Haven: Strong color palette anchors S. Phila. rowhouse renovation

In that first moment, when you get past the front door and step inside the South Philadelphia home of Barbara Capozzi and Frank Scaramuzza, your jaw simply drops.

There before you: open space, textures, bright white walls, and, yes, a sculpture of a gentleman on a unicycle holding a bunch of balloons.

It's a lot to take in. But it's also, in a seeming contradiction, a minimalist vista.

Seems that this couple has figured out the unique balancing act of warming a home with whimsy and still keeping it cool with an open design that features modernity and an almost geometric feel.

For its two occupants, the house also combines Capozzi's past, present and future.

The backstory: Capozzi, a lawyer and Realtor, lives in a house her late father built in Packer Park, the 1950s community he developed on a parcel of what once was farmland but now is cheek-to-jowl with the city's sports stadiums.

That simple rowhouse was transformed last year into a striking contemporary showplace by Scaramuzza, a custom builder/contractor who was willing to rethink and reconfigure everything from the exterior to the landscaping, and change the interior down to the smallest details.

"I'm a lucky woman. I live in a home my father built, my husband rebuilt, and that I love," said Capozzi, who initially followed in her father's footsteps and was a minority partner in developing a community of 330 homes adjacent to his original 1,250-unit Packer Park community.

It's hard to miss the fact that this striking contemporary is so different from neighboring homes, yet it still retains enough of its original style to blend in.

"The biggest challenges," notes the unflappable Scaramuzza, an admitted perfectionist, "were in rethinking the lot itself, and reconfiguring and relocating doors and windows, along with allowing for an elevated deck."

It's head-spinning: The original front door was moved around the corner, creating a completely new floor plan.

Head-spinning, too, was the fact that four days after they moved in, the couple hosted a large Christmas dinner for their families.

"It was crazy, but it also was wonderful," Capozzi says.

Scaramuzza good-naturedly acknowledges that some of his wife's ideas collide with his, but somehow they managed to get past those obstacles and create a home that works for them both.

The kitchen is a case in point. It's vast, sleek, and almost Spartan, but it's also totally utilitarian, with enormous working counters, practical space planning, and drawer-style freezer units.

Quartz counters, white appliances with mosaic backsplashes, and dazzling lighting fixtures make the entire space feel futuristic, but it's also welcoming and warm.

The work area flows into the eating area and meets the striking living room, which has a vast red-leather sectional sofa as its focal point.

Capozzi, it turns out, has a form of color-blindness that works best when black, white, and red tones are present - thus the combinations of that trio throughout the house.

The combo is particularly noticeable in the entry, where bold leopard-print carpeting on the stairs steals the show. A striking image of Jackie Kennedy, done in red, black, and white, smiles down on a stuffed tiger and penguins.

Boring this house is not, from wall art that includes a collage of Sinatra's Rat Pack, to a magnificent wall piece with an almost Grecian feel. Then there's the bar stool configured like a woman's spike-heeled shoe.

Upstairs is a tailored master suite with state-of-the-art his-and-hers bathrooms, as well as two home offices. A lower-level mini-home, with its own mini-kitchen, offers ample guest space.

Her decorating philosophy: "I stay away from boring. I love some flashes of silver-gray, and I think a home should be fun!"

"I go along with her on most things," he says gamely. "But I'm happy with the way it all turned out."

From the outdoor elevations and the deck, to the bamboo hardscaping that surrounds the property, there's always more than meets the eye at first glance.

"I nagged my husband every step of the way," Capozzi admits, "but this ended up as our dream home, one we really, truly love. And, yes, we still love each other - especially now that it's finished."