This photo is from a past summer when the flowers were in bloom.
Three bedrooms, one-and-a-half bathrooms on the main floor, with a commercial-style kitchen/dining area and living room.
In the basement, there's another bedroom, along with a family room with a pool table, a storage room, and a large laundry room with more storage.
There's a two-car detached garage, an in-ground pool, and other backyard amenities.
In this part of Speedway, the homes were all built by the same builder in the mid 1950s. They are solid, practical homes - but they are mostly the same.
This one looks like most from the outside, but there are a few things that make this one different - an in-ground pool, an unusual wall treatment
in the living room, and a commercial styled kitchen. If you're looking for 'normal' this won't be the place for you. But if you want a place geared for
great times living and entertaining, then this might just be the perfect place for you!
New vinyl windows were installed a couple years ago.
A white vinyl privacy fence surrounds the backyard, except where the gate from the driveway is located.
There, an open style fence is more welcoming. And it's beautiful adorned with morning glories!
The reason for the privacy fence is this wonderful in-ground swimming pool.
Here's a demonstration of one way to enjoy the pool.
Here's a view of the pool from the large sculpted deck.
Form follows function in this large fish-styled deck. The fish's tail doubles as a bench, and the size and shape are just right for backyard gatherings.
I like to think of it as a sculpture that doubles as a deck. The boards are staggered and alternately colored to remind you of a fish skeleton,
and the ends of the boards are rounded to finish the look. The band board is bent wood - this took far longer to build than a normal deck!
Some people think of a different type of fun when they hear the word "pool".
In the basement, there's a commercial pool table. These are extremely well-built, and have a one-piece slate (rather than 2 or 3 sections
like home tables). The coin-operation of this table is disconnected for unlimited play.
One wall of the living room, at first glance, appears to be some kind of tile. It's actually a high-end retail display material.
You might have seen its cheaper cousin, called 'slat wall'.
There are slat wall fixtures made for just about anything you can dream up!
On this wall, you can easily arrange and re-arrange anything you'd care to put on a wall. Plus, wires for speakers and other equipment can be tucked into
the slots to keep things looking tidy.
The original built-in shelves in this corner were retained.
The windows in all of the upstairs rooms make this home bright and cheerful.
The most unusual part of this home is the kitchen.
This home was built in the mid-50s, and the kitchen was designed for one person to do the work,
setting the meals out for everyone else, and there was room for one person to clean up after the meal.
As I was thinking of different ways to remodel the kitchen,
one of my adult sons told me of the gatherings with his friends. For them, the food preparation was at least half of the fun!
That sounded so appealing, I decided to design the kitchen to be the ideal place for that kind of gathering.
Here's a glimpse of one family holiday breakfast preparation...
It starts with the large butcher-block island. It's on lockable wheels - great for flexible arrangement and for cleaning. There's even a special mount for a
Kitchen-Aid mixer bowl fixed to the table top!
The top half of one wall has the same treatment as the living room wall. It's fun to move things around. (If you play an instrument,
you should hang one in the kitchen. You'll be able to practice a song while you're waiting for the water to boil for your tea!)
There's a stainless steel table top by the window with commercial kitchen shelving. It's also a great place for houseplants and herbs!
The kitchen floor is a resin material embedded with black, white and gray sand particles.
I had thought about installing a real commercial range - but an experienced designer talked me out of that.
They are not child-friendly, and not best for most people. This household range has a bit of commercial feel to it, and the convection oven is a little wider
than most home ranges.
Above the stove is a high capacity fan that exhausts outside - not just through a filter and back into the room like so many hood fans.
Built into what was wasted space above the basement stairway, there's a space now taken up by a commercial kitchen 'speed rack' -
the multiple slot rack that holds 20 full-size sheet pans, or twice that many half-size pans. The half-size pans will fit in this oven so we use
them for cooking. The full-size pans act as shelving for spices and other cooking utensils. Adjustable commercial shelving is suspended above the stove,
sink, and center island.
The most amazing part of this kitchen is this commercial 3-bay sink. Once you get used to the heavy duty sprayer, you'll never want to live without one!
A small refrigerator tucks under the shelf of this sink, leaving room to access the recessed compartment and the speed rack.
A magnet strip holds your knives securely and in the most sanitary way. The dishes above the sink resulted from reading a book on kitchen design.
The author said it's less work to have a rack that drips into the sink than it is to use a dishwasher. You wash and rinse the dish, place it on the rack,
and leave it there until the next time you use it.
Food preparation is not the only wonderful thing about this kitchen.
It's also a great place for projects. This film shows some beautiful work being produced right in this room.
So if you are the creative type, you'll find that the moveable butcher-block island and the large sink and sprayer might be the most useful workspace you've ever had!
Not pictured:
- A built-in bench beneath the 'slat wall' section in the kitchen. It has storage underneath, and storage in the back that faces the main refrigerator.
- Gold lettering embedded in the resin flooring where you enter the kitchen from the living room - "Friends Gather Here".
- Two car detached garage - concrete block construction with brick front to match the house.
- Remodeled full bath with marble and tile replacing the wood trim around the window.
- Remodeled half bath with nice fixtures and wainscot wall treatment.
