By Duane St. Clair

A picturesque home in a once rural area has been converted into a gleaming icon of the historic heritage of Westerville and the Central College area.

Not far from Hoover Dam, white, spiffed up two-story pillars uniquely identify the recently overhauled home of Scott and Cathy Beckett. It has charm, character and conveniences never before realized in the nearly 90 years since the home were built, expanded and repeatedly remodeled.

When they found the home 15 years ago, Cathy said her husband liked it and she didn’t. She said everything – walls, floors, woodwork, cabinets – was brown. She “hoped the loan wouldn’t go through” for them to buy what had been a farm house and which sits on a 1-acre lot with mature trees in a small woods as its backdrop.

After they bought the home, however, they systematically redecorated. Eventually, an attached garage was converted to a family room with a wood burning fireplace. Scott built a deck that’s across much of the back and wraps around to one side where a large grill is kept. Lots of landscaping, including a waterfall and fishpond, were added.

Then, with two children grown and gone, came the time to decide what to do: keep and remodel the home that was beginning to go downhill mechanically and otherwise, or fix it some and sell it. Location, character of their yard and the probability of spending what they estimated to be $800,000 to $900,000 for another home with those amenities and others, they wanted led to the decision to remodel – from top to bottom.

Bill Maibach, of Custom Home Works, Ltd., took on the challenge that at times was daunting.

Maibach says that the demolition rubble filled 11 22-cubic-foot dumpsters. In places, his crews uncovered multiple layers of drywall and paneling that had been applied on top of the original plaster. Extra ceilings had added 4 inches to the dining room ceiling height and narrowed the size of an upstairs bedroom about as much.

Most old plaster and lathe was hauled away as was a staircase and remnants of walls that were removed. Doors and old woodwork were removed. Three roofs, one on top of the other, had been added over a laundry room and office addition at the rear of the home. The result was that part of an upstairs room had a step-up platform barely 6 feet from the ceiling.

While there was an original stairs from the dining room, another had been added from the kitchen. The first floor was a hodge-podge of doors and walls. An eating area, separated from the kitchen, had access to the first-floor half bath. To revamp the entire interior “was a real challenge because of all that had been done before,” most of it improperly, Maibach says.

From the outside in, the project involved:
• Dressing up the old porch roof, trim and columns and replacing wood shingle siding on the home with vinyl shingles.
• Enclosing an exterior metal chimney with stucco stone that matches the family room fireplace front.
• Building a kitchen with two distinct work areas, each with a sink and dishwasher, so the family can accommodate many guests and easily get the cleanup done. One work area, with a commercial grade gas range, is where the eating area was. An extension on the granite countertop provides an eating space with stools.
• Upgrading an archaic fireplace in the living room by adding gas-fired insert and dressing it with a wood mantle.
• Removing the original stairs to create more space in the dining room, plus adding a closet there where there’s a long table with eight chairs, part of the Becketts’ goal of having ample room for guests to be seated for dining. Cathy estimates she can seat up to 50 people inside and out for dining.
• Installing wide “quarter sawn” oak plank floors throughout the first floor. The term refers to a sawing process that affects grain so that it appears thinner than usual in oak.
• Tearing out the low, flat ceiling and building an addition to the second-floor back room to convert it to a master suite overlooking the rear yard. A vaulted ceiling was built to open overhead space in the original section. The new area is devoted to a walk-in closet and a large bath with twin sinks in a granite top and a shower with large tiles, three shower heads and a seat. Cathy says the shower is large enough that she can bathe her three dogs in it – one at a time, of course.
• Upgrading the original second floor bath, revamping closets and decorating the two other bedrooms while enlarging one bedroom door that had been too small, and adding a hallway linen closet.
• New woodwork was installed throughout. It’s made of wide boards. Baseboards are enhanced with a small crown molding along top edges. Plinth blocks were placed the corners of all doorways.
• Faces of white kitchen cabinets and some decorative wall panels are cut to create narrow, highlighted vertical lines in keeping with a vertical look Cathy wanted throughout.
Maibach describes the finished product as “eclectic, more like mission than shaker, which creates a desired colonial appearance.” Leaded windows in and around the front door used “seeded” panes, which gives them a bubbled appearance like glass of the 19th century. Some kitchen cabinet doors have the same glass to carry the theme inside.

The whole house was rewired and re-plumbed. Dimmer switches were installed for almost every fixture to better control ambience as well as lighting. A sound system is wired throughout. The basement was cleaned up and improved, and includes a small wine cellar.

Another factor the Becketts considered when deciding to remodel: the home had “a lot of memories.” They’re still there but much brighter and homier.

Duane St. Clair is a contributing editor for Westerville Magazine.

The Beckett home and three others in the Westerville area will be in the Showcase of Newly Remodeled Homes sponsored by the Central Ohio Chapter, National Association of the Remodeling Industry. Others are at 5053 Long Rifle Rd., 5856 Britton Place, and 1184 Three Forks Dr. For more information, call 614-895-3080.