2124 NE 25th Avenue A Late Craftsman Style Bungalow - Transformed for Modern Living

Providing you didn't go around back and peek at the sun room addition, you would never realize that this charming bungalow was so spectacular inside.  It is truly a new house in an old skin.  The current owners bought this 1923 home in 2002 because they loved the neighborhood's close in location, and saw the potential to craft it into their dream home.  Since then, the entire floor plan has changed, re-envisioned as a comfortable home to display artwork and items collected during their travels, a flowing series of spaces flooded with light and color.

Before the renovation, you were greeted by a long dark narrow hallway that led to cramped stairs.  The entire core of the house was re designed around gracious new, beautifully finished stairs that also provide display space for glass and pottery pieces.  When you step into the living room, you discover that the harmonized colors of the rooms unfold through a series of French doors that lead all the way back to the sun room and out into the garden.  Original built-ins still grace the dining room and flank the fireplace, providing a link to the homes Craftsman Style origins.

Awkward small back bedrooms were combined with the former stair location to create an expansive first floor master suite. The marble shower was inspired by one in Italy.  The adjoining sun room is the only alteration to the foot print of the home, and is, understandably one of the owners' favorite places.  Light flows in through all the windows and skylights, and radiant floor heating adds a sun warmed feel to the room on even the chilliest days.  A music teacher lived in the home for close to 30 years.  She had both an organ and a piano in the room still known as "the music room".  It now holds only one piano, along with a chaise and a tiny green telephone that was the owners when she was a child.

As you ascend the stairs you find another way this home plays with the light.  A skylight and glass louvers have been installed to balance the light, air and privacy needs of the rooms upstairs.  More innovation can be found in the upstairs bath, where a glass brick wall allows in light that would otherwise be trapped in the adjoining room.

Be sure to see the den / guest room, where the often over looked space in the eaves of a house was put to excellent use.  A  fully made bed can be pulled out of a book case like a drawer!   Another bedroom holds a beautiful suite of furniture made by one of the owner's great grandfather, trained as a woodcrafter in Norway.