Renovate and restore

With the Bay State's older housing stock, many people face a peculiar challenge when making upgrades

(Top: David L. Ryan, Globe Staff; Bottom left: Josh Reynolds; Bottom right: Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)

The period English Tudor in Melrose that Maryann Little saw at an open house three years ago was so off-putting she breezed in and out. Under a previous owner's idea of modernization, the interior had red, green, and gold shag carpeting, velvet and metallic wallpaper, banged up walls and flooring, and an unworkable foyer.

"You don't even have to go in, it's disgusting," she remembered telling her husband, Daniel.

So of course he had to go see for himself and, well, they bought it.

The Littles are serial renovators, so they've developed a strong stomach for this kind of job. But once they agreed to buy it and update it, they did not want to renovate it to the point where they smothered the original detail, charm, and grace.

As Kim Roberts, the Littles' interior designer, put it, "Every house has a soul, and you have to adhere to the bones and structure."

Indeed, Maryann Little had a simple creed by which the renovation would abide: "I wanted it to look functional for today, but like it's always been here."

To that end, when their architects, Richard and Carolyn Leaf, suggested expanding the kitchen into the dining room, Little refused. It would meaning knocking through a wall housing chair rail moldings and a china cabinet with leaded glass doors.

"I told them, 'You can't replace that. You're losing the feel of the house if you get rid of it,' " Little said.

The Littles faced a challenge peculiar to Massachusetts and other states where so much of the housing stock consists of older classics that are either a little worse for wear or woefully outdated: how to both renovate and restore an original. Adding modern amenities, such as gleaming kitchen appliances, and converting claustrophobic rooms to stylish, airy interiors can threaten to overwhelm the traditional details that define an older home.

Before moving out of their 1925 center-entrance Colonial in Newton Centre for eight months, Miriam Dellheim-Baumel and Andy Baumel gave this set of instructions to architect Marcy Scudder: The renovation should be functional, not waste space, but maintain the home's easy flow, and above all, preserve its character.

It was not an easy order to fill because their needs and the home's older structural supports were sometimes in conflict. What started out as a modest renovation turned into a full-blown project: They added a family room, guest room, and master bathroom, expanded the kitchen, and updated the two existing bathrooms and the dining room. Outside, they removed the 1970s yellow siding, renovated the enclosed porch, built a garage, and added back an entry portico that had been eliminated in a previous updating.

When the couple and their children returned, the house was utterly transformed. And yet, at heart it was still the homey residence they loved before the renovations, with the period details still in place: wainscoting, chair rails, crown moldings, beams, and original staircase and doors. It was just better suited for a family of six.

"We went from living in a great house to an extraordinary house," said Dellheim-Baumel, a nurse practitioner.

Sometimes it pays to be a little less reverent toward the past, to be willing to cast away old details that just don't work or work them in a different light.

Sue and Bernie Pucker had lived in their 1922 Georgian brick home in Brookline's Fisher Hill neighborhood since the late 1960s, but they only began substantial renovations in the last 20 years. Owners of the Pucker Gallery on Newbury Street, the couple had a personal collection of artwork that needed proper showing, which the older, darker interior of the home wasn't suited to do.

So in many rooms, they lightened the dark wood walls and flooring, added bright recessed lighting, and removed moldings. Because they often entertain large groups, they also expanded the kitchen and renovated the dining room.

In the game room, they were inclined to strip out a mosaic pattern in the floor tile because it was too dark. But their designer, Ken Dietz, suggested they keep the tiling and instead lighten the wall colors and install lighted display cabinets to showcase their pottery and ceramics pieces.

These minor changes transformed the mosaic, its darker tones receding while the lighter colors just pop out.

The Puckers recently sold the home, for more than their original listing price, and Sue Pucker attributes the higher value to the house now feeling like "a combination of the old and the new."

In Melrose, Maryann and Daniel Little had a long list of modern additions and period restorations for their 1937 English Tudor. They've turned the basement into a playroom, reconfigured the entry hall, and are converting the garage to a family room.

And instead of pushing the kitchen into the dining room and destroying the china cabinet, they added on. The finishes for the new kitchen were chosen to match the home's styling: cherry wood cabinetry, copper sinks and slate floor to match the gutter and roof materials. They painted the home in warm deep colors that blend with the natural materials.

This is the fifth home the Littles have renovated. Usually once they're done they move on to the next project. But this one they're fixing up to stay.