of the old banister.

The most striking reuse of a material is the original wood studs and joists used as paneling on the staircase, bringing a well-worn patina to a space that is otherwise considered modern. The TV hangs in front of a canary yellow corner couch and appears slightly recessed next to a boxed plywood frame that acts as a transitional element to the front entry and office. “People ask me ‘What's your plan for that?' and all I can say is ‘That is the plan,'” Laura laughs, remembering the initial tendency toward perfection.

The living room is now one with the dining room and kept simple with a few key pieces of furniture. In a small house, people tend toward small furnishings, but Laura went for “the big gun” of dining room tables. The 10-seat harvest table with a bench on one side fulfills multiple purposes: “I can have a project going on at one end and still have people over for dinner,” Laura says. 

Color also plays a big role throughout. She didn't want white walls, so in any given room, there are two main colors and sometimes a third. Orange is her favorite, and green pairs well with it, so those two make up the majority of the palette. Her niece, Grace, was allowed to choose colors (pink and brown) for the guest room.

Conscious of more than aesthetics, Laura made a lot of changes that aren't necessarily visible. Adding spray-foam insulation immediately improved the house's energy efficiency (especially considering there was zero insulation before), as did using radiant heat flooring throughout the house. A good cross breeze from the kitchen and dining room circulates cool air in the summer. A high-efficiency air-conditioning unit is installed in the attic space with ducting only to the second floor, and its loads are reduced thanks to a metal roof with a high reflective quality. Because of the open stair, an adequate amount of cool air drifts down to the first floor.

As a proponent of sustainability, Laura wants to add more green features as her remodeling continues in future phases. In Phase 19, for instance, she would like to install the green part of a green roof above the kitchen. In Phase 53, she strives to install PV (photovoltaic) panels to generate electricity. Her plan this year is to plant a rain garden. The phase numbering, only half in jest, is her realization that upon move-in, the house wasn't done and would simply be a lifelong project.

Inside and out, Laura has created — and will continue to create — a home with a unique blend of historic style and  modern influence. “It has a little more character than I      expected,” she admits. “And yet there's always room for more.”

Resources
Dining room table: Crate & Barrel 
Exterior/interior woodwork: DM Restoration
Interior doors: Habitat ReStore
Cabinetmaker: Dave Hammersmith
Concrete countertops: Pia Designs
Paint: Sherwin-Williams
Couch and lighting: IKEA
Lighting: Lowe's