Lexington, KY - Tim and Lydia Short spent many of their first years together in a home off of Southland Drive, a quaint and quiet neighborhood they loved. However, they had aspirations of relocating to the Stonewall area - the large lots, the well-established trees and mid-20th century homes were all very attractive to the Shorts.
Apparently, these features were very attractive to other Lexington residents in the mid '90s as well.
"At the time, by the time you saw a 'For Sale' sign in a yard, it was already sold," Lydia recalled. Fortunately for the Shorts, a friend in the neighborhood called the couple when some suspect activity was observed at a nearby home -
moving sales and the like.
"By the time they put the sign in the yard, we were already over here," Lydia remembered with a laugh.
In 1996, the family moved into the Lannette Lane home, in time for the Shorts' son to start his first day of middle school at Jessie Clark the same day they moved in. The 2,200-square-foot ranch-style home had many features common among homes built in the early '60s - a small kitchen and formal dining room, a long hallway off the main entryway leading to three mid-sized bedrooms and a bath. All of this served the family's needs well at first, but a few years later the couple realized they were ready to spread out.
They decided to start in the center of the home, with the small kitchen and its adjoining formal dining room, which rarely got used.
"We don't really have a call for a formal dining room anymore," said Tim, the undisputed chef of the family. "The house I grew up in in Chevy Chase had a formal dining room that we only used on Thanksgiving and Christmas. My mother kept it immaculate, but it had tables and chairs that we never ate at."
The couple contacted another figure from Tim's Chevy Chase upbringing, Lawrence Kindred, who had started a contracting service with business partner David Martin. The wall between the kitchen and dining room was removed to create one large room, and the entire space reduced to drywall before starting from scratch. New maple cabinets came from Cabinet Masters; new appliances, including a double oven at Tim's request, came from Pieratt's, and were installed by another one of Tim's former Chevy Chase cohorts, Steve Layman.
"My parents started buying from the Pierratt family after the war, and I've bought everything from them since then," Tim said.
From the beginning of their renovations, the Shorts were mindful of utilizing local contractors, suppliers and designers every step of the way. It helped that Tim had not only grown up in Lexington, but works in the construction industry and had a number of local contacts. But the couple was very insistent on sourcing local for other reasons as well.
"You can trust them," Tim said of the host of local players who helped with the multi-faceted project. "If there's an issue, they'll tell you, 'This is not going to work.' They won't put something in and then walk away."
Once the kitchen project was behind them, the Shorts were ready to address their next concern: storage space. Both had recently had parents pass away, and they had acquired a great deal of furniture with no place to store it. Unsure where to start, the couple looked up another of Tim's peers from Chevy Chase, Jack Stewart of Stewart Architects.
"He came back with fantastic ideas and drawings," Tim recalled. "He hand-sketched them to start with, and it was unbelievable."
The addition Stewart envisioned called for the construction of a detached two-car garage and expanding the interior living space adjacent to the side entryway
into the original attached garage, which would be converted to accommodate one car instead of two. This allowed for an expanded laundry room and an additional bathroom. Finally, the wing of the house with the bedrooms was completely reworked: the original master bedroom was converted into a master bath and large walk-in closet; the original master bath was converted into an office; and a new master suite addition was added onto the side of the house.
Additions can be tricky, and while finding a way to make a modern add-on blend seamlessly with the 1960s brick exterior was no easy task, Stewart, Kindred and Martin were up for the challenge. Stewart drew from his experience with additions, including a number of projects in historic districts.
"With historic districts, you are expected to make an addition look like an addition, so that the original house stands on its own," Stewart explained. The fact that the Shorts' Stonewall home is not a historic property gave him more flexibility in creating an authentic-looking addition. "I think it's important to be seamless and make a good thing better, in order to add to the value and quality of what you already have," he said.
Closing out the renovation work was the expansion and renovation of the small hallway bathroom. Paul Noller from Cabinet Masters custom-designed cultured marble bathroom countertops, bathtub skirting and shower backdrop in a deep aquamarine color that Lydia picked out herself from hundreds of sample colors. The Shorts found that working with Cabinet Masters allowed them the same perks afforded to clients opting for local services - quality workmanship, product options and, of course, exceptional customer service.
"You get better quality and you get personalized service," Tim said, reflecting on their experience working exclusively with local companies. "I don't know how many times Paul mixed that color to get it just right."