It was as if someone took a Sharpie and scrawled a mustache on a Botticelli maiden.
The façade of the 1920s Mediterranean revival home featured some of the grace of the style -- except for the southwest corner, where previous owners had tacked on a sunroom that could have come straight from a fast-food franchise.
So when Todd and Nancy Noteboom decided to remodel their home near Minneapolis' Lake of the Isles, they considered simply doing away with the offending addition and extending the terrace in the front of the house. But as unappealing as it was from the outside, from the inside the light-filled space was still a favorite place for Todd, Nancy and their two kids, ages 4 and 6, to relax.
So with the help of architects Tom Ellison of TEA2 Architects and Andrea Peshel Swan, the Notebooms decided that a sunroom was worth keeping; the task was to make it fit the rest of the home, inside and out.
The solution blends so seamlessly with its surroundings that the casual observer wouldn't know the room hadn't always been there. Ten new windows echo those on the rest of the home, as does the sloping roof clad with red-clay tiles. The house also boasts a new front terrace and front door, a new balconette and a new chimney top as well as copper gutters and downspouts.
Let there be light
Inside, the archway leading from the living room to the sunroom has the same delicately notched details as the archway connecting the living room and the kitchen and family room in the original part of the house.
The sunroom's light, airy feel was a key part of its appeal, and the Notebooms wanted to bring that feeling to the living room, as well. So, about 1,500 square feet of the approximately 6,000-square-foot house was gutted to the studs.