'If we knew how much work and money we'd put into this house," said Bruce Campbell, "we would have knocked it down and started from scratch."
A few minutes later, in another room of the house, his wife, Torii Campbell said the same thing.
They don't really mean it.
The couple lives in a beautiful, sunlit home with a view of the bay in the Cape St. Claire community. Over the years, they've transformed the residence into an elegantly ship-shape and spacious yet comfortable place to raise a family.
Bruce, a USNA '77 graduate, is an engineering manager at NASA-Goddard. His business card puckishly states, in part: "Spacecraft problems? Call the Rocketman."
Torii is the Alumni Coordinator at St. John's College, and worked previously across the street, at the USNA Alumni Association.
The couple has three daughters: Mae Kate, 16, a Broadneck High junior; Martha, 13, an 8th-grader at Magothy Middle; and 12-year-old Maggie, a student at Montessori International Children's House.
The original house on the property was a one-story cottage with two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and small bathroom. Built around 1940, it was about 800 square feet, perfect for a weekend vacation spot. One owner added a detached garage and a screened-in "three season" room in back. Another owner, a contractor who built a number of other homes in the Cape St. Claire area, added on a second floor. Bruce bought the house in 1985.
Today, the home's interior is more than three times the square footage of the original. The cottage is now a contemporary raised rancher style. It has three full baths, four bedrooms, an office, a full basement and an attached garage.
The exterior is handsome. The upper story is sheathed in cedar shingle siding, painted gray, and trimmed with white. The lower level has a stone facade. To one side is the garage, at the end of a paving stone driveway that matches the front walk. The welcoming red door is framed by an open air portico.
On the other side, a passerby can see the pair of red canvas umbrellas on the second floor rear deck.The Nevada stairwell
As we tour the home, Bruce explains all the renovations that have occurred the past 27 years. It's mind-boggling. None of the old walls or floor plan remain.
"The original front door entered into the old living room," he said. "We turned the living room into Maggie's bedroom. We walled off the front door and built a new entry several feet away. A closet was built against the old doorway wall.
"The current first floor bathroom used to be the kitchen."
When the second floor was installed, the stairwell was dark and narrow, and rose over the old front doorway. The Campbells decided to open up the stairwell wall to make the space brighter, even though cinderblocks were behind the sheetrock.
"Can you make the opening look like the state of Nevada?" asked Torii, who attended college there. If you know your geography, the open wall is shaped like Nevada - except for the jagged southeastern edge where Nevada and Arizona share a thin, snaking waterway. The Campbells' version has a nice clean edge.
The Campbells waited until their third baby arrived to begin serious renovations on the home. "We wanted a bigger house, but couldn't afford a new one. We decided to expand and put on a back addition," said Torii. They had to knock down the three-season room and the detached garage which housed Bruce's prized MG sportscar. A basement was dug out beneath the home.
To design the rear addition "with lots of closet space," they hired Annapolis architect Catherine Purple Cherry. The Campbells also began a long-term relationship with contractor Dallas Jones.
"He did all the gorgeous built-ins and cabinetry throughout the house," said Torii. "He also acted as a sort of marriage counselor-mediator between me and Bruce. I'd want something and Bruce wanted something else. Dallas would diplomatically blend our ideas."
The house is lavished with sturdy, attractive white wooden closets and cabinetry built by the contractor.
Spaces reversed
What the couple didn't expect is that visitors would call their abode the upside-down house. Unlike most area homes, the bedrooms are all located downstairs; the real living spaces are upstairs.
Stepping inside the front door, there's a choice of two hallways. Let's walk straight ahead.
Torii pulls open the hall closet to show off her innovation: a storage unit with slide-out wire baskets. Each basket is labeled with the name of a family member, save for the top two which hold tote bags and miscellaneous items. Inside the family baskets are their hats, caps, gloves and other outerwear accessories.
At the hallway's terminus is the master suite. A patterned print quilt envelopes the bed. At the foot of the bed is a wooden trunk, used to store linens and blankets. Next to the bed is a stationary cycle with a view of the terraced and landscaped backyard, the shaded patio beneath the wooden second-story deck, and the bay.
"Bruce put in the patio," Torii said proudly.
The master bath, painted a bright federal blue and trimmed in white, features a double sink vanity, designed and installed by Jones. The couple shares a neatly organized his-and-hers walk-in closet.
Back down the hall, turn left.
The vivid lime green of the girls' bathroom casts a glow into the hallway. It takes a moment to adjust the eyes. This bathroom, too, has a double sink vanity. On the wall above the sink is a unique alphabet. "Accept differences, Be kind, Count your blessings, Dream," it begins and goes through to "Yearn for peace, and Zealously support a worthy cause."
Across the hall is Maggie's bedroom, painted a bright blue, with white trim. In addition to the aforementioned closet, a set of drawers is built into the wall, utilizing "dead space" beneath the stairs on the other side of the wall. A quilt printed in a floral pattern dresses her white wood frame bed. In a corner, a ukulele rests on a small white slip-covered chair.
In Martha's room, painted aqua, the white cast iron bed is covered with a pair of colorful, coordinating quilts. On one wall hangs a poster of Justin Bieber. On another is a photo-poster of Martha as one of the 2011 Cape St. Claire's Strawberry Festival princesses. A drawing of a saxophone dances above her white bureau and her strawberry princess sash.
Mae Kate's room is painted a buttery yellow. Posters of Albert Einstein and Katy Perry decorate the walls. Nestled between two full closets is a window seat - more of Jones' handiwork. The bed is covered with a soft lime and cream quilt and a puffy cream duvet.
Once a bachelor pad
While still single, Bruce lived upstairs and rented out the downstairs.
Before the Campbells began renovations, the second floor was filled with sliding glass doors, one of which opened onto an outdoor stair, and the rest - well, thankfully, no one ever fell out. The space was redesigned to replace most of the sliding doors with windows. A sliding door was installed in the rear of the house and opens onto the new rear deck.
The ceiling was lower, too, decorated with low barn wood ties. The Campbells pulled out the wood ties and opened up the dead space between the ceiling and the pitched roof. What a difference!
The floor plan is circular. The dining area segues into the living room. Beyond the living room is the couple's office, which leads to the third bath. A second door in the bathroom opens into the kitchen, which is separated from the dining area by the stairwell.
Lining the half-wall of the stairwell is a built-in buffet in the dining room. On the one wall in that area hang framed artworks depicting sailing scenes.
In the living room, comfortable navy blue couches with corded accents face each other, separated by a Persian rug. Closer to the rear is a child-sized wooden table and chairs. A pair of built-in cabinets flanks the sliding doors. Some of the cabinet drawers are designed to hold videos and DVD cases.
The office is filled with memorabilia from Bruce and Torii's careers and family life, including a few replicas of NASA spacecraft and satellites and framed prints of Naval Academy scenes.
Step through the full bathroom into the kitchen, lined with snowy white cabinets and appliances. Above the backsplash of the light blue counter installed along the opposite side of the stairwell, the couple has placed painted wooden plaques depicting well-known buildings in Annapolis; Falmouth, Mass.; and Savannah, Ga. Lined up, the flat buildings create a novel street scene. The plaques are all made by The Cat's Meow Village of Wooster, Ohio.
Bruce stops to share a cup of coffee with Torii before they both head back to work. He savors a sip and looks out at the bay.
"It's like being in a treehouse up here," he smiled.
They don't really mean it.
The couple lives in a beautiful, sunlit home with a view of the bay in the Cape St. Claire community. Over the years, they've transformed the residence into an elegantly ship-shape and spacious yet comfortable place to raise a family.
Bruce, a USNA '77 graduate, is an engineering manager at NASA-Goddard. His business card puckishly states, in part: "Spacecraft problems? Call the Rocketman."
Torii is the Alumni Coordinator at St. John's College, and worked previously across the street, at the USNA Alumni Association.
The couple has three daughters: Mae Kate, 16, a Broadneck High junior; Martha, 13, an 8th-grader at Magothy Middle; and 12-year-old Maggie, a student at Montessori International Children's House.
The original house on the property was a one-story cottage with two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and small bathroom. Built around 1940, it was about 800 square feet, perfect for a weekend vacation spot. One owner added a detached garage and a screened-in "three season" room in back. Another owner, a contractor who built a number of other homes in the Cape St. Claire area, added on a second floor. Bruce bought the house in 1985.
Today, the home's interior is more than three times the square footage of the original. The cottage is now a contemporary raised rancher style. It has three full baths, four bedrooms, an office, a full basement and an attached garage.
The exterior is handsome. The upper story is sheathed in cedar shingle siding, painted gray, and trimmed with white. The lower level has a stone facade. To one side is the garage, at the end of a paving stone driveway that matches the front walk. The welcoming red door is framed by an open air portico.
On the other side, a passerby can see the pair of red canvas umbrellas on the second floor rear deck.The Nevada stairwell
As we tour the home, Bruce explains all the renovations that have occurred the past 27 years. It's mind-boggling. None of the old walls or floor plan remain.
"The original front door entered into the old living room," he said. "We turned the living room into Maggie's bedroom. We walled off the front door and built a new entry several feet away. A closet was built against the old doorway wall.
"The current first floor bathroom used to be the kitchen."
When the second floor was installed, the stairwell was dark and narrow, and rose over the old front doorway. The Campbells decided to open up the stairwell wall to make the space brighter, even though cinderblocks were behind the sheetrock.
"Can you make the opening look like the state of Nevada?" asked Torii, who attended college there. If you know your geography, the open wall is shaped like Nevada - except for the jagged southeastern edge where Nevada and Arizona share a thin, snaking waterway. The Campbells' version has a nice clean edge.
The Campbells waited until their third baby arrived to begin serious renovations on the home. "We wanted a bigger house, but couldn't afford a new one. We decided to expand and put on a back addition," said Torii. They had to knock down the three-season room and the detached garage which housed Bruce's prized MG sportscar. A basement was dug out beneath the home.
To design the rear addition "with lots of closet space," they hired Annapolis architect Catherine Purple Cherry. The Campbells also began a long-term relationship with contractor Dallas Jones.
"He did all the gorgeous built-ins and cabinetry throughout the house," said Torii. "He also acted as a sort of marriage counselor-mediator between me and Bruce. I'd want something and Bruce wanted something else. Dallas would diplomatically blend our ideas."
The house is lavished with sturdy, attractive white wooden closets and cabinetry built by the contractor.
Spaces reversed
What the couple didn't expect is that visitors would call their abode the upside-down house. Unlike most area homes, the bedrooms are all located downstairs; the real living spaces are upstairs.
Stepping inside the front door, there's a choice of two hallways. Let's walk straight ahead.
Torii pulls open the hall closet to show off her innovation: a storage unit with slide-out wire baskets. Each basket is labeled with the name of a family member, save for the top two which hold tote bags and miscellaneous items. Inside the family baskets are their hats, caps, gloves and other outerwear accessories.
At the hallway's terminus is the master suite. A patterned print quilt envelopes the bed. At the foot of the bed is a wooden trunk, used to store linens and blankets. Next to the bed is a stationary cycle with a view of the terraced and landscaped backyard, the shaded patio beneath the wooden second-story deck, and the bay.
"Bruce put in the patio," Torii said proudly.
The master bath, painted a bright federal blue and trimmed in white, features a double sink vanity, designed and installed by Jones. The couple shares a neatly organized his-and-hers walk-in closet.
Back down the hall, turn left.
The vivid lime green of the girls' bathroom casts a glow into the hallway. It takes a moment to adjust the eyes. This bathroom, too, has a double sink vanity. On the wall above the sink is a unique alphabet. "Accept differences, Be kind, Count your blessings, Dream," it begins and goes through to "Yearn for peace, and Zealously support a worthy cause."
Across the hall is Maggie's bedroom, painted a bright blue, with white trim. In addition to the aforementioned closet, a set of drawers is built into the wall, utilizing "dead space" beneath the stairs on the other side of the wall. A quilt printed in a floral pattern dresses her white wood frame bed. In a corner, a ukulele rests on a small white slip-covered chair.
In Martha's room, painted aqua, the white cast iron bed is covered with a pair of colorful, coordinating quilts. On one wall hangs a poster of Justin Bieber. On another is a photo-poster of Martha as one of the 2011 Cape St. Claire's Strawberry Festival princesses. A drawing of a saxophone dances above her white bureau and her strawberry princess sash.
Mae Kate's room is painted a buttery yellow. Posters of Albert Einstein and Katy Perry decorate the walls. Nestled between two full closets is a window seat - more of Jones' handiwork. The bed is covered with a soft lime and cream quilt and a puffy cream duvet.
Once a bachelor pad
While still single, Bruce lived upstairs and rented out the downstairs.
Before the Campbells began renovations, the second floor was filled with sliding glass doors, one of which opened onto an outdoor stair, and the rest - well, thankfully, no one ever fell out. The space was redesigned to replace most of the sliding doors with windows. A sliding door was installed in the rear of the house and opens onto the new rear deck.
The ceiling was lower, too, decorated with low barn wood ties. The Campbells pulled out the wood ties and opened up the dead space between the ceiling and the pitched roof. What a difference!
The floor plan is circular. The dining area segues into the living room. Beyond the living room is the couple's office, which leads to the third bath. A second door in the bathroom opens into the kitchen, which is separated from the dining area by the stairwell.
Lining the half-wall of the stairwell is a built-in buffet in the dining room. On the one wall in that area hang framed artworks depicting sailing scenes.
In the living room, comfortable navy blue couches with corded accents face each other, separated by a Persian rug. Closer to the rear is a child-sized wooden table and chairs. A pair of built-in cabinets flanks the sliding doors. Some of the cabinet drawers are designed to hold videos and DVD cases.
The office is filled with memorabilia from Bruce and Torii's careers and family life, including a few replicas of NASA spacecraft and satellites and framed prints of Naval Academy scenes.
Step through the full bathroom into the kitchen, lined with snowy white cabinets and appliances. Above the backsplash of the light blue counter installed along the opposite side of the stairwell, the couple has placed painted wooden plaques depicting well-known buildings in Annapolis; Falmouth, Mass.; and Savannah, Ga. Lined up, the flat buildings create a novel street scene. The plaques are all made by The Cat's Meow Village of Wooster, Ohio.
Bruce stops to share a cup of coffee with Torii before they both head back to work. He savors a sip and looks out at the bay.
"It's like being in a treehouse up here," he smiled.
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