Aia Home Of The Month -- Remodel Of '60S Rambler Brings A Change In Character

It's not hard to understand Scott and Shannon Greenburg's desire to remodel their 1960s low-roofed rambler - not when the biggest stylistic bang its exterior offered was the carport.

"To us it didn't have much curb appeal," Shannon understates. "It was pretty much asphalt up to the front door and had a carport that was the basic focal point."

However, the Greenburgs, parents of three preschool sons, loved the location just above the Burke-Gilman Trail in the Sheridan Beach area of North Seattle. And the panoramic view of Lake Washington and Mount Rainier alone would be enough to convince nearly anyone they should stay put.

So they did, and hired architect Cihan Anisoglu. His assignment: "We wanted a traditional style, although we weren't set on what traditional meant," Shannon says. "We also wanted an enclosed garage and we wanted him to fix the drainage problems."

The result was chosen by a panel of architects as this month's Seattle Times/American Institute of Architects, Seattle Chapter, open house.

It's open today only from 1 to 5 p.m. There is no parking at the house. Visitors must park along the east side of Bothell Way (which can be very busy, so caution must be taken) and walk about two blocks down the home's long, steep driveway. Direction signs will be posted.

Visitors also are urged not to park on the west side of Bothell Way and attempt to cross the street; there are no crosswalks.

Like so many hillside homes, the Greenburgs had seepage problems when it rained, in this case because the "land sloped almost to the front door," Anisoglu explains.

To solve that problem, and give the Greenburgs the enclosed garage they wanted, he made the top of their lot steeper, then leveled the area in front of the home to provide a large, paved courtyard. An unattached two-car garage sits in the middle of the court-yard, which Scott, an attorney, plans to use as a home gym. Another two-car garage, this one for autos, is attached to the home.

Rock and concrete walls and an underground drainage system also help channel the water. Of the $400,000 cost of the remodel, site work was $100,000, including $40,000 for concrete.

The remodel took the home from its original 3,800 square feet to 6,000.

The second major task was changing the home's character from its long, low rambler-style to a traditional style, which Anisoglu did by taking aim at the shallow-pitch roof. "A shallow roof says 1960s," he explains, "and makes a house feel short."

So the architect talked the owners into a partial second-floor addition - a master suite - with a more steeply pitched roof than the existing roof line, which still covers the kitchen area.

ENTRY IS THE FOCUS

Instead of the carport being the main visual focus, the home's entry now takes center stage. It's a covered portico with arch-topped columns.

Inside the front doors is a dramatic two-story entry with a view through to the living room and the lake. The entry, which includes a wide staircase and arched second-story windows, is flanked by stair-stepped partial walls containing closets.

The living room and the main floor bedrooms remain essentially as they were, except for cosmetic changes, such as lightening the wood on the vaulted living-room ceiling with a subtle driftwood-colored stain.

The kitchen, however, is a dramatic - and unexpected - remodel. Shannon Greenburg originally wanted to wait until later to do that part of the job, but when she saw how much necessary dislocation the main remodel caused she changed her mind.

Fortunately, deciding mid-remodel to redo the kitchen by combining two small rooms into one and adding maple cabinets and a granite-topped cooking island didn't inconvenience the family. On their architect's advice the family had moved into an apartment for what stretched to be a year. "It was one of the best decisions we made," Shannon says.

Off the kitchen, architect Anisoglu turned what had been a covered porch into a roofed and columned open air dining room. On one side it leads to the hot tub and rear yard, on the other to the childrens' playground and sport court.

A GRAND MASTER SUITE

Upstairs, there's a landing, which Anisoglu made 2 feet wider than the normal 4 feet to accommodate furniture. It leads to a sitting room, which is connected to the master bedroom by pocket French doors. Both rooms have panoramic views of the lake.

The master bath is reached by a corridor flanked by his and hers closets, and includes two sky-lit sinks and a large soaking tub.

The lower level, which received only cosmetic changes, contains the family room plus bedrooms and a bath. This floor will not be open to the public tour, nor will several rooms on the main floor that were not remodeled.

The finished home drew mixed, but mostly positive comments from the AIA committee members. "The exterior appears somewhat random if not just boring," wrote one architect. But another lauded it for nicely detailed interiors that felt good and yet another called it a "very successful remodel" and praised its dramatic entry.

Now that the family is back in its home, Shannon says their remodeling goals were fully realized.

"The whole exterior is magnificent and inviting. And I've really come to appreciate how carefully everything was thought out," she says.