Community was first priority

When Pat and Sara Maggitti moved back to the Philadelphia area after living in Maryland for 12 years, the real estate market was at its craziest. Houses were selling faster than they could get in to see them.

Eventually, they bought a place in Newtown Square sight unseen. It brought them closer to St. Joseph's University, where they had met as students, but there was something missing.

"We really wanted to have the feel of a neighborhood," said Pat Maggitti, who was an entrepreneur in the steel and mining industry in Maryland. "We were living in Newtown Square, and it seemed like we were always going to functions in Radnor Township. We just felt sort of disconnected."

So they started searching for another house almost immediately. Nestled in a quaint section of St. Davids, they found a 1937 Brittany/Normandy in need of some work. The bathrooms leaked, ivy was creeping into the windows, and a three-foot tree was growing on a mound of dirt on the back roof.

"We looked at it in the morning, and we didn't talk about it the rest of the day until that night - we were lying in bed, and we started thinking about what the house could possibly be," Pat Maggitti said.

It had problems, but the structure was sound. And the location was ideal: a desirable school district, only half a mile from Cabrini University, where Sara Maggitti is director of psychological services, and two miles from Villanova University, where Pat Maggitti is an assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship.

Focusing on the potential they saw in it, the Maggittis purchased the property in January 2006 and moved in shortly after. They took an academic approach to fixing the place up.

Pat Maggitti made a prioritized spreadsheet of 75 jobs that needed to be done, including cleaning and fixing one bathroom (priority one), painting (priority three), and installing a new mailbox (priority four).

The biggest project of all would be a two-story addition to the back - a kitchen and family room and a second-floor master suite.

The Maggittis' search for a close-knit community proved prophetic. They hired their next-door neighbor, Stevan Page, as their contractor for the addition.

"Steve was always helpful from the start. He would have a suggestion here and there," Pat Maggitti said. "We became fast friends. He was a natural choice as a contractor."

Pat Maggitti, who grew up working with his father and brother on a house, spent summer break from teaching as a member of Page's crew. He labored two hours before and after the crew each day, starting at 5:30 a.m.

"Through the years, I've had a few people express an interest in that sort of thing, doing work on their own, but no one's really followed through to that level," Page said.

The arrangement also allowed Pat Maggitti and Page to make adjustments to the plan quickly, saving consultation time. One major decision was to add a full basement to the addition rather than a crawl space.

Pat Maggitti broke through a stone wall himself. "I personally took every stone out of that area. It was one of the dirtiest, nastiest projects," he said. "I was half-waiting for the house to fall down."

Said Page: "We left on one workday, and when we came back the next, it was done. That was a job anyone would dread, so it was really surprising to see it finished."

The Maggittis made do with the old kitchen while waiting for the addition to be finished - but they had enough room to install only one appliance.

"I had a choice to make, whether I wanted a dishwasher or an oven," Sara Maggitti said. "I chose the dishwasher because I was pregnant with my second son and didn't plan on making any big meals. So for a year, we lived without an oven."

She adapted, using a stovetop and a barbecue to prepare meals. She even made a Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas cookies on the grill.

Once their new kitchen was completed, the old one was converted into a powder room, a laundry area, and a needed first-floor closet.

With the addition, the house has five bedrooms, four full baths, and two half-baths. By staying faithful to the look and feel of the house as they updated, the Maggittis maintained its quaint charm.

The location and their personal touches have made it an attractive place to raise 5-year-old Patrick Jr. and 2-year-old Sean.

The Maggittis spend most of their time in the family room and kitchen, as they did in their favorite part of the last house.

"That addition is key; it keeps our family . . . together," Pat Maggitti said. "Except for when we're sleeping, we spend 99 percent of our time in there."

In there, too, are the Maggittis' most frequently admired artworks - two paintings on canvas by Sean and young Patrick, a manifestation of the house-family connection.

"This was our fifth house, so we have a sense of how we live and what we want," Sara Maggitti said. "We paid attention to how we live our lives and made a space that fits that."

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