Deborah served as the onsite general contractor (in collaboration with WERK | Building Modern / Derek Mills). The Leerkamps and their 6-year-old-daughter, Sam, painted the majority of the home, sprucing-up the exterior with a deep charcoal gray and a pop of turquoise on the front door. Other than those minor cosmetic changes, they left the outside alone so that it blended in with the rest of the residences on the block. “We definitely didn’t want to touch the outside, because we didn’t want to upset anyone,” Deborah says. “We wanted to keep that integrity.” Curbside, everything about the bungalow gives off a wholesome, Midwestern vibe. The picturesque front porch, outfitted with Adirondack chairs, looks like the film set for a Country Time lemonade commercial.
The inside, on the other hand, was Deborah’s canvas. Built in the 1920s, the original interior exuded a formal, stuffy feeling with eight-foot ceilings, dark walls, and small, choppy rooms. For four months, Deborah observed how the three of them interacted with the floor plan. She then began sketching an open, linear concept with functional spaces where here tight-knit family could spend time together. “We want a very simple lifestyle,” Deborah says. “And we don’t want people to feel like you have to take your shoes off when you come in.”