Home: 1950s home hides 2,000 square feet behind petite facade

CEDAR RAPIDS - It looks petite, sitting sedately, slightly back from busy 34th Street SE. A cool gray exterior enhanced by navy blue shutters and white window boxes; 1 1/2 stories punctuated by dormer windows.

But looks can be deceiving. There's almost 2,000 square feet inside.

When Teri Fleming and her husband, Scott Dorrity, moved here in 2009, the house appealed to both of them.

'I like Cape Cod-style homes,” says the tall, blonde Fleming, 40, a realtor with Coldwell Banker Hedges Realty. 'And the backyard with its trees. It's all very private. What with the patio, it's just nice and peaceful. We can't even hear the traffic on 34th Street.”

Dorrity, 43, a national consultant to chiropractic offices in his independent business, ChiroLaunch Inc., says it simply: 'We love this house.”

Another attraction for him was the two-stall garage with the walk-up loft that he uses for an office, a wall heater making it livable in Iowa's cold weather.

With the house on a 100-by-140 foot lot, they have an approximate one-third of an acre. They installed a privacy fence, a patio and created landscaping, all providing a welcoming backyard retreat.

It's an everyman's home. Realtor Fleming estimates the current market value would be around $170,000 for the home built in 1950; the couple have put in approximately $25,000 for an array of improvements.

'The bones of the house are very good,” Fleming says. 'It's very solid and well-built.”

It's a four-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home, although they use the original ground-floor bedroom as Fleming's office. The couple moved here from Swansea, Ill., not far from St. Louis. They were both chiropractors but sold their seven offices. Fleming had become burned out, and Dorrity realized he enjoyed managing the business end of it more than the medical end.

Fleming's mother loved to decorate, and Fleming inherited the bug. From this love developed an aptitude for a larger range of do-it-yourself projects. Consequently, she does everything from painting to installing light fixtures to designing backyard landscaping and planting.

All marriages have a blend of strengths and weaknesses, and Dorrity says he is happy to 'stay out of the way” when it comes to decorating.

He's also happy to let Fleming wield her hammer or drill to her heart's content.

But, Fleming points out, 'Scott's always willing to do whatever I ask him to do ...

He's very much into function. If something doesn't function right, we talk about it - or it disappears.”

Throughout the house, Fleming uses basic neutral colors: muted, restful with occasional splashes of color in paintings or pillows. Walls are in taupe, ivory or avocado.

'I like to mix and match,” Fleming says of her eclectic decorating style. 'I use antiques from Mom, stuff from the Pottery Barn and garage sales, too. I like clean lines and something that's comfortable and homey - a Midwest kind of feel. I love all the different styles ... (and color-wise) all the new grays.”

Indeed, in the 23-by-13-foot living room - it has the original oak flooring - you will see an antique cabinet of what was once library catalog drawers, a solid piece found by her mother at a garage sale.

'It was a bargain, only $10 or $20,” Fleming says.

Close by the vintage library piece is a 2-foot contemporary ceramic vase, flat and glazed in an oyster shade with a sky blue color dripping down in an eye-catching overlay.

At the room's opposite end, a tall, contemporary rattan stand is next to a period secretary, a handsome piece from Fleming's paternal family.

It all harmonizes into a blend of pleasing home comfort - important because the couple have two children, Samantha, 5, and Champ, 3, besides the family Labradoodle.

Fleming loves accessories, and her favorite is in the living room: coffee-colored silk hydrangeas in a black metal container - with reeds shooting up from the center. It sits on a large black chest.

'I like to use bigger pieces, even in a smaller room, something that makes a statement,” Fleming says.

Separating the 12-by-10 1/2 -foot dining room from the kitchen is open shelving with a variety of items, including a petrified piece of driftwood and two bins of antique rolling pins.

The kitchen is outfitted with a generous spread of brown/black granite countertops, a stainless steel French door refrigerator and a white undermount sink.

Fleming's office is a bright, cheerful room looking out on 34th Street. One of her favorite items is housed here: an old scarred bench, possibly once used for pulling on boots by farmers.

A future project is redoing Champ's room, now a haven for a life-size 'Mikey” of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and accompanying Turtle accessories.

Samantha has every little girl's idea of a dream room. Done in parfait colors, it is a blur of turquoises, blues, pinks, yellows. Fleming transformed the walk-in closet into a colorful 'hidey-hole” for big sister to escape from little brother.