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For nearly 15 years, Judy Klima and Anna Thelemarck had been moving walls and reconfiguring space in their homw. But it finally all came together when they changed the goal.
The two-story, late 19th-century house in Burlington’s Old North End is an eye-catcher. Dark blue with white trim and a chartreuse front door adorned with a white lace curtain, the house was a duplex when Thelemarck bought it in 1999. She initially rented out the upstairs unit and lived on the main floor. Soon, Klima moved in, and the couple took over the whole house. They opened up the downstairs and took out the upstairs kitchen — but they retained all the necessary hookups so it could be reinstalled, which would allow the house to be sold as a duplex. That created an area they never managed to maximize.
Their two sons came along — Anders, now 21, and Kuba, 18 — and the family made the imperfect layout work. Thelemarck, 58, is an architect who owns Burlington firm Struktur and specializes in small-scale residential renovations and additions. Klima, 65, is a longtime art teacher who just retired from Edmunds Middle School in June. Each brings strong skills, and strong opinions, to home design.
“You couldn’t talk to people who are more passionate about this topic,” Klima said.
They continually identify areas of their home — the living room bookshelves at the moment — and ask how they might better use the space. All of it, however, is tastefully furnished with items and artwork created by family and friends or meaningful to the family in some way.
Wall décor includes artful family portraits and paintings that Anders and Kuba made in the summer art camps Klima ran. Brass candlesticks fashioned by Thelemarck’s grandfather stand on the dining room table atop a linen runner her grandmother wove. Kinetic sculptures created by Thelemarck’s brother are displayed on a dining room shelving unit along with Klima’s colorful collection of game pieces displayed in glass canisters and a herd of painted wooden Dala horses that represent Thelemarck’s Swedish heritage. Tiny works of art that Klima and Thelemarck have made and exchanged over the years as Valentine’s Day gifts line two vertical shelves in a seating area off the kitchen.
“Ultimately, everything in here has a story to it,” Thelemarck said.
The house has been a constant work in progress, but for years she and Klima approached each project with the idea that they had to preserve the ability to sell the place as a duplex. They figured that in a college town, a duplex would be worth more than a single-family home. “Then we realized we are not leaving here,” Thelemarck said, “so it freed us up so much.”
About four years ago, they finally ripped out the upstairs kitchen hookups to install a warm pine floor, which Klima loves, and create the home that works best for their family. “We renovated the upstairs, and it magically shifted,” Klima said. “Everything felt really useful.”
They gained a third bedroom, so their sons no longer needed to share. The new room is tiny but light-filled. Thelemarck designed a built-in platform bed that maximizes storage: There are six drawers under the mattress and shelves that serve as a headboard.
More storage is tucked in a hallway closet. Thelemarck’s ability to configure spaces is akin to a talent for playing Tetris, her wife said. In the primary bedroom, Thelemarck created a walk-in closet that features a narrow floor-to ceiling set of shelves for bed linens and a long rod to hang clothes over a row of drawers that were actually designed for a kitchen. They fit perfectly. “That was luck,” Thelemarck said.
On the first floor, after pondering how best to use the long room that had been their sons’ playroom, Thelemarck built bookshelves that flank the front window on the short wall. “Once Anna built those, this became a really clear dining room space,” Klima said. With an oak table that seats up to 14, the room has become the heart of the home.
Even though the room has never had a fireplace, they installed a mantel on the long wall, and Klima filled the area that normally would contain a firebox and the surround with a wooden sculpture of her own, inspired by those of late American sculptor Louise Nevelson. She incorporated game pieces, wooden spools, parts of her children’s toys and Scrabble racks, which allow family members to spell out birthday and holiday wishes on special occasions.
To make better use of the dilapidated front porch, they enclosed it and divided the space to create a kitchen pantry and a mudroom. The entryway, like much of the house, features brilliant ideas. Old lockers purchased on Facebook Marketplace give each family member storage and keep the area tidy. The flooring is a wall-to-wall textured industrial mat that they simply rolled out.
On the narrow wall between the pantry and mudroom, the couple are going to remove the drywall and build shelves between the studs. They will be just deep enough to function as a spice rack.
The stainless steel of the kitchen counter wraps 12 inches up the wall in one continuous piece to create a sealed backsplash — no more behind-the-faucet rot. Just before a vacation home swap with a Swedish family four years ago, Klima and Thelemarck realized their kitchen had no upper cupboards. To better accommodate their guests, Thelemarck swiftly built rectangular frames and mounted them as floating shelves. Now, she and Klima plan to fill the space with several more, inspired by such an arrangement at an Essex bakery.
“If they can do it, we could do it,” Klima said.
The couple’s property includes a large building they call the barn. They believe it was once used to dry and mill lumber. They built an accessible apartment on the first floor for Klima’s parents. Although her father died just before it was finished, her mother lived there for five years. The unit is now for rent on Airbnb.
Thelemarck has an office on the second floor, and Klima plans to renovate the rest of the large space to create an art studio to teach adults.
The repurposing and reimagining continue. After all those years of planning renovations to preserve the resale value of their home, Thelemarck and Klima have planted deep roots. In the future, when they’re ready to downsize, they plan to move into their barn apartment and rent out their house — reconfiguring their living situation one more time.
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