The Houwens bought their house in 1984. Peter's brother, who lived around the corner, had seen that the dwelling, built in the 1940s, was up for sheriff's sale. They were not quick enough to get it then, but ultimately they bought it from the person who did, after he had completed a three-month renovation of the interior.
"It was all white inside," said Patti, 49, office manager at the Church of the Incarnation.
But they saw potential there and turned it into a cozy two-bedroom, one-bath home for what was then a family of four. (Youngest daughter Emily came along while they were building the addition.)
In 1991, the Houwens decided to sell - their offer on a larger house had even been accepted. But three offers on their Mantua home fell through "for silly reasons," Patti said.
They took it as a sign they should stay. And with help from Peter's father, an architect who had built his first home, they designed what became the two-story addition.
(Their hunch was a good one: Soon after they decided to stay in the smaller house, Patti was laid off. "We'd never have been able to afford the mortgage on the new place," she said.)
On the first floor, much of the original house remains today, though it is no longer painted all white. The Houwens converted the original attic into a bedroom, giving Emily a bright color scheme of lime-green walls, teal trim, and a purple window seat in a space that connects to an office area.
The addition's second story aligned with that office area, but the couple did not break through the wall between the original structure and the new portion until absolutely necessary, to keep the living spaces as clean and clutter-free as possible.
"We used to step through the original outdoor window to get to and from the addition," Patti said.
