Space Lift: An Open & Bright Living Area

photos by Alissa Newberry and Rachel Gotto

Nicholas and Rachel Gotto knew the 20-year-old ranch needed some work when they bought it a few years ago. The 5,800-square-foot secluded New Franklin house was solidly built, but the floor plan compartmentalized the kitchen, dinette, formal dining room and great room. And the decor was outdated — “a heavy wood-finish feel,” as Nicholas, president of ANR Electric in Akron, describes it. Ron Erks, owner of Crystal Contracting in New Franklin, adds that it lacked custom character-building architectural amenities.

“It was pretty much a plain Jane,” he recalls.

Crystal Contracting removed a wall between the kitchen and dining room, which provided square footage to extend the kitchen island, and remodeled the resulting open floor plan in a neutral palette. Standout features transformed it into a bright contemporary beauty.

Fireplace: Erks’ team removed the built-in cabinets flanking the see-through river-rock fireplace, enlarging the doorway-width entries to the dinette on either side. “While it lends itself to a really nice, open feel, you definitely get a real sense of room definition,” Erks says. Contractors refaced the fireplace with blue-veined dry-stack rock, extended the hearth and topped it with new limestone.

Built-ins: Crystal Contracting built a window seat in a bay window to anchor the round table in the dinette and add storage. “It provides an ergonomic way to sit,” Erks says. The china cabinet in the formal dining area was constructed of freshly painted white cabinets removed from the kitchen to make way for new Wolff Bros. cabinets.

Kennel: An integral kennel for the Gottos’ bulldog, Daisy, was constructed near the dinette and was painted white and outfitted with black hardware for a modern farmhouse look. “[Rachel] wanted it to match the decor,” Nicholas explains. After Daisy died, it was overtaken by Bow, a pit bull, and Arrow, an American bully, and the Gottos are adding another kennel.

Tech: Nicholas installed a Lutron smart electrical system. The Gottos can control everything — lighting, audio, security, closed-circuit TV systems — from an iPad recessed in the wall. He creates lighting scenes that can be implemented, like a party scene that brings kitchen lighting, including cylindrical glass pendants over the island, to 75 percent brightness but dims everything else, including under-cabinet and toe-kick lights, to 50 percent brightness. “The capabilities are endless,” he says.