The remodeled three-story Upper Arlington home of Paul and Nancy Kormanik embraces history while including many modern amenities. It also stands as a symbol of extraordinary patience for the couple.

Throughout the span of five years, the Kormaniks endured a seemingly unending series of roadblocks while trying to rebuild their 80-year-old home.

“The project was much bigger than most people were capable of doing,” Paul says. It entailed tearing out plastered walls throughout, adding a room across the back and tying it into a home with a substandard foundation and structural framing by today’s standards.

And there were myriad other necessary changes, including new wiring, plumbing, heating and air conditioning, plus rebuilding stairs and landings, beefing up floor-joists and adding beams. The original contractor and subcontractors on the job were replaced, and architect Mark R. Denny was summoned to examine the home and redraw the plans.

Nearly three years after work started, the Kormaniks hired the highly-regarded and award-winning J.S. Brown & Co. to finish the project.

“We’ve been here 37 years and raised five now-adult children from birth. We kind of had a dream of bringing this house up to where it ought to be,” Paul says, adding that he considers the home an edifice in Historic UA that symbolizes the community’s stability.

“Detail stuff still had to be done,” says Monica Miller, company designer and sales manager. “Framing-wise, it was almost done when (J.S. Brown) started, but that was only the tip of the work.”

Paul wanted a home that would be open with sight lines in all directions from the entry and the kitchen. Walls were removed and openings enlarged to fulfill that objective. A highlight at the entry is the stairs, which include refinished original rail and steps with white wainscoting and decorative wood to create a paneled effect.

Small closets remain on either side of the entry door. To the left, French doors that led to the living room were removed, and a wider opening was created and a decorative pillar added on one side. Now it’s the dining room, but a gas fireplace remains.

J.S. Brown’s craftsmen built a wood mantel and border around the porcelain tile front with glass tile highlights designed by Miller. It is white, as is all of the custom-made woodwork throughout the home. Paul says the woodwork replicates the original, and that special routing blades were made to cut the similar designs.

To the left of the entry is the former dining room, which is now an office. To the front off the dining room is a room rebuilt with a new floor, insulation, heat and generous windows. The same efficient windows were installed throughout the home.

Flooring throughout is all new, factory-finished red oak. The old floors were too thin to be refinished.

The kitchen is in the added room across the back of the home, and is accessible through a wide square arch in the dining room or through a hallway from the entry. The kitchen’s vaulted ceiling adds to the visual expanse where colors blend and highlight design features.

Paul says he appreciates the functionality of the large, triangular, eye-catching island that has enough space for two chairs on one side, white base cabinets all around, a warming drawer (“I never thought we’d turn it on. But we use it all the time,” he says) and a small, European-inspired sink on one end.

Cherry base and wall cabinets with square-raised panel doors adjoin two convection wall ovens, surround the refrigerator and border a commercial gas range. The J.S. Brown team designed the slate tile backsplash that’s cabinet high around the stove and the twin sinks below a window on the rear wall.

Above the stove, white wood covers the vent that Paul originally thought would be the highlight of the room. But the backsplash, plus complementing granite countertops, attract the eye first, he says.

The family room off the kitchen uses the balance of a 19-foot-wide room addition. The addition has two small bump-outs, one for a shallow rear entry that Paul calls a mudroom. It is open from the family room and has small, locker-style niches on either side. The other bump provides a family room seating area with wide windows.

The upstairs highlight is the master suite with two access doors. One leads to the bath which includes a porcelain tile shower with a seat behind glass doors, heated tile floors and a walk-in closet divided between his-and-hers spaces.

In the master bathroom, the couple decided on a single sink counter to allow more space for a chair-height vanity counter at one end. Wall mirrors are beveled and mounted in frames that were custom made.

The original bathroom in the home’s original hallway was rebuilt and is close to two other bedrooms that are mostly unchanged.

The laundry room off the master bath also has access at the top of the stairs. The washer and dryer sit on a raised tiled platform that allows space for a floor drain. There’s also a large sink in a counter on base cabinets with wall cabinets above, all made of white wood.

Two smaller bedrooms have been redone and will likely be used mostly by the couple’s grandchildren.

The third floor is a “three-room suite,” Paul says, that has been a temporary home for their son David, a recent college graduate who’s seeking admission to law school. It has open rooms with sloped ceilings and a full bath. Another nearby room can also be used as a bedroom or playroom.

The project is complete, but still to come, the Kormanik’s would like to finish the basement and build a garage.

“We plan to stay here as long as we can,” Paul says.

Duane St. Clair is a contributing editor for Luxury Living.