This hidden gem of a 1957 Kansas home received a thoughtful transformation, taking it from teardown to terrific.
It takes a keen eye to see past years of neglect to visualize a home’s potential. Luckily, Roy Ley, homeowner and principal at Hoke Ley, was able to look beyond the layers of disrepair of this Lawrence, Kansas, home. The list of problems the 1957 build had was extensive.
“There were several trees too close to the house that were on the verge of falling, vines were completely obscuring the brick fireplace and fin wall, the yard was partially dead and planting beds were overgrown to the extent that you could barely see the house anymore,” Roy says. The “anemic” green exterior paint did it no favors and the warped roof fascias and crumbling gutters added to the feeling of dilapidation. “To the untrained eye, the house looked like a teardown,” he says. “To my trained eye, there was enough right about it to purchase it sight unseen.”
Roy kept the original features that make the 1957 Kansas home so special and updated it while remaining true to the era. He reconstructed several elements that were no longer serviceable, including the lattice, Mondrianesque screen wall behind the carport and roof panels in the breezeway. Lighting, doors and doorknobs are new but period-appropriate. The brickwork is original while the chimney was rebuilt with salvaged planter brick. Roy replaced the roof with a low-maintenance standing seam metal roof in a dark charcoal. “I wanted all the fascia boards to blend in with the roof to create a cohesive building outline, so I did a color match of the metal roof,” he says. “To give some relief to the black, I painted the underside of the eaves a terracotta-red color to match the earthy brick on the front of the house. It is a bit of a surprise as you get closer to the house, as it does not read from the street.”
“The main challenge was figuring out what had to be replaced and what I could live with due to budgetary restrictions,” he says. Some features remain imperfect: the driveway and planter boxes have cracks, there are crooked columns and a corner of the house is slightly slumped. “I have learned to appreciate the wabi-sabi aesthetic of my old house,” Roy says. “It was the quality of the spaces that originally drew me to it and not its perfection.”
Architectural Terms to Know
Mondrian Wall: Inspired by Dutch painter Piet Mondrian’s abstract art, these wall panels, located at the back of the carport in this home, resemble mosaics of squares and rectangles of different sizes and colors. (Check out this modern chair inspired by Mondrian’s style.)
Standing Seam Metal Roof: A roofing system that hides the metal panel fasteners with raised seams (also known as vertical legs) that rise above broad, flat metal panels. The panels can be attached by clip to the roof deck or straight to the decking material under the raised seam.
If you love this 1957 Kansas home, don’t miss The Evolution of Home: Renovating and Expanding a 1950 Kansas Home. For more curb appeal ideas, check out The Crowd Pleaser: Meet our Curb Appeal Contest Winner. And of course, don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube for more Atomic Ranch articles, house tours, and ideas!
