THE NEWS & OBSERVER

Home&Garden Theater review: “How I Got ThatStory” pro-vides thought-provokingdrama aboutwar. PAGE 7E

Grapevine: Local gardenerson national tour. 4ETop Drawer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2EAntiques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3EMarni Jameson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2ETelevision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6EScapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10E

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NEW 1E, SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2007

ESATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2007

www.newsobserver.com/home

h o o ft h e m o n t h

m e August’s profile of a well-designed living spaceTake a look at a photo gallery of the home at www.newsobserver.com, search ‘home.’

the project

Cherry Lane, Raleigharchitect |

Cherry HuffmanArchitects, LouisCherry, principal incharge

135 E. Martin St.,Raleigh

Phone: 821-0805location | Raleigh

square footage |

1,372 – original house847 addition

design attributes |ranch house renova-tion adds moderntouches but remainsin scale with theneighborhood andcompellingly reusesexisting housing stock

theball residence

A ranch reimagined

By removing a major load-bearing wall that ran parallel to the front of the Ball Residence, renovators formed a generous space thatunites the living room, dining room and kitchen. A steel beam was added to the attic to support the weight of the ceiling and roof.a unified flow

The continuous plane that results makes a 2,200-square-foot house feel much larger than it is.PHOTOS COURTESY OF JAMES WEST

Visitors to the BallResidence enter a sparewelcome

yet gracious entry porch, which begins at the driveway and leadsto the front door.

Home of the Month, a collaboration with the N.C. State University College of Design, shows possibilities for constructing a living space built with homeowners' livingpatterns and preferences in mind. Each month we profile a new home, selected by an expert panel, from designs by area architects. The goal: to offer inspiration andknowledge that can be applied to any living space.

BY JEREMY FICCAGUEST COLUMNIST

s Raleigh and Wake County continue togrow, the demand for single-family hous-ing increases. While much of this demandis satisfied through development alongRaleigh’s outer rings, attention increas-

ingly is turning to existing housing inside the Belt-line.

Many older bungalows are being returned totheir previous glory, albeit with modern amenities.Still, a large number of houses from the ’50s, ’60sand ’70s, typically ranches, suffer a less pleasant fate.The age, modest size and perceived lack of style clas-sify many of them as prime candidates for tear-down.

The Ball Residence, inside the Raleigh Beltline, es-caped that outcome. In many ways, this is not yourgrandmother’s ranch.

This residential renovation and addition, de-signed by Cherry Huffman Architects in Raleigh,shows the potential of working with existing hous-ing and evaluating property for more than just landvalue.

A spare yet gracious entry porch, which begins atthe driveway and leads to the front door, welcomesvisitors to the Ball Residence. For Louis Cherry, ar-chitect of the project, “The porch expresses an im-portant relationship with the existing trees.” A se-ries of inverted-U-shaped wooden columns and

a

H is name was Gideon.Son of Perquita, and named for his

caregiver’s great-grandfather on herfather’s side.

He stood about hip-height and weighed 200to 250 pounds, but he carried his weight well.Big-boned, you know.

His face was handsome, distinguished, evenas he sported a yellow flowered jacket. He hada look in his dark eyes, like he knew what I wasthinking: “How I would love to run my fingersthrough those lush locks, pull out the tangles,caress the curls.” Oh, my.

Gideon chewed voraciously on the moment— nothing to rue, no future goals to weigh himdown. His daily rest tallied about 16 hours; the

other eight were given over to eating. Oncea year, he had a haircut. A man’s dream life.

As you might expect, his earning capacitywas low. His only income was from the annualsale of his Samson-like locks, netting about$500 over his lifetime. Like his twin sisterDeborah, he had fleece that was a rich blendof browns and grays, not unlike my own locks.It was about 5 inches long, just about right forhappy spinning.

This was the main draw.But subtract from his income the cost of

feeding him, clothing him, worming him, re-pairing the fences, sowing grass seed in thepasture. And, toward the end, the medicalcare that tipped the equation.

Stalwart, he revealed a bad hoof onlythrough a slight limp that gave way to an all-out leg failure. An iodine and water wash wasgiven in a fruitless search for hidden gravel oranother irritant. He worsened. An aggressivehoof trim revealed an abscess far enough goneto become systemic. An antibiotic fought it butdid not win.

Gideon died in a field on a hot day, hoofstucked under a fence that he could not navi-gate.

He was young — only 8. That translates toabout 35 in people years. In his prime.

His name was Gideon, and herein lies the

Beneath the fleece was a friend

His face was handsome, distinguished, and he had a look inhis dark eyes like he could tell what you were thinking.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JUDY TYSMANSSEE NOTIONS, PAGE 3E

! notions by Marcy Smith. Your community center for local crafting culture.

SEE BALL, PAGE 5E

beams supports a canopy of steelgrate. The result — a rhythmicprocession that references a lineof trees in the front yard — is acontemporary interpretation ofthe Southern porch.

The south-facing metal gratecanopy creates an enclosure whileallowing light and air to passthrough. The new porch solves aproblem found in many ranch

houses, a lackof meaningfulphysical con-nect ion be -tween thedriveway andthe front door.It also exempli-fies a major aimof the client andthe architect —any addition tothe houseshould act as a

modern expression while remain-ing true to the original design.

Do more with lessInside the home, the goal was

minimalism. While some may as-sociate ranch houses with smaller,disconnected and dimly lit rooms,the Ball Residence couldn’t bemore different.

When visitors enter the home,they see a dark, floor-to-ceiling ver-tical stone wall, positioned oppo-site the front door, which helps tohide the kitchen cooktop beyond.This “greeting wall,” as LouisCherry calls it, serves as a focalpoint to the generous living space.A second wall of identical mater-ial contains the fireplace. Together,these two walls act as sculpturalplanes and direct the view througha horizontal opening in the perime-ter kitchen wall and out towardthe lush backyard.

The interior materials are lim-ited yet rich. Maple veneer coversthe walls and cabinets that definethe kitchen space, while dark slatedramatically sets the two verticalstone walls apart from the sur-rounding white ceiling and walls.

These two walls are indicative ofthe project, Cherry says — “to domore with fewer pieces as both aresponse to the budget as well asthe homeowner’s minimalist phi-losophy.”

The generous space that formsthe living room, dining room andkitchen was accomplished by re-moving a major load-bearing wallthat ran parallel to the front of thehouse. In its place, a steel beamwas added to the attic to supportthe weight of the ceiling and roof.The result? A continuous unbro-ken ceiling plane that makes this2,200-square-foot house feel muchlarger than it is.

The kitchen, near a rear north-facing wall of glass, is more akinto a large piece of minimal furni-ture than a conventional room. Itis positioned in the house so thatthe wood walls that define itsboundaries do not touch the wallsof the existing house. From out-side the kitchen, the result is alarge wooden box that carefullydisguises the kitchen within.

As you move through the pub-lic space of the house, a dense col-lection of pine trees draws youreyes through the rear exteriorpatio space and toward the gen-tly sloping yard. A collection oflarge existing glass windows and

newly added sliding glass doorsaims to connect the interior liv-ing spaces with the exterior.

The exterior patio space is com-pleted by the addition of a masterbedroom suite to the east and therenovation of a small storagebuilding. The exterior walls ofthese spaces in concert with theexisting house help to define theboundaries of this exterior room,providing privacy while narrow-ing one’s view and projecting thespace to the foliage beyond.

Wide, gently terraced steps ne-gotiate the change in elevationthat runs the depth of the lot andprovide direct access to the rearyard. From here, the subtle andskillful stitching of house to land-scape is evident.

Where the front porch provideda welcoming link to the publicrealm of the street, the rear patioand terrace offer a retreat freefrom the distractions of the street.Similar to the vertical stoneplanes found inside, these twohorizontal planes address two ba-sic yet fundamental provisions ofa house, a link to the public anda place of repose.

A redesign such as the Ball Res-idence provides an example of asolution to a common renovationneed. The limited number of care-

fully chosen alterations are proofof the ability to achieve a signif-icant transformation despite alimited budget. The minimaliststrategy is driven in part by eco-nomics, but it also reflects a de-sire of the homeowner to live withless. As land and home valuescontinue their ascent, we shouldlook to the example set in theBall Residence and more closelyassess the latent potential in ex-

isting houses.

Jeremy Ficca is a past facultymember in the School ofArchitecture at N.C. StateUniversity and a current

faculty member in the School ofArchitecture at Carnegie MellonUniversity. He and his wifeare partners in the firmFicca Architecture,based in Pittsburgh.

Home & Garden 5ETHE NEWS & OBSERVERSATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2007

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5E, SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2007

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BALLCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1E

A series of inverted-U-shaped wooden columnsand beams supports a canopy of steel grate. Thegetting rhythm

result — a rhythmic procession that references a line of trees in the front yard —is a contemporary interpretation of the Southern porch.

Where the front porchprovides a welcomingquiet space

link to the public, other spaces offer retreatsfree from the distractions of the street.

Louis Cherryis the

architect.

By carefully choosing thealterations, owners were able tothe plan

receive a transformed property on a limited budget— one that reflects their desire to live with less.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JAMES WEST

He paints portraits of homeBY NICOLE TSONG

SEATTLE TIMES

WOODINVILLE, Wash.

Andy Eccleshall spends mostof his days indoors on thelarge and the dramatic —

he paints landscapes, underwaterscenes and realistic multidimen-sional murals in homes.

But lately, Eccleshall has beenoutside, studying exterior detailslike trim, banisters and windows.The 39-year-old paints houses —but not in the way you may think.He paints pictures of homes andtheir architecture.

“People have such an emotionalattachment to their homes,” Ec-cleshall said. “They don’t neces-sarily want a painting of how itlooks, but a painting that encom-passes how they feel.”

People come to him for con-temporary portraits of theirhomes, or historical renditionsbased on old photographs.

Some clients choose his Beaux-Arts style, where he paints asepia-toned watercolor that alsocan be shown with house plans toresemble an architectural print.Some even want portraits of thefamily homes they grew up in.His work ranges in price from$250 to $2,500.

Michelle Van Tassell asked Ec-cleshall to paint her 1920s homeso she could have a contempo-rary painting that complementeda historic picture of the house.

“I wanted to show the historyof the house and the progressionand how it’s evolved over theyears and actually have those im-ages in our home,” Van Tassellsaid.

Painting murals in homes oc-cupies most of Eccleshall’s time,but his Fine Home Portraits sidebusiness allows him to indulge ina passion for architecture. Hestarted off doing architectural il-

lustrations in the United King-dom, where he was born, beforemoving into murals more than adecade ago.

Eccleshall, who grew up in atown founded around the year900, has loved architecture sincehe was a child. Seattle, where hehas lived for the past six years, isrich with beautiful buildings, hesaid.

“I’m a sucker for the old ones,”he said.

He loves the stately old homes

on Capitol Hill, especially thosewith original detail from the turnof the century, but he also ad-mires the adventurous and con-temporary Seattle Public Library.

For home portraits, Eccleshallstarts by taking pictures of ahome and its details from differ-ent angles and does research toensure historical accuracy forolder homes. He works out of hishome studio, surrounded by pic-tures of homes he has painted,including an elegant one in St.

John, New Brunswick, Canada,where his wife, Ingrid, oncestayed.

Home portraits are more de-tailed and illustrative than larger,more physical murals, he said,and require a different set of artis-tic skills to make them look real-istic. The structure must look likeit can hold itself up, and Eccle-shall also is careful about colorand light.

But he also can play around,adding a romantic feeling or his-torical details that are long gone.People generally want a portraitthat somehow reflects how muchthey love their home, he said.

“It’s kind of like a portrait, butalso architecture,” he said. “It canbe almost anything.”

Andy Eccleshall paints a home undergoing a remodel, using a photograph from the owner asreference. Eccleshall has found a niche capturing homeowners’ emotional attachment.

SEATTLE TIMES PHOTO BY DEAN RUTZ

“People have such an emotional attachment totheir homes. [They want] a painting that

encompasses how they feel.”ANDY ECCLESHALL

MasterBedroom

Living room

Diningroom

Bedroom2

Bedroom1

Patio Storage

Utilityroom