The story below is a preview from our May/June 2017 issue. For the full story Subscribe today, view our FREE interactive digital edition or download our FREE iOS app!
This unique home is everything the owners hoped it could be – fun, playful and functional for both family and pets. Maybe a giant slide should be in everyone’s home for a bit of whimsy!
Julianne Rainone
Logan and Jessi Glickfield knew exactly what they were looking for when it came to buying their new home. They were ready to renovate, as long as the house had a private setting, ample acreage, sturdy bones to build upon and community in the immediate area.
Logan Glickfield, a software engineer for CircleUp in San Francisco, works remotely from home. He’s a long-distance runner (he ran the Blue Ridge Marathon last year), so having access to the greenway or Blue Ridge Parkway was on his list of requirements. Jessi Glickfield is a veterinarian with Pet Vet Roanoke and originally from Crozet, which led the couple back to Virginia.
The family has lived in several bigger areas, most recently in California and Boston, and have now been in Roanoke for almost two years. Roanoke was familiar, as Jessi grew up nearby, and being closer to their families was an important piece of the move. The home buying process, however, was almost as unique as their home itself.
“We lived in a rental before buying,” Jessi says. “We’d spend full days driving around southwest county [with schools and work being close by], looking at properties.”
“Before we did that, we spent four to six months looking at what was on the market,” Logan adds. “We didn’t find what we wanted, so we started looking at other ways to find a home.”
Their search included letters to a few homeowners whose homes were not currently on the market. Jessi Glickfield let them know if the homeowners were thinking of moving or selling, they would be interested. They even had a few replies and toured those homes!
Then one day, the house that would soon become their home went on the market. The couple saw it that same afternoon, made an offer the next morning, and heard the exciting acceptance news only a day later.
“We loved it,” Jessi says. “We knew the area and that it was right for us. The shape of the house was really nice and we knew it’d be the perfect property to gut and redo the interior.”
With two small kids plus pets, the couple wanted their space to be functional, but also fun. When the couple reached out to architect Bill Hume with Interactive Design Group, the Glickfields used words like “playful, fun and unique.” The couple also explored different ideas like nooks and secret spaces. It was important that their space be fun and functional, but also be a place their kids could grow up in.
“They had a really clear mindset of what they wanted to achieve from the get go,” Hume says.
While Hume came up with a set of plans, the Glickfields researched house designs and found the ultimate unique feature for their home: an indoor slide made by American Playgrounds.
“We thought it’d be a great idea and a good way to set the tone for the house being a play space for us,” Jessi says. “The slide was our original idea and we fell in love with it.”
“The slide was a really cool feature that integrates the lower and upper levels and honestly was easily implemented,” Hume says.
Their son and resident slide expert, Andy, is five and a half, and very happy with the slide, saying he uses it “all the time.” So does their three-year-old, Wyatt, though he’s not quite climbing back up the slide (instead of stairs) just yet like his big brother. Jessi and Logan Glickfield use it all the time, too, proving it’s fun for the whole family!
The slide was a long process into their renovations. Jessi ordered the slide before construction even began. Building Specialists, Inc. project manager Josh Beisley found the biggest challenge in getting the slide inside. His team converted old garage doors into walk-out patio doors, bringing the slide in on the bottom level so it would physically fit inside the house.
The slide itself was stored in its packaging for several weeks while finishing work was done around it, and finally put into place once drywall and painting were completed. As they continued with new HVAC installation, plumbing reconfigurations and more, Beisley would work with the homeowners and his team to ensure success.
“One big thing that benefitted the end result was a standing weekly meeting with the owners,” Beisley says. “That allowed for on-the-fly changes and adjustments to be made every time a new idea was dreamt up. Many times we start with a paper plan and details match up in the end, but this was a bit opposite in that we had a plan as a great starting tool and as the owners saw how things came together, we made modifications to make it their own functional space.”
In addition to the slide, renovations also included some structural issues. The house was originally built in 1968 and needed a bit of work to make it what it is today. With the roof sinking in one spot over the would-be office and a precariously tricky driveway, the crew had to build the trusses at the home, rather than bringing them in pre-made. (The couple has since redone the driveway.)
Their modern, clean aesthetic has a very “West Coast” vibe, with sleek appliances and unique features such as the lighting. Because of the uncommon look, they often had to look for materials outside of the area, and sometimes it meant the costs were more, too.
While architect Hume and his team have done similar projects, most of the playfulness the homeowners wanted is all on the interior. They took a traditional, brick ranch home with many interior walls and demolished it to start from scratch to build the open concept and modern plan. Hume says his biggest challenge was that while most homeowners want to upgrade their homes with more space, this particular home was all about scaling down into making practical spaces.
“They really thought through, in enormous detail, how much space they actually needed to function,” Hume says. “It was a good challenge. Since Logan works from home, he wanted a private office but in a space that still allows him to integrate into the family since he works different time zones. That was enjoyable, watching them through the process, and the foresight they had was really nice from our perspective.”
Their kitchen is large, with durable floors and easy accessibility. They didn’t want anything hanging from the ceiling, including light fixtures. They have a pull-out drawer in their kitchen island where the dogs’ bowls stay; another fun feature includes small stairs on the wall by the counter so their three-legged cat can hop up to eat. They also added a screened porch for the animals to stay out of the rain and inside their fenced backyard.
Their beautiful windows were already there when they moved in, allowing plenty of natural light that sprawls across every room. In addition to adding vaulted ceilings, the owners addressed that the home contained a lot of interior brick that wouldn’t work with their aesthetic. Logan’s office, for example, was a bricked-in porch, but they were able to repurpose much of it, using it to finish fireplaces or window openings. His office arguably has the best window in the house now, thanks to his clear view of mountains and wildlife.
Their front porch was a simple add-on, while the entryway was originally a plain brick wall. Now there is a great storage space that keeps clutter away from the front door (and prevents their cat from eating their shoes!), keeping with their clean aesthetic. The couple added a laundry closet, while their smaller master suite has a beautiful tiled fireplace and vaulted ceiling. They also added an outdoor shower, which, while unusual to builders, is perfect for when Logan comes home from a summer run and doesn’t want to sweat in the house. Every part of the house has a functional use of space.
“We’ve lived in enough different houses that we knew what we wanted and how to use the space,” Logan says.
The boys have their own rooms with a shared bathroom, including a nook that currently serves as a makeshift library. There is a little window in the nook that peeks into the kitchen (the boys sometimes perform puppet shows for their mom while she’s cooking or drop stuff directly below onto the slide).
The downstairs acts as a kids’ play area for now, with open space and lots of light. One side will eventually be a guest room, with doors leading outside for the guest dogs, too! There’s a full bathroom, while their original concrete floors have been polished to match the overall look. They also installed a concrete pad in the backyard for the boys to play on. Even their staircase is unique, with specially ordered materials. The open steps allow more light to flood in, and is custom due to the widths.
The family has been in the house for two months now and are feeling settled, minus a few things such as hanging artwork or landscaping. Otherwise, they’re thrilled with the results. They love Roanoke, as well as the community and being closer to family. The whole family also enjoys the allure of being able to walk right over to the neighborhood pool and swim with friends and neighbors.
Andy asked his mom if they would live in this house forever; Jessi Glickfield replied that hopefully they would stay at least until Andy grew up and moved into his own home.
Andy’s response? “No...I’m going to live here forever!”
... for more from our May/June 2017 issue, Subscribe today, view our FREE interactive digital edition or download our FREE iOS app!