News articles written about Pekel Construction and Remodeling

Behind The Purple Door!
Couple transforms home into work of art
In the simplest of terms, the house is now known as "the one with the purple door." The 1941 Wauwatosa Georgian Colonial of Tony and Jackie Burkart does indeed now boast a purple door. That was the final touch on a remodeling project that drastically enlarged and enhanced their home. The couple bought the house 10 years ago. We weren't even looking for a new house, Jackie said. We happened to drive past it on our way to the zoo and decided to look at it.

When w e found out that the house had been on the market for six months. We fig ured there had to be a reason why. As soon as we walked in, we knew why. The house needed a total re-do; it had not been updated since it was built in the '40s. However we noticed that the yard was on an extra-wide lot and since my husband and I arc both art people. we thought that there was a lot we could do." The Burkarts moved in and decided to live in the house for a while to determine just what they wanted to do.

"We knew that we wanted to replace the little. dinky garage - it could barely hold our van and two lawn chairs," Jackie said. The basics The basic amenities of the house included three bedrooms and one and one-half bathrooms. The couple had two children when they moved in (Jake, now 18 and Calli, 11) When Stuart surprised them seven years ago, they knew they needed more room. The couple built a new two and one-quarter detached garage and wanted to turn their old garage into a family room.

They also had a kitchen with a tiny eat-in nook with a dining "L" as part of the living room. Although their plans were pretty straightforward, the couple had trouble finding a contractor to suit their needs. "It took almost two years to find our contractor" Jackie said. "We wanted to find someone who would listen to us. When these contractors saw our house, which was in the Christ King (church) area, they immediately thought of award-winning designs. We had a budget and some of them presented designs with double or triple the costs. We felt they were simply trying to win some award.

Finally, in our church bulletin, we saw a small ad from (Dave) Pekel Construction & Remodeling in Wauwatosa. They submitted ideas and it looked like it all was built in 1941, which was what we wanted. We said, "That's it - you got it!'" Construction would involve the first and second floor. The house had a bedroom with a door leading to a patio over the existing single-car garage. The patio was removed when the flat-topped garage was given a pitched roof to match the rest of the house. "The space on the second floor is now a walk-in closet," Jackie said. "The bedroom is slightly darker, but now we have this fabulous space - we now have two attics." The interior wall separating the house from the garage was removed. The cinder blocks found in the garage were of a different width than the contractors suspected.

More support was needed, so new cinder blocks were installed. "This was one of the few changes that had to be made, "Jackie said. The finished room now is open, just to the right of the front door. The open stairway, just outside this area, did not have to be moved. The new family room now features a bow window to balance the existing opening in the living room. The bricks of the garage were reclaimed and were placed in the new entrance in the rear of the house. "Both the front and back doors have brick-fronted entrances and the rest of the house is cedar," Jackie said.

The old garage had three-by-five foot glass block windows and the couple opted to keep those on the side of the room. "We liked the light of the window and the privacy it gives us" Jackie said. From the outside, the remodeled garage looks like it features a cathedral ceiling, but all the ceiling heights in the home are identical - keeping the features of the 1940s home intact. New room The entire south side of the house now has a new sitting/dining room, spanning 20 by 35 feet. "We found two white cabinets in an antique store and they now serve as our break wall between the two rooms," Jackie said.

"The dining room is now so large that we were able to seat our family of 20 for Easter dinner." The old dining area now serves as the family computer center. "We totally gutted the kitchen," Jackie said. "At first we were actually going to move the kitchen, but moving the plumbing would cost too much. "The Burkarts added a bank of floor-to-ceiling cabinets and added a large pantry area, with ceiling space on those cabinets for displaying collectibles. The cabinets now have a white laminate finish.

The new kitchen floor is a ceramic tile in sage green and the countertops are a marbleized Formica In dark green shades. "The counters match the marble of the fireplace in the living room and the flooring runs from the front entrance to the kitchen," Jackie said. The family's only concerns with the project were that they lost some lighting on the stairway, second-floor hallway and bedroom. "We also had the new back door built flush against the wall," Jackie said. "We wish there was more protection from the elements."

When the remodeling project was completed, colleagues of Dave Pekel saw the house and encouraged him to enter it in NARI competition. In an ironic twist, the one contractor who was not concerned with using the remodeling job as an entry won first prize in the category of Outside Construction, $75,000 and under. And that purple door? "Wisconsin is stuck in a rut, always using plain colors," Jackie said. "We have a mum plant in the front of the house and I looked at it and said that is the color I want for our door." And that is the color it is today.

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