Haven: Thinking big, and expanding a crowded home

Kristin Recchiuti was on maternity leave about five years ago when it occurred to her that the 3,000-square-foot house she and husband Ed purchased in North Wales in 1998 was no longer working out for them.

"We bought the house as a bargain in 1998 for $318,000, but it needed a lot of work now that we had three kids and a different lifestyle," Kristin says.

The Recchiutis both work in the health-care industry for major corporations. Both are involved in patient education.

"Maternity leaves can be dangerous because you have time on your hands and time to think," she says. "I was home with my baby son. My two daughters, who were then also under 5, were in school, so I redesigned the first floor to suit our family."

Says Ed: "My wife had a vision, and it really worked for us. We thought of moving, but that would have just cost more money."

Theirs had been a typical development house:

The living room had a cold north-facing window.

The kitchen was small, accessed from the dining room through a tiny door. Together, the spaces formed a great room - sort of.

A kitchen wall blocked the view from the house of their wonderful three-quarter-acre yard.

About 10 years before Kristin's fateful maternity leave, a deck had been built next to the kitchen. But it wasn't the destination it might have been.

"I realized we rarely used the dining room, and the deck became too hot in the summer to use," she says.

Changes had to be made.

Kristin and Ed had hired architect Paul Macht to build their deck, so they engaged him again, along with kitchen designer David Cerami, of HomeTech Renovations in Fort Washington, to help them achieve the spaces they wanted.

Though the project added only about 500 square feet to the Recchiutis' house, it changed entirely the way the family used the first floor.

Macht turned the deck he had built into a partially covered south-facing porch that sports wicker furnishings and a barbecue grill. Next to the porch, he designed a sunroom with windows facing south.

That sunroom also looks into a new, expanded kitchen that now boasts an island with stools, a breakfast nook, new range, and cabinetry designed by Cerami.

The cool white wood of the island contrasts comfortably with the rich warm brown of the rest of the cabinets.

Graceful glass pendant lights hover over the island. They are, in turn, a contrast to the hardier-looking spherical metal fixture that hangs over the table in the breakfast nook.

Kristin's plan flipped the original dining room and living room and any notion of a great room.

Next to the expanded kitchen today is not a dining room but a family room, equipped with comfortable couches, television, and other electronic equipment.

The former living room has become a dining room, situated near the front door and able to accommodate family celebrations and holiday festivities.

The sunroom, with its cathedral ceiling, makes up the 500-square-foot addition. It functions as a living room, with no electronic devices - no television, radio, or other music players. Floor-to-ceiling shelves hold books and games. And on a recent winter afternoon, a train set sat on a large table next to a window, along with blocks being shaped into a tower.

"It was a cringe-worthy coffee table where I was always worried that one of our smaller kids would hurt their heads, so we converted it to a train table and it works fine," Kristin says.

"We wanted a room where everyone could relax with no electronic devices, just a place for all of us to relax and be comfortable," Ed says, and the sunroom fits the bill.

The renovated spaces also seem to work well for Coal, the family's black Labrador, a lucky dog who has a new kitchen door of his own that was installed so he can go outdoors whenever he likes.

The large yard "is just one of the great advantages of this house," Kristin says. "We changed the house so it works for us."

"Our house probably is now overpriced for the neighborhood, and we could not get the money back that we spent on the renovation, but we will not sell and will probably stay here until our kids are through school," she adds.

Says Ed: "It is our place, and I love how it turned out."