A thoughtful renovation can completely change the way a family enjoys their home, both inside and out. This Fox Chapel home renovation transformed an aging outdoor space into a stylish and comfortable retreat designed for entertaining, relaxing, and spending time together throughout the year.
Turning Home Into a Retreat With a Fox Chapel Home Renovation
Designer Maggie Dobkin Cham helped the Friday family rehabilitate their aging kitchen and transform their outdoor space.
When John and Maranda Friday needed more room for their young family, they didn’t have to look far for their forever home.
The Fridays bought a home within walking distance. Their elderly neighbors were moving to a retirement community. The neighbors owned a five-bedroom stone colonial built in 1960.
The house had been well-maintained but was extremely dated. Bathrooms, fixtures and the kitchen had remained relatively unchanged since the early ’80s. The kitchen included melamine-and-wood-trim cabinets and Sears appliances.
Outside, a once-beloved wood pergola had become overgrown with vines, the pool had passed its 50th birthday, and the pool shed was rotting. All would need to be replaced.
The bones of the house, however, were strong. A handful of charming details added value. These included peg-and-plank wood floors and a brick hearth with a fireplace bench. Built-in china cabinets also added value. Beautiful outdoor spaces, established gardens and a private, wooded lot added value as well.
Bringing New Life to an Outdated Home
Enter designer Maggie Dobkin Cham, owner and principal of madDesigns Pittsburgh. Based in the East End, Cham specializes in kitchens and bathrooms but excels at all facets of interiors — and exterior areas, too. The Fridays hired Cham to bring the house up to date and help them breathe new life into it.
“We interviewed multiple kitchen designers for our main house project,” Maranda says. “We knew this was our forever home, so we wanted to get it right.
“Overwhelmingly, Maggie was our top choice. Her ability to understand space and design within those confines to specifically (and perfectly) fit our family’s needs is what has made our projects such a success — and what has made our home feel so special.”
A Functional and Family-Friendly Kitchen Redesign
The light-filled kitchen area was part of an open concept that Cham maintained, but she took advantage of the renovation to move the kitchen sink; the house now features a 5-foot galley sink, embedded in a long counter space. The new placement enabled a clear view of the pool area — where the kids might be playing during meal prep.
The Fridays knew they wanted to use green in the design; together with Cham, they chose an olive shade for the Bonura custom cabinetry as well as the BlueStar range (all sourced from Don’s Appliances). Ultimate Granite was the source for countertops and full-height backsplashes in both the main house and the pool house. Tile & Designs was responsible for the floor of the pool house.
The center of the kitchen has an enormous, custom island with a low-maintenance, marble-patterned quartz countertop. It’s durable enough to host a giant holiday buffet, kids’ school projects or just a large grocery order waiting to be unpacked. A large wet bar, perfect for entertaining, sits just across from the island.
Transforming the Pool House For All Seasons
After BP Construction wrapped up work in the main house, the Fridays quickly realized they wanted to bring Cham back to work on the pool house. “We had always avoided looking at homes with a pool because we had young children,” Maranda says. “After one season of living here, we were converted lifetime pool lovers.”
Cham says the family wanted the outdoor spaces and shed to feel like extensions of their home — classic in aesthetics but taken up a notch with fun and whimsy. The family planned to entertain around the pool frequently and wanted the ability to do so year-round. Cham probed: What do the Fridays do for fun? As it turns out, they’re fiercely competitive at shuffleboard. Cham designed an area for a custom-built shuffleboard table — and had Bonura make a custom drink shelf with brass brackets to avoid spills during heated matches.
A giant television — actually, The Frame, which masquerades as an art frame when not in use — occupies the center of the pool house, raised above the high-top dining table; the position allows viewing from within the pool. John and Maranda were inspired by pools at favorite resorts, including Nemacolin; they worked with their pool contractors, PSW, to ensure the new pool would be able to maintain warm temperatures in the cold winter months.
“We probably use it more in the off-season than we do in the summer months,” Maranda says. “This New Year’s Eve, we celebrated in the pool with friends and had our countdown to midnight in the snowstorm. It was magical.”
The Little Details
Unique details add to the pool house’s charm. There’s a generous lounge area, a playful chandelier (which Cham sourced in High Point, North Carolina), towel storage with a hidden hamper and a NanaWall panel facing the pool. The wall can be partially opened as a door — or the whole wall can retract, essentially turning it from a year-round room to a lanai. If temps get too hot, a custom-cabinet, camouflaged air-conditioning unit cools things down.
Cham takes great pride in having a wonderful team of contractors behind her that she orchestrates into seamless coordination, allowing projects to be finished in a timely way and within budget.
Summing up her feelings about the Fridays and her work, she says, “I love this family and what I have been able to do for them.” Whenever the Fridays discuss their home, it’s clear those feelings are reciprocated.
Story by Charlene Campbell
Photos by Autumn Stankay and Christina Montemurro
Photos Styled by Thommy Conroy