Sugar House bungalow transformed into city-style loft

The little bungalow near 1500 East and 1500 South looks like any other home in the neighborhood from the street.

"It is very deceptive," says Barbara Schovaers, owner of the newly remodeled home. "On the outside it looks just like a Sugar House bungalow, but when you walk in, it looks like a New York City loft."

Schovaers always wanted to live in a downtown loft but she has a dog.

"It wouldn't be fair," she says. "I have a black Lab. I guess I could have walked him down to Liberty Park everyday, but I like having my yard. So, I thought, why not turn my bungalow into my loft?"

And that is just what she did.

She gutted the house and opened up the floor plan. She replaced the roof, trading the bearing wall with a steel I-beam to support the structure. Corrugated steel panels are now fastened to the 13-foot ceilings and all the floors are exposed concrete.

"Everything is metal and glass," she says. "It is an extremely industrial/contemporary design."

Glass garage doors open two adjacent walls to the outside patio — one opening from the kitchen and one from the bedroom. With these unique garage doors, the patio becomes an extension of the house and a perfect entertaining area.

"I love to entertain," she says. "I have had three parties besides the open house already."

"The idea for the garage doors really inspired the rest of the remodel," Schovaers says.

"I saw the idea in Dwell magazine years before, and knew I had to have that in my house someday. From there we pretty much skyrocketed."

Schovaers says she has no disappointments or regrets.

"This is exactly how I envisioned it," she says. "It was my little creation. And with the teamwork between the builder, my architect and myself, I created my dream house."

Schovaers was a decisive client who knew what she wanted when she walked into our office.

"I knew what I wanted because I had done years of research online and in books and magazines," she says. "But an architect comes with a lot of knowledge, education, and expertise that adds a lot to a project. Mine clearly came up with ideas related to space that I couldn't see."