Old Walcott carpenter shop becomes a comfy new home

Karolyn Williams went looking for a Craftsman-style bungalow in the Quad-Cities and ended up buying a 1920s carpenter's shop in Walcott with bare-stud walls and nofurnace.

But theCalifornia native, who runsan antique store in Rock Island, has vision and experience at turning derelict buildings into valuable properties.

With the help of carpenter Andy Richmond of Davenport, she transformed the buildingover the course of 20 monthsinto a comfortable living space with a kitchen-living room-office-great room on the first floor and a spacious master suite upstairs.

Thefaded cedar shake shingles that cover the outside still looka little rough, but step inside and it's a whole different place from when Williams bought it in February 2013.

Thewalls have been finished with drywall, the floor sanded and refinished, and a kitchen has been built on one end withhickory cabinets made by Amish craftsmen, topped with green granite countertops.

In the middle of the kitchen there'sa largeisland 8 feet long and about 3 feet wide with a sink, microwave and dishwasher, plus an overhang that provides Williams' main dining area.

Complementing the contemporary additions are pieces of the past: multicolored California pottery dishes from the 1940sin a glass-fronted cabinet and a1950 O'Keefe & Merritt white enamel stove.

"My parents had a stove like this," Williams says. "Every time I build a house, I put one in."

A door leads to thetwo-car garage she had built into an existing addition, aset of new sliding glass doors opens to a newscreened-in front porch andanother door reveals what had been the carpenter's finished office. Williams uses the former office as a pantry. One wall is decoratedwith a collection ofwhisk brooms.

The other end of the house is her living area, warmed by a new gas-burning fireplace and all manner of interesting accessories and furniture: a Morris chair reupholstered in animal hide, paintings, mirrors and rugs.

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Old Walcott carpenter shop becomes a comfy new home