The coffee table,
right
,
“ had to be big enough
to hold everybody’s
glasses and books, plus
have room to play
gam es,” Alicia says*
Alicia and Daniel
renovated their home,
below
7
to add a big
living room, screen
porch, and geothermal
heating and cooling.
I T
if j
1
i .
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ft
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1
The handwritten message on the crowded
chalkboard wall near the kitchen pretty much sums
up things:
“Life is good. Be nappy.”
licia Glen and Daniel Rayner and their
two daughters savor simple pleasures* They get
up early on the weekends for hikes in the hills
and bike rides on a trail near their upstate New
York home. Rosa, at 10 the youngest, climbs
into the tree house in the backyard for games of
imagination with friends. In the evenings, the
screen porch is the place to be for Alicia’s
stews, shared with friends gathered at the
8-foot-long table* “Outside is really the focus for
us,” Alicia says.
The setting— a hilltop with wide views of
trees and fields—is what attracted the couple to
the 1967 ranch-style home in the first place* “It
wasn’t the world’s most perfect house; in fact,
it was sort of a dump ” Alicia says* A renovation
and addition changed that, turning it into a cozy
home perfect for the active family.
The screen porch, used for meals and home-
work as well as entertaining, is the nerve center
and saving grace for a family who loves to eat
meals outdoors* “Before the addition, we were
using tons of bug spray and tiki torches to cope
with all the mosquitoes, but the screen porch
has made our dinners fantastic,” Alicia says.
With a nearly 13-foot-high ceiling and big
windows that seem to bring nature in, the new
living room has a similar indoor-outdoor feel*
BETTE H
HOMES AN l>
11A
K
D£N5
OCTOBER 2 0 1 0
BHC.CC1M
