PG Renovation Contest: Large Project Winner

Abandoned Garfield Storefront Before Renovation

Rear of Property

1st Floor Retail Space Before

Upper Floors Staircase Before

Front Exterior After

1st Floor Retail Space Now Office For Lucchino & Croce

Living Room After .... Now 2 Stories

Kitchen After

Architects will tell you great home design lies in the details: plenty of natural lighting, a good flow between rooms, an interesting mix of colors and textures, maybe a couple of "green" features that give Mother Earth a break.  Freddie Croce and Jennifer Lucchino's renovation of a dilapidated commercial space on Garfield's main drag incorporates all that good stuff, plus one of the coolest rooftop retreats in the city. Planted with dozens of sedum that bloom in the summer with large clusters of showy flowers in shades of orange, red and purple, the 400-square-foot floating deck offers a bird's-eye view of Allegheny Cemetery.

The couple, both architects, spent nearly two years on the building, which is their office and their home. It's such a creative rethinking of a commercial space, judges from the Post-Gazette and Community Design Center of Pittsburgh named it the winner of the large project ($50,000 plus) category in this year's Renovation Inspiration Contest.

The venture is a testimony to the couple's talents and their love of pushing the architectural envelope. Who else but two architects would forgo drywall for recycled oriented strand board, stamped side out? Or make countertops from bamboo flooring suspended between frosted glass? They also took a chance and removed the joists and floorboards between two levels to create a dramatic, two-story living room, then heightened the feeling of spaciousness with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.

To get a better appreciation for how much work went into the project, consider this: The building was vacant and divided into three units when the spouses, both adjunct professors at Carnegie Mellon University, discovered it in 2006.

Built around 1910, the three-story brick building was sturdy enough. But the interior had so deteriorated that Bloomfield Garfield Corp. was asking only $45,900 for the 4,500-square-foot storefront on Penn Avenue. A bargain, you say? Only if you don't count the sweat equity the couple invested in the renovation.  Take as an example the green roof, which required a sloped drainage system to divert rainwater away from the trays of plants. Guess who carried the six tons of gravel up, up, up, one back-busting bucket at a time?

Because the building was so tightly compartmentalized, the process initially was one of subtraction to open up the spaces. Mr. Croce and his wife, a native of Highland Park, pulled down existing walls, reframed and built new partition walls, tore out three apartment kitchens and baths and reconstructed an exterior wall that separated the kitchen from the deck. They also tore a 1960s wood-frame addition off the back of the house, allowing for more windows, and replaced the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. Sam Ricci of Samson Heating & Cooling installed the HVAC systems.

Lots of DIYers start demolition with a good idea of how to use the space. In this case, it was an organic process that revealed itself over time, as the rooms opened up and the couple considered the various "what ifs." Two units, or three? Just for living, or should they also include office space? One "what if" that pushed them in the direction of turning it into a live-work environment was taking out the joists between the second and third levels at the front of the building to create a two-story living room. It was, says Mr. Croce, exactly the right decision.

Today, that sunlit space fronting Penn Avenue provides the home's wow factor. The MDF bookshelves, which rise 18 feet from the floor, transform what would have been a boring flat surface into a three-dimensional functional space. Low cabinetry in front of the six oversized double-hung windows cleverly hide their 5-year-old son's toys, and there's also a funky pairing of particle board and Earth-friendly bamboo on the floors.

The walls are a study in contrast, with pale-green painted drywall in the main living space and OSB in and near the staircase. The couple originally thought they would cover the engineered substrate (typically used as subflooring or as an underlayment) with fabric or grasscloth. But they ended up liking the way the surface looked, so at least for now, they're staying put.

Other spaces are delineated by color and material. The hue is more saturated in compact spaces (staircases, bulkheads, hallways) and lighter in "circulation" areas, such as the living and dining rooms. So no one notices the bathroom off the living room -- it's concealed behind dark-stained medium-density fiberboard panels that look like cabinet doors. (The panels also hide the mechanicals.) Almost imperceptible is how the hallway narrows on its way to the master bedroom, which is situated at the rear of the house so their dreams aren't interrupted by the noise of Penn Avenue.

Because the entire space had to be redesigned, Mr. Croce said he and his wife felt they had a freer hand to explore the spatial layout. That's how the bedrooms ended up on the second floor with the living room and bath, and the kitchen and dining room (gasp!) landed upstairs.

Economizing on some of the details allowed splurging on others. By using upgraded appliances and red-laminate cabinetry from IKEA (on sale), they were able to afford Mikado-style Ergon tile, an engineered stone, in the bathroom. It was installed by Ed Krist of Krist Tile.  The rail overlooking the living room below is actually a series of six bookcases that display pictures and knickknacks.

Green features that marry good looks with sustainability include a Forbo tile floor (made from linseed) and black laminate EQcountertops by VT Industries, crafted from recycled particleboard. A hard roof on the front of the building is treated with a 96 percent reflective white coating that reduces heat retention, keeping the building cooler. Rain barrels slow the flow of rainwater into the city's storm water system.

A trip to the office is just as green, in that all it entails is walking downstairs. Used as a staging area during construction, this modern, LEED-CI Gold-certified office space features wheat board flooring (a material typically used in furniture or casework) and sliding glass doors facing the street. Mr. Croce is in the process of facing a wall in the front room with leftover scraps of wood. There's about 300 up, with 14,100 more to go.

All told, the couple ended up pumping about $150,000 into the renovation, possibly pricing it out of the market if they ever decide to sell. Not that they are anytime soon.

Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation

Metro Pittsburgh Real Estate