A bit more room was all it took to make this house just right

In 2011, Marilyn Devine and Stan Demski were engaged and planning to move into his small Colonial in Collingswood.

"It made sense," says Marilyn. Collingswood was where Stan's custom-framing business was located.

She had a concern though. After a divorce, "I had been single for 20 years. I remember standing on the deck at the back of the house thinking I had lived alone for a long time and needed space. I asked Stan, 'What would you think about adding a room?' "

"Why?" he asked. After Marilyn explained the addition would be a glassed-in sunroom, he agreed.

Stan, a widower, had spent years establishing his business, then caring for a sick wife. He maintained the house, which he bought in 1985, but it needed updating.

So a new kitchen and bathroom were added to the sunroom project, along with new wiring, heating and air-conditioning, and landscaping.

"People asked who our architect was," Marilyn says. "We didn't have one."

Working with stacks of graph paper, she designed the sunroom and kitchen. The couple were fortunate to have a talented contractor, Jobes Maia, as a neighbor.

The new white-sided addition looks as if it were always part of the 1940s house.

"I didn't want it to look stuck on," Stan says.

For the shutters and front door, Marilyn chose burgundy, the color of dogwood branches. The lawn was replaced with beds of perennials.

"I gave the mower away," Stan says.

In back, a slate patio and fire pit were installed. (The couple hosts an annual pig roast.)

Maia matched the floor in the sunroom and new kitchen to the oak flooring with chestnut banding in the rest of the house. Sleek stainless-steel ceiling fans were installed in the sunroom, living room, and master bedroom.

The kitchen features pecan cabinets, granite counters, and a gray tile backsplash. Marilyn had the house interior painted "Harbor Gray" with white trim.

Upstairs, a turquoise and pink bathroom was ripped out. Its replacement features a black-and-white floor and white tile walls and fixtures. The color scheme is repeated in the downstairs powder room.

The decor blends his, hers, and theirs. Stan and Marilyn purchased the gray couch and glass coffee table and end table for the sunroom, and found the rough-hewn fireplace mantel at a sawmill in New Jersey.

The vintage breakfast table and chairs in the sunroom belonged to Stan. A similar-sized contemporary table and two chairs were Marilyn's. The oak dining furniture also was hers. A funky lamp with a fringed pink silk shade was purchased by Stan's late wife, Kathleen.

Pale gray couches in the living room came from Marilyn's Bala Cynwyd townhouse. A Tiffany-style lamp was Stan's. Her high-backed, tapestry-covered chair sits at one end of the room, opposite his music corner.

On display is his Martin D-18 guitar. Stan, who plays folk, pop, and rock, has accompanied professional musicians and worked as a soundman for rock groups.

"He writes music, too," Marilyn boasts.

A large print by Cornelia Katchen in shades of blue, mauve, and green hangs over the mantel in the living room. Stan owns a half-dozen of Katchen's abstract floral photographs. He also has acquired whimsical cat drawings by Robert Byrd.

Byrd, a friend, drew a caricature of Stan playing a guitar with his head in a wood frame, alluding to both his interests. On the same wall in the downstairs office is an ad from Kern's Basement Store in Detroit, where Marilyn grew up. It features a 4-year-old Marilyn with dark ringlets, wearing a blue taffeta dress on sale for $2.98.

Photos of wild animals are from the couple's safari in Africa. A photo of Paris was shot on their honeymoon. Art and photos are expertly matted and framed, a benefit of being in the trade, Stan says.

Stained glass that Marilyn collected hangs in the windows - it "provides privacy but allows light through," she says.

Marilyn retired from a career as an advertising copywriter in July. Stan sold his framing business in November. The couple, both 70, now travel, spend time on their fishing boat in Cape May, and enjoy their home.

Stan says he loves it when people stop to admire the house and thank him for "improving the neighborhood."

Is Your House A Haven? Tell us about your haven by e-mail (and send some digital photographs) at properties@phillynews.com.