Putting the bloom back on a Wyndmoor Tudor

Dino Kelly-Cataldi had his eye on the house long before he and his partner bought it. It was occupied, yet it had an abandoned look.

Far from being a deterrent, that actually appealed to him and partner Michael Kelly-Cataldi. They had been looking for a single home with enough space to live comfortably and entertain well, but not a McMansion with gymnasium-sized rooms. They wanted one they could restore to its original beauty, in their own style.

"Visually, it was a disaster - every room had cobwebs - but we had vision," Dino says of the couple's now-refurbished, three-bedroom Tudor Revival house on almost an acre in Wyndmoor.

Made of Wissahickon schist, with an arched door, cast-iron casement windows and a slate roof, the house was built in 1931 and lived in by members of the Samtmann family until the Kelly-Cataldis bought it in 2007. The Samtmanns operated a rose nursery on the once-much-larger property, producing 110,000 plants a year at its peak, from at least 1914 to 1973.

Though there's no trace now of that nursery era, the current owners hope to landscape their corner property, in part, with roses. Michael has even tried to find 'Betsy Ross,' an orange hybrid tea rose the Samtmanns introduced in 1931, but it appears to be long gone from the trade.

Taking on new ventures seems to be a way of life for these two.

For five years in the 1990s, Michael had a pampered-pet boutique in Center City called . . . and Toto, too!. Dino's been a restaurateur - Napoleon Cafe in Port Richmond, and Napoleon and Bonaparte, both in Center City.

Echoes of these interests are evident throughout the Wyndmoor house, starting with the couple's two Westies, Trixie and Lucy, and carrying over to the decor.

You'll see plenty of fleurs-de-lis, that elegant symbol of the French monarchy - though Napoleon, of course, was an emperor. Actually, the passionate "Monsieur N." might have gotten a kick out of the guest room, known as "the sultan suite" for its harem-like canopy bed.

The living room is interesting, too. The walls are covered with Susan Supper reproductions of works by Tamara de Lempicka, the Polish-born art deco artist. They use to hang in Dino Kelly-Cataldi's restaurants.

"We designed everything in the room around them," says Michael Kelly-Cataldi.

Stylized portraits of the sultry Madame Boucard and "Ira P.," Marjorie Ferry and the Duchess de la Salle, lend a clubby feel to this naturally lit space with its warm brown furniture.

So do the parlor grand piano and keyboard, on which Dino plays jazz standards while Michael sings. This is no accident, as the couple is keen on entertaining. Though the house is modestly scaled, they've hosted 75 friends at a pop.

Which brings us to the kitchen, always the heart of a house.

Dino, the son and brother of contractors, did just about everything to the kitchen. And during the half-year this project took, the working kitchen consisted of a microwave in a bathroom.

He got rid of six layers of prehistoric flooring and what he remembers as "millions of staples and nails." He pulled off the white paneling, redid the ceiling, installed built-in cabinets (solid oak, stained brown, from Ikea), moved walls, and added a double farm sink, wine fridge and bar.

The room has a snazzy granite countertop on an angled island, everything at arm's length and perfect for cooking.

Dino Kelly-Cataldi also removed an elevator in the dining room, built a party-hearty three-tiered deck off the kitchen, and installed a fence around the property. Michael, the couple's creative designer, did painting and other tasks.

Renovations to come: the master bath; a two-car garage dating to the 1960s; a spring cellar that probably was built when a farmhouse stood on the site in the 1700s, and landscaping.

Michael Kelly-Cataldi describes himself as "thrilled" with how the house has turned out. Dino, an accountant, is lower-key. "I'm pretty happy with it," he says, "although I'd like another room, maybe a glassed-in sunroom."

Unlike most couples who have finished a major house project, the Kelly-Cataldis are still on speaking terms. In fact, they had such a great time, they're about to go into the home-renovations business.

That way, they can tear out, rip up, rebuild and decorate other people's homes to their hearts' content, saving their own projects for evenings and weekends.

The very thought may exhaust you and me, but for these two, it doesn't get much better than that.

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