best
FACELIFT
a
ll Sonjia McKelvey
wanted was a bay
window. But through
the talents and labor of
her family, Sonjia and
her husband, Bob, got
much more than a bay
window—they got a house with one-of-a-
kind curb appeal.
Sonjia’s love for cottage style was well-
known to her son Tim, an architect, but he also
knew the project had difficulties. “Like many
homes, it lacked detail and had problems with
proportion,” says Tim. To give the house more
personality, Tim helped Sonjia and Bob make
changes that went beyond a new bay window.
With a blend of traditional details such as
cedar-shingle siding and detailed gables, plus
strong modern lines, the home’s exterior took
on new depth and character. A curvy brick
walk edged by colorful perennial plantings
creates a warm invitation to the front
door. “The outside was so stark before,
and now it’s much more
welcoming,” says Sonjia. “I just
love how it turned out.”
X
Winning
Li Wisdom
■ P la y w ith
proportion. Adding a
big bay window could
have made the house
look shorter and
smaller. “I put a gable
over the double-height
bay window to create a
vertical arrow, giving
the house a grander,
taller feel,” says Tim.
“But the strong
horizontal lines of the
shingle siding and a
slightly extended
roofline at the other
end of the house
balance it out overall.”
■ W atch the w alk.
The new brick walk
that curves from the
street to a widened
front porch creates a
gracious accent on the
front entry—and is
more inviting than the
original concrete path
from the driveway.
GROUP EFFORT
Sonjia and B ob M cK e lve /s a rch ite ct son,
T im , to p , designed th e h om e’s n e w facade. The McKelveys
and th e ir sons did all th e w o rk them selves,
above
, so the
co st o f m aterials was th e ir only expense.
9 6
SEPTEMBER 2009 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
