Atlanta Journal-Constitution – Bungalow Wins Renovators’ Hearts
October 15, 2006
The distressed 90-year-old bungalow Kara O’Brien and Paula Rose bought in 2002 started out as just another investment for the Kara O’ Brien Renovations partners.
But its hidden charms slowly beguiled them as they uncovered the work of Boston builder Frank Ruggles, who built the corner dwelling in 1912.
“He just did the quirkiest, most unexpected things,” said Kara. “It’s so neat that they survived 100 years.”
Details like the dining room’s delicate grape-leaf window, hand-carved columns and shelf-topped wainscot convinced them that this house was too special to let go.
So, after adding some $200,000 in salvaged antique fixtures, modern updates and conscientious restoration to their $180,000 purchase, the couple made it their home.
The renovation took a year.
“We ripped everything out and tried to ask ourselves what this would have looked like in 1912, then tried to re-create that,” Kara said.
Not only were they committed to restoring the home’s appealing historic ambiance, they embrace an environmentally responsible ethic that values reuse of materials.
They removed paneling from the crumbling plaster and rebuilt the flooring supports for the second floor.
“The upstairs of the house was within a few weeks of falling down into the first floor,” Kara said.
The modern kitchen with rich cherry cabinets, granite countertops, a slate mosaic backsplash and roomy butler’s pantry was created after Kara and Paula, both 36, joined two carved-up kitchens. The original white pine floor came as a bonus uncovered after peeling back layers of linoleum.
To create the inviting master suite, the couple replaced a wall between two rooms with a pair of 100-year-old columns from their trove of salvaged architectural gems. The suite occupies an addition built onto the original house in about 1920.
Their distinctive newel post collection yielded a sturdy pair from a former West Virginia academy to anchor the staircases up to the second floor and down to the garage. Other ornate post samples provide decorative touches throughout the house.
“When we find neat salvage stuff, we buy it,” Kara said.
The master bath has a mirror salvaged from a nearby Asa Candler house the pair restored.
By far the biggest task the couple faced was re-creating the irreparably damaged terrazzo floors in the guest bath and the deep front porch. Layers of crushed marble embedded in a concrete base had to be continually ground to polished smoothness, a process that took weeks longer than anticipated.
“I’m happy now,” Kara said. “But I went into it blind.”
Now contentedly settled with daughter Walker, 3, the couple has turned their professional attention to the Ruggles-built house next door.
(click on the photos below to view the gallery)
In the living room of their 1912 Kirkwood craftsman bungalow, 3 year-old Walker Rose O'Brien spends time with her parents Paula Rose, center, and Kara O'Brien, right, before trying on Kara's shoes. They purchased the house to renovate and sell but became attached in the process.
The yard was the last phase of Paula and Kara's renovation efforts. After several failed attempts to get sod to root, the couple opted for durable, easy-care mondo grass and a low-maintenance assortment of native Southern flora.
Paula and Kara's master suite was created by replacing a wall dividing the room from a former breakfast nook with pillars that mimic those dividing the living and dining rooms in the front of the house. The French doors at the rear lead onto a deck the couple built to replace a collapsed porch.
Kara and Paula's master bath features a 100 year-old Victorian mirror salvaged from their renovation of a former Asa Candler home on Howard Street. To reflect the vintage tone, the couple used marble splash guards supported by spiral chrome sink brackets. The leaded glass in the transom window above was created to match similar windows in other parts of the house.
Kara and Paula made use of this newel post salvaged from the DeSales Heights Academy in West Virginia, which was torn down in 2002. Local legend held that the academy was haunted and the couple reports a bit of unexplained thumping around the house until the two posts were installed.
The clock on the mantel of this original fireplace was patented in 1912, the same year the Kirkwood craftsman bunglow was built. The front parlor was once used as a gentleman's smoking room and includes a pair of handsom stained glass windows that swivel outward to pull the smoke away from the center of the house.
This 1880s steel door knob and plate, with a working key, can be found on the door to Kara and Paula's master bedroom. The couple salvaged them from an East Lake Victorian home.
The couple purchased this poured-glass fixture from South Carolina on eBay six years ago thinking that eventually it would find a "perfect place," which turned out to be their own front porch. Their renovation business, Laughing Sun, was born of their passion for old homes and historic decorative artifacts. They laughingly term it 'a hobby run amok.'
Paula and Kara have furnished their home with a carefully assmebled collection of antique furnishings that complement its historic ambiance, such as this vintage empire couch.
Hand-carved wainscot is topped by casement windows on either side of the front door leading to the deep front porch. The draft from the shady porch through the open windows offered a version of "natural air conditioning" on summer days before electric cooling. June Rose, left, joins her daughter, Paula Rose, and granddaughter, Walker Rose O'Brien, after Walker's nap.
The stone waterfall and hardy flora of the front yard are easily visible from the "Blue Room" that Kara and Paula provide for guests. Much of the glass in the home's large windows is original.
Black cat Ninja, one of several family pets, makes a perfect Halloweeen tableau with this trio of pumpkins on Kara and Paula's spacious front porch. The terrazo floor was painstakingly redone to its original 1912 Craftsman standards.
