Design trends: Pandemic attic reno provides a creative space in Glebe home – County Weekly News

On the front patio, the tall grasses provide privacy while John and Maureen relax in red Adirondack chairs. Supplied

For homeowners John Omura and his wife Maureen DeMarco-Omura, an upstairs creative space has been a comforting retreat during this time of isolation and working from home.

My husband did the major renovation of the house in 1990 just before I met him, says Maureen located in the Glebe neighbourhood. John was living two doors down and renovated the house completely, adding the garage, the master bedroom above it and a family room behind the garage.

The third floor was originally the attic and we converted into a real creative space. Its one of the parts I love the most.

Light pours into the third floor, originally the attic.Supplied

Formally trained as an engineer, John currently works at Algonquin College as a user experience research manager, but his hobby and passion is music.

Renovation now mostly complete, the couple turns their attention to how to best use the space. One of the upstairs rooms is a music room, which they painted and decorated during the pandemic.

Johns using it a lot more now that hes working from home. He plays guitar, and daughter Alyssa, 17, sings and plays guitar too.

Maureen took over a part of the creative space in what used to be her husbands office. She dreams of using the space for painting and crafts when she retires from her job as a special education teacher in the Ottawa-Carleton School Board.

The third room upstairs also houses a slot car track where John and their son Tommy raced their miniature race cars together when Tommy was younger.

Now 20, Tommy helped design the race track to accommodate this childhood hobby he shared with his father, who re-lived his slot car days from when he was a kid. John and Tommy were members of a local slot car club that closed down in 2016. John hopes to bring the slot car room back to life after he retires in the near future.

They havent changed the basic house much since the original renovation. The most creative change weve done has been front and rear patios, deck and landscaping, says Maureen. And sorting out whats inside the three-bedroom house. I like less stuff and he likes more.

A small three-person hot tub just off the back deck is the latest addition installed during the pandemic. The yard is an oasis for us, surrounded by four old maples that our son taps for maple syrup every spring, says Maureen. There is a circular patio below the deck with a wrought iron table and chairs, and a fire bowl that we use to warm ourselves on cool COVID evenings when we cant entertain indoors! The front patio is another secluded refuge for us in the spring. The tall grasses begin growing each spring and provide privacy while we enjoy our coffees in our red Adirondack chairs.

The original home was built in the early 1900s. Back then, there was an alley in the back, says John, but now homeowners have moved their fences to the middle of the laneway.

The original home, built in the early 1900s and located in the Glebe neighbourhood, has undergone several transformations.Supplied

John felt that the house he was living in before buying the current property was feeling a little small, and so he decided to buy the one two doors down. I felt that that house was better suited to a renovation. It had a bigger lot.

He was young and frugal back then and he knew it would be long term, adds his wife. He hired a design/build company, and was impressed with the finished quality of the builders houses and the attention to detail.

Being an engineer myself, I did some preliminary floor plans that laid out the functions I wanted, and areas I thought would be nice, he says. I went back and forth with my builder, who suggested some modifications. It ended up quite different from my original floor plans, but in the end, I liked his final design.

When the house was renovated, the main floor was opened up with a look-through island joining the kitchen and dining/living room, with a triangular glassed-in staircase leading to the second level. Maureen is particularly fond of the light wells in the living/dining room that brings in the light from the third floor.

The decor has an Asian flare reflecting Johns Japanese heritage. A red kimono, passed down from Johns mother, is a focal point in the dining area.

Shoji screens provide privacy in front windows, and there are Japanese wooden Kokeshi dolls that Maureen brought back from Japan when she taught English there as an exchange teacher.

The window in the main entrance door is a faux stained glass that Maureen created as a stylized version of Hokusais famous woodblock print, The Wave.

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Design trends: Pandemic attic reno provides a creative space in Glebe home - County Weekly News