
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, September 22, 1995                   TAG: 9509220117
SECTION: FALL HOME                    PAGE: 2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FAMILY ROOM BECOMES FAMILY PROJECT

Everyone agrees that older homes have their charms. But often, they are not completely suitable for modern lifestyles. When Bob and Nancy Amick bought their Raleigh Court home six years ago, they knew they would have to expand it somehow.

The house, which was built in 1931, is a "combination Cape Cod - Tudor" said Nancy Amick. Inside, it is a typical Roanoke four-square - the term local real estate people use to describe a house with four rooms downstairs and four rooms up.

None of the four downstairs rooms - living room, dining room, kitchen, and a small foyer which houses the stairway - was suitable for use as a family room. The Amicks needed a place where they and their two sons, Nathan, 4 1/2, and Robert 1 1/2, could kick back and relax.

The house has a basement, but it's not dry, and the money it would take to fix it seemed like too much at the time. Luckily, there already was a walk-up attic. The room had been used as a bedroom by the previous owners, Amick said, but it had only been roughed in, and had suffered weather damage because of leaky windows in both gables.

So, soon after Nathan was born, they got to work.

"We're both from middle-class backgrounds," Amick said, "so we never think about hiring out the work when we can do it ourselves."

Bob repaired the plaster and refinished the rough hardwood flooring. The stairway was in good shape, and already enclosed by a railing. It just needed a coat of paint, as did the walls. A friend updated the wiring for the price of a dinner, and Nancy's father, Keith Painter, built cabinets around the air-conditioning ducts.

"It was a family project," Amick said. The cabinets "gave the room a focal point."

In fact, the air-conditioning was the only part of the project the Amicks did not do themselves. They also put in new thermal windows, replaced the rotted casings and added space heaters along the walls.

The heat is rarely needed, Amick said. The rest of the house usually keeps the attic warm. Because they filled the old storage spaces with blown-in insulation, the room is comfortable year-round. Although they lost the storage space they once had, there is plenty more in the basement, she said.

The entire project took six months to finish and cost about $2,000, she said. Most of the money was spent on the lumber her father used for the cabinets.

They ended up with a cozy little room where the family gathers on fall and winter evenings. It's a place where the children can entertain their friends and Bob can have his buddies over to watch televised sports.

"It's an escape for my husband," Amick said. "We're really fond of the finished effect."

by CNB