Life’s Little PleasuresDownsizing to accommodate a changing lifestyleBy Christina Kleiner | Photos by Johan Roetz

66 housetrends.com

Life’s Little PleasuresDownsizing to accommodate a changing lifestyleBy Christina Kleiner | Photos by Johan Roetz

building trends

housetrends tampa bay 67

continued >

Dennis and Doris Alvarez had been thinking about downsizing to a smaller home for quite some time.

But in 2010, they were thrown a curve ball that led

them to speed up their plan to make a move. “I had

a heart transplant 15 months ago,” Dennis says. “It

forced us to take stock of our life and our home.”

u They have a wonderful life, with two grown chil-

dren of their own, and two young grandchildren to

keep them busy. But their home at the time wasn’t

conducive to their new lifestyle. “We had a two

story home here in Davis Islands, but going up and

down the steps regularly wasn’t going to work for

Dennis,” Doris says. “Plus we had too much space,

most of which we never used.”

A perfect locationStaying on Davis Islands was a necessity. The quaint com-munity, home to more than 5,000 Floridians, is known for its unique architecture and small town atmosphere. “We love it here,” Dennis says. “We’ve lived here for so long, we couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.”

Apparently many people share this sentiment, since Dennis and Doris were able to sell their home in three days. “Talk about a surprise,” Doris says. “It’s great that we sold our house so fast, but we didn’t have anywhere to go!”

They leased a house in the area and turned to long-time family friend James Ramos, co-owner of Ramos Design Build Corporation, to help them design and build their new home. Ramos and business partner Matt Gataky built the 3,000-square-foot Craftsman-inspired home on an empty lot on Davis Islands. The pale blue exterior, made of durable Hardiplank siding, is accented with white trim, welcoming covered porches and a dark mahogany entry door that per-fectly complements the garage doors. “Everyone knows our house,” Dennis says with a laugh. “And that’s okay. Everyone does yellow, tan or beige, so the blue makes it different.”

The front door leads to an open, relaxed floor plan, with plenty of space for the couple when they’re alone or entertaining family and friends. The main floor houses the kitchen, family room, powder room, office and master suite.

68 housetrends.com

OPENING PAGES: The Craftsman-inspired home features a façade of blue Hardiplank siding and white trim. ABOVE: The custom-built entertainment center holds a 55-inch television while cabinets hide the audio and video components. OPPOSITE: Stairs lead to two bedrooms and a playroom on the second floor.

continued >

building trends

housetrends tampa bay 69

70 housetrends.com

housetrends tampa bay 71

Two additional guest bedrooms and a playroom built specifically for their grand-children are located on the second floor.

Now we’re cookin’Dennis and Doris did away with a formal dining room and living room, instead opt-ing for one large open space. “Whenever we host family and friends they all gather in the kitchen and family room,” Dennis says. “I think we used our old dining room once a year.”

To make up for the lack of a dining room, the kitchen was designed to incor-porate a large table. “Formality wasn’t important to us,” Doris says. “Eating together and spending time together is important. Plus, with young children in the mix, we knew we needed something durable.”

To accommodate large groups, a dis-tressed pine table juts out from the prep

OPPOSITE: Red, blue, green and cream chairs add character to the kitchen. TOP LEFT: Two small stools are conveniently perched on each end of the island. ABOVE: This cabinet, located just off the kitchen, holds the homeowner’s crystal and collect-ibles.

building trends

continued >

island and is surrounded by a bevy of chairs in an array of colors. “We designed the kitchen around those chairs,” Doris says. “They are beautiful but because of the antique glaze, they look like they’ve been around forever so we don’t have to worry about wear and tear.”

The maple kitchen cabinetry features a light almond glaze accented with darker brown molding and cabinet and island legs. Granite countertops and stone back-splashes in various shades of cream, beige and brown complete the design. A large gas range allows Dennis to cook up any-thing his family desires.

The kitchen overlooks the adjoining family room, where Dennis is quick to point out the custom entertainment cen-ter. “This is almost an exact replica of the one in our old home,” he says. “It was too big for us to take with us, so we asked Old Biscayne Designs to recreate it for us.”

The entertainment center houses a 55-inch flat screen television. Display shelves, with lighting, showcase family photos while the electronic equipment is hidden down below in cabinets. An over-sized cranberry sectional, brought over from the couple’s old house, adds a pop of color to the room.

72 housetrends.com

The antique heart pine floors pull the entire first floor together. The random length and width planks are prefinished and were reclaimed from old distilleries and warehouses. “These floors are incred-ibly unique and provide so much charac-ter,” Gataky says, adding that they had enough wood flooring to finish off the second floor.

Rooms with characterDoris says that while they wanted the open floor plan, both she and Dennis made sure to add unique touches to every room. Since they opted not to include a separate dining room, Doris didn’t have a place to store china and crystal. Ramos suggested adding a dis-play cabinet with a mirror and glass shelves to hold crystal and keepsakes just off the kitchen.

A wall covered in mosaic glass tile is the

A cabinetry tower separates the double vanity in the master bath-room. RIGHT: Reclaimed antique heart pine flooring can be found throughout the house.OPPOSITE BOTTOM: An outdoor kitchen sits under the covered back porch.

housetrends tampa bay 73

E n v i r o n m e n t a l l yConscious

In addition to building a home that adapts to their changing lifestyle, Dennis and Doris Alvarez also took the environment into consideration when they started the design and construction process. The home features several components to improve its energy effi-ciency including Icynene spray foam insulation on all exterior walls, under crawl spaces and in the attic. This insulation creates a sealed envelope, helps improve air quality and controls moisture. The house also includes Low-Emissivity (Low-E) windows to help block out harmful ultra violet rays, a high efficiency 16 SEER air conditioning unit, tankless water heaters and LED recessed can lighting throughout the home.

Their home was recently certified by Energy Star and received a HERS Index rating of 58. The HERS Index is a scoring system created by the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) to calculate a home’s energy efficiency. RESNET compared the Alvarez home against the HERS Reference Home, which has a rating of 100. Its 58 rating signifies that the home is 42% more energy efficient than an average new home built in the United States.

Ramos is also gathering the documentation needed to certify the home with the Florida Green Building Coalition. He expects the Alvarez home to achieve Gold status.

To learn more about these programs go to resnet.us and floridagreenbuilding.org.

focal point in the elegant powder room. The gold, beige, yellow and bronze hues bring out the soft tones of the onyx vanity top. “The countertop is backlit,” Dennis says. “When the light is on the sink almost looks clear. We love how this bathroom turned out.”

As for the master suite, Doris was able to incorporate a few of her favorite colors into the design. The king size bed rests up against a chocolate brown accent wall, which perfectly complements the three light aqua blue walls. “Blue is one of my favorite colors, and these two hues go well together,” she says. “It creates such a calm-ing effect in here.”

The adjoining master bathroom stands out on its own thanks to a glossy marble floor, an oversized shower and a cabinet tower situated in between the double vanities.

building trends

Simplifying lifeDennis and Doris say life has changed dra-matically for them since they moved into the home last September. “Life circum-stances forced us to adapt,” says Dennis. “This house has simplified our lives.”

Doris couldn’t agree more. “We wanted to make our home user friendly, not only for us, but for our family. It has everything we need yet it offers such a comforting atmosphere. It’s home.”

Resources Interior designer: Valerie Lilley; Architect: Ron Martinez; Contractor: Ramos Design Build Corporation; Flooring: Dakota Design Build Cooperative; Cabinetry: Bless Cabinetry; Countertops: Ramos Marble and Granite; Backsplash: Architectural Tile and Marble; Furniture: Old Biscayne Designs