Haven: Small house is now home

Lisa Rose's bungalow in Narberth is not big. That can't be said about her temporary housemate.

Kelly, a large, exuberant black shepherd mix, is being trained as a service dog by Paws and Affection, a nonprofit organization run by a neighbor. Rose volunteered to foster Kelly, who, after eight or nine months, will go work with a child who cannot walk.

"It will be extremely difficult to give her up," Rose says, hugging her enthusiastic, wriggling companion.

The same welcoming attitude evident in opening her home to Kelly is behind the changes Rose has made to the 1,500-square-foot clapboard dwelling she bought in 2008 as a home for herself and her son after her divorce.

Built in 1920, the bungalow was one of 12 in a development. It was the only one that had not been changed in all those decades.

Transforming it was a collaboration, Rose says: "By collaboration, I mean that everyone worked together to create my house."

A nonpracticing registered architect who now works as an administrator at the University of Pennsylvania, Rose laid out the floor plans.

A former colleague, architect Paul Macht, worked with her on the original plans and produced the technical drawings, helping rescue hidden space from eves and niches. Only about 200 square feet would be added to the house, though 80 percent of it would be gutted for the renovation.

Later, Rose supervised the contractors, Bradley Bros. General Contractors of Havertown.

"I was here every day," she says. "If something had to be changed, I was here."

The result: The 1,500-square-foot house was enlarged to about 1,700 square feet through, as Macht points out, a lot of subtle changes that resulted in more space for Rose and her son, Tyler, who is now a student of industrial design at Syracuse University.

For example, "the exterior changes included a side porch and a rear deck, which allowed Rose to have an outdoor-indoor housewarming party last summer with 85 guests," Macht says.

"We took the dormer on the second floor and enlarged it and made changes to enlarge a guest room and add a hall and another bathroom with the dormer addition," he says.

"On the first floor, we opened up the living room by adding space from a former den and taking space from two small bedrooms to create a master-bedroom suite and another bathroom."

The original kitchen, which Rose says had no place for work or storage, was doubled in size by taking space from a former storage closet.

French windows were added to the rear. Now, Rose has a small desk in front of those windows and uses the space for an office.

A curving staircase behind the kitchen was straightened to create yet more space on the first floor.

In all, the changes have yielded a bright, accommodating environment.

Rose says she is particularly pleased that the energy efficiency of her home has been "beefed up," including by adding natural light.

The extra elbow room helps show off Rose's decor, starting with a contemporary dining room featuring a table centerpiece that's unexpected.

A long rectangular niche runs along the tabletop. Where others might have filled the space with fruit or flowers, Rose has chosen an assemblage of smooth rocks. And it works, in juxtaposition to the room's bold area rug.

In the second-floor hall, in part of a space created from wasted eaves, an arrangement of photographs of different sizes, all reframed by Rose, adorns a newly created wall. Some of the images date to the 19th century.

A guest room, painted yellow with white trim, is serene amid sparse furnishings.

"This house is now full of good vibes," Rose says.

"I love it," she says. "And it now has sunshine and space. . . .

"It suits me because I can't stand clutter, but I am very visual and like things in my house that I enjoy looking at and sharing with friends and family."