1 of 2
Alise O'Brien
2 of 2
When Keith Manzer first walked into his current home--a classic 1950s brick one-and-a-half-story in Clayton--he knew it could be renovated to meet his needs, as well as his partner's.
But what neither Manzer nor Brian Voorhees realized in 1996 was the remake would take eight long years; the first contractor would knock down and rebuild the walls, refinish the floors and then disappear, never to be seen again. The second contractor billed Manzer and Voorhees $11,000 for under-mount lighting in the kitchen (where electrical wiring already existed). Due to water damage from loose tarps, all the millwork in the house had to be put up--again--and the house repainted. The builder had trouble constructing a wall and the second floor started crashing down on the entry. The basement was destroyed in the process. The final cost for the landscape came in nearly $13,000 over the original bid of $7,500--and one of the gardeners chased Manzer around with a shovel.
But in the end? "We are very, very pleased with how the house turned out," says Manzer, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Gundaker. "We couldn't be happier with the finished result." The remake started at the front door. Manzer and Voorhees (a pharmacist) had the entry extended 10 feet. Then they reconfigured the entire first floor--removing a family room that ran along the back of the house and putting in walls delineating formal living and dining rooms and a breakfast room in the back, off the kitchen.
"None of the rooms are the original shape or size they were when we bought the house," Manzer says. "In phase one, we probably invested half of what we paid for the house. We thought we could do the whole house on our budget. We were kind of naive."
Manzer discovered the color scheme for the foyer and living room in a Christie's magazine. "These people had this pale blue and their entry was a dark burnt orange," Manzer says. "I loved the contrast. That is how the color palette evolved. That burnt orange just carried its way through the house. It is the common thread."
But deciding on the hue of blue was problematic. "Try to find a pale blue that doesn't look like a nursery or little boy's room," Manzer says. "We must have tried out 32 different colors. We still have the cans downstairs."
The dining room is painted a dark khaki and filled with artwork and Manzer and Voorhees' porcelain collection. "A friend of ours at the time suggested creating this big formal dining room because he said, 'Every home needs a grand room and every room needs a grand piece,'" recalls Manzer.
In the kitchen, Manzer had stainless steel countertops installed "because I wanted the kitchen to have an older feel. I didn't want any- thing in the house to look terribly new, which is why we have worn Persian rugs. I think it lends character to the house."
Before going much further, Manzer and Voorhees turned to the backyard--and had a swimming pool installed. The hole was dug in April, the pool shell was dropped in ... and the builder came back in late November to pour the decking. "By that time, it was too late to put sod or seed down for grass to grow," Manzer says. "The dogs had a mud festival for five months."
While the foyer, living room and dining room exude a Southern gentility, the area surrounding the master bedroom veers in a totally different design direction. "We started out with this Charleston theme and as you head down the hallway, you kind of go into Indonesia," Manzer says. "We love Asian art--especially porcelains and watercolors. We're not really snitty about stuff. We just buy what we like." Off the foyer, the master bedroom wing was constructed. On the other side of the French doors (with painted black frames) is a hallway leading to the bedroom. The bedroom entrance, also a French door, has mirrors as panes.
A den (also painted black) stands off to the left. "We always had our den in chocolate, but everybody started doing chocolate dens and studies so we decided when we did this den that we wanted it to be a little more galactic, so we painted it black," Manzer says. "We had all this artwork from Paris, New Orleans, San Francisco and New York, and we thought they would show really well off the walls. The ceilings are cream."
Rather than use a brighter color in the hallway, Manzer stuck with black. "Painting the hallway the same color as the den just expanded the room," Manzer says. "It made it look a little bigger than it was."
The bedroom features the pair's collection of Indonesian art, including a ceremonial belt from Sumatra. "The room is long and narrow so it required two sitting areas," Manzer says. "We deliberately put in large French doors overlooking the garden so in the summer and spring we can have the door open and hear the fountain."
The bathroom exemplifies the pair's attention to detail. "This room was very well thought out," Manzer says. The countertop is not deep, so a person can stand closer to the mirror. The cabinets include a pull-out trash can, electrical outlets in the back of the top drawer and a vertical pull-out cabinet to use as a medicine cabinet. Sconces are placed on a block of marble.
When they moved in, the house was "the ugliest house on the block," Manzer says. "We didn't have to look at it so it didn't bother me, but I'm sure it bothered the neighbors." Then the exterior was overhauled. The brick was painted a deep taupe, the roofline redesigned, second floor expanded, porthole windows placed and seven gables added. What had been the front porch was enclosed and became a solarium with a ceiling hand-painted by Jeff Baumgarten.
Frequent entertainers, Manzer and Voorhees had a terrace built off the living room and the back landscaped into formal gardens replete with patio and fountain.
"This garden is my passion in spring and summer," Manzer says. "It's a sanctuary."
After eight years of remodeling, the need for a serene spot and place of refuge is understandable--and worth the wait.
