By Karen Mitchell

Call it the tale of an architectural plain Jane. In 1997, author and trainer Deke McClelland bought a rather ordinary split-level in east Boulder. The property, a little over an acre with a stream cutting across it, was lovely; the house, built in 1963, had less to recommend it. Then Deke met his future wife and their plain-Jane pad became a princess.

“It takes a lot of energy to redo a house, but as soon as I stepped inside I could see what it needed,” says Elizabeth McClelland, a college professor currently pursuing a doctorate in American Sign Language. Indeed, the house was stuck in a “blue period,” with blue floors, blue tiles and a blue exterior. So the couple “merged our dreams,” she says, and began remodeling.

First, Elizabeth called in her cousin, remodeler/carpenter Mathieu Benoit, who now lives in Alaska. He added a pantry, enlarged the dining area 6 feet by encroaching upon garage space, and created custom arched interior doors. Although the project opened up the house, it kept the original footprint.

After the birth of their first son, Max, in 2000, the McClellands asked Boulder architect Kyle Callahan to design a more ambitious remodel. Built by Paul Whitehead of Boulder’s Whitehead Construction, LLC, the remodel added a new north wing that has a mudroom, an attached garage and a master suite on the second floor.

“I love our bedroom,” Elizabeth says. “I call it the ‘tree bedroom.’” With wooden beams, tall windows and an aspen-log bed frame with two skylights overhead, the room exudes a “Swiss Family Robinson feel,” says Elizabeth, who blended masculine and feminine elements into the forest motif.

The remodel also incorporated major renovations to the main floor. The original kitchen was gutted and replaced with an open galley-style kitchen containing an island and handmade etched Italian tiles. New alder cupboards radiate honey warmth, and a small table beneath a bay window makes the space both a sophisticated entertaining spot and a cozy family kitchen where Elizabeth loves to bake bread. A new entry with glass doors faces west toward dramatic Continental Divide views.

The home’s existing sunroom, featuring a piano and bar, is faux-painted with a ragging technique and seven separate colors. “I tried to blend earthy tones, like rust and deep greens throughout, yet still have the house be light,” Elizabeth says. Her goal was to make it “as if you’re looking at art, so as you move from one room, the light moves with you.”

Shortly after the remodel’s completion in 2002, the couple’s second son, Sam, was born.

Home Sweet Home

The McClelland remodel illustrates “the wonderful transformation of a home as the needs of the family it supports change,” architect Callahan says. Before the remodel/renovation, the home was “unexceptional, lacking any distinctive characteristics,” he notes. The additions, as well as architectural devices, such as roof over framing and dormers, enhance the newfound character.

Additionally, stonework, wooden shingles and interesting architectural elements, like brackets and corbels, evoke “the Craftsman vernacular,” Callahan says, adding that a successful remodel “provides a physical expression of a family’s values and ideals to their community.”

After the remodel, Elizabeth went to work on the landscape. “I hauled everything out of the yard, including junk and even tires,” she says. The couple hired Erie’s Green Valley Landscape & Lawn Maintenance to add vegetation and additional shade trees to the yard, which already contained beautiful mature trees planted by a former occupant who was a horticulturist. They also created “little rooms” throughout the yard, including an expansive vegetable/flower garden, a reading/relaxation area and a children’s play space.

Currently, the couple is reconfiguring their basement to create an office for Elizabeth. They also plan to add a new wraparound deck and outdoor spa.

“Deke likes to say we took a house and made it a home,” says Elizabeth, whose favorite spot is the mudroom. That’s probably because the winding, carpeted staircase leading from the mudroom to the master suite has an 18-foot-tall wall covered with the kids’ artwork and Deke’s creative photos of the children and the four seasons in their yard.

But the best thing about their home is you don’t have to take off your shoes if you don’t feel like it, Elizabeth says. “Our house is our place of centering and family. When Deke and I first met we danced all night. Now we’ve created a beautiful home.”

And they can still dance all night—with their shoes on or off.

Karen Mitchell is a Boulder-based freelance writer who specializes in architecture, design and business stories.

Read insightful articles, find helpful home and garden tips and links to resources in every issue of Boulder County Home & Garden Magazine. Subscribe today!

© 2006 Brock Publishing Company
homes@brockpub.com