Maybe it’s easy to build that dream home meant to last a lifetime. Just find a plot and start from scratch. But sometimes, a priceless vista and an old home’s spark of classic design can force a different call. In the case of one Mechanicsburg-area couple, the journey started with a case of cabin fever, and it blossomed into a home blending modern touches with vintage inspiration.
The story began when Pam Pitman, with a broken leg and torn meniscus, was under orders not to drive. She was, says her husband, Paul, “going stir crazy.” It was an August day, and they went for a ride. Paul turned onto a street they’d never seen before, and there was a house for sale—a sprawling 1950s rancher with a four-season room tacked awkwardly to the front. In the rear, separate in-law quarters connected via a gangling breezeway.
In Paul’s eyes, the home’s low profile and extended eaves hinted at its original nod to Prairie style, the crisp design mode inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement and made famous by Frank Lloyd Wright. When the couple returned with a real estate agent, Pam was able to walk, on her own, into the living room. From its bow windows, she looked out onto the sloping lawns, a winding road, and distant mountains.
“This is it,” she said. “I’m sold.”
Creating Views
In post-World War II America, Wright’s Prairie style gained traction in developments nationwide, but the subtleties got lost in the rush to mass-market homes for baby-booming young families. When the Pitmans found Harrisburg-based architect Allison Ong Shreffler, they found a designer whose work takes cues from those original inspirations, no matter how obscured (harrisburgarchitects.net).
“What can I put back into it to give it the character I want it to be?” says Shreffler. “Pam and Paul have the esthetic sensitivity. They wanted to explore options that would enhance the home.”
Shreffler’s award-winning exterior design gave the home a showcase portico, higher than the roof but echoing its original lines. Elevating the self-supporting portico roof created “a weatherproof enclosure that also defined an entrance that is warm and inviting,” says Shreffler.
Stone from the portico pillars repeats in a long planter that unifies different sections. It also found use as an accent breaking up the exterior’s solid tableau of brick while cleverly concealing the old door to the in-law quarters.
Inside, the Pitmans wanted an open floor plan that revolved around the central fireplace. Surrounded by greenery, they wanted “as much glass on the back as we could, because the view is so nice,” says Paul.
Shreffler understood. Her redesign, built by Hutch Homes Inc., tore out walls to combine separate rooms into a single living, dining and kitchen area. The old bow windows became picture windows in the front. In the rear, windows and sliding glass doors, some featuring between-glass blinds, overlook the yard ringed by trees.
Stand anywhere in this house, and a vista appears. Shreffler calls it her “inside-out philosophy.”
“When you can introduce exterior views into your living area, your space becomes more than just the confines of your room,” she says. “If you can increase the visible, visual qualities, the space then expands.”
The Changes
The “inside-out philosophy” carries through the entire redesign. Doors and archways open to windows in unexpected places, all in homage to the views.
Take Pam’s weaving studio. A geologist by training, she has taken up weaving, completing dishtowels and scarves. Now, she wants to create rugs on a new, larger loom, installed in what was once a bedroom. It faces a doorless arch that opens to a section of the back hallway and a window overlooking the backyard, for idyllic views when Pam is weaving.
The back hallway, extending the length of the house, solved the challenge of incorporating the main home with that separate in-law suite, now the master bedroom and guest room. Much of the hallway’s interior walls are white-painted brick of the home’s original outside wall. The other side of the hallway faces the expansive back yard, with windows across from Pam’s studio, across from the pantry, across from just about everything. Combined, they transform the hallway from utilitarian to a sort of light tunnel.
Even the bedroom features doors that can close or open to the hallway with, of course, a bank of windows looking into the front yard. A facing, curtained wall of windows overlooks the backyard.
“You’re really surrounded by all the glazing,” says Shreffler. “You’re in your own outdoor room.”
Sliding glass doors opening directly to the composite-material deck also enhance the bedroom’s outdoorsy feel, for glorious mornings with coffee in hand. The deck links to the driveway via a walkway which, like the hall, extends the length of the house. Sliders from the kitchen also open to the walkway.
“One of my favorite parts is this whole deck,” says Pam. “Before, you had to go down into the yard and around and up to get to the driveway. It was really cumbersome.”
Cable railings helped modernize the deck and demonstrate the kind of finishing details that add polish. “It’s practical,” says Shreffler. “It doesn’t block the views.” Plus, vertical slats conceal the area below-deck, presenting a pleasing aspect where many homeowners might make do with chewed-up lattice.
The Pitmans completed much of the interior work and chose the décor details in soft grays, blues and blacks. They installed the crisp molding, laid in clean verticals and horizontals. Pam found the flooring, what she calls “a warm and neutral” maple that will endure. Pam, says Paul, “has a really good eye.”
The Livable Home
The newly opened floor plan creates space for entertaining, all amid the panoramic views and the stone fireplace. “The house holds a lot of people easily,” says Pam. The uniquely designed kitchen with cabinets by Seifert Woodcrafts features an elegant “working wall” of refrigerator, range and double oven. Perpendicular to that wall are two islands. One island features counter, sink and dishwasher. The other, two-tiered island offers a high, outer-facing level that can serve as a buffet while also hiding the goings-on of the lower workspace counter.
“You’ve got this whole bar that you can serve from,” says Pam. “You’ve got plugs. You can just go right down the line. There’s so much room.”
Shreffler strived to make the redesigned home “efficient but pretty.” Good design recognizes such utilitarian elements as window placement to accommodate furniture, because “there will be someone living here,” she says. “Home becomes a place that functions well, but it’s beautiful at the same time.”
Just as a restaurant has a front of the house for diners and a back of the house for operations, Shreffler gives open floor plans a “front” and “back.” In this home, a spacious pantry between kitchen and garage keeps small appliances and other as-needed items like wrapping paper handy but hidden. “The ‘back of the house’ is adequate storage, because you don’t want to display everything. It’s got to be a workhorse.”
Aging in Place
In this home, a Jack and Jill bathroom connects Pam’s studio with Paul’s office. Both rooms could become bedrooms for a future owner, but in the meantime, the Pitmans sought a design that would allow them to stay here for a long time. Aging-in-place touches include first-floor living, wide hallways, and a roll-in shower. “All those things you have to think about in planning ahead,” says Shreffler.
In fact, designing for aging in place, or for accommodating elderly guests, has never been easier. Products such as bathroom grab bars are now offered in attractive designs, “so you don’t look like you’re going into some kind of institution,” says Shreffler.
By M. Diane McCormick | Photography By Dimitri Ganas