During the summer of 2017, Dr. Becky Rothrock, a radiologist in Memphis, had recently returned to her home in Memphis to complete her residency following the completion of a year-long fellowship in New York. After six weeks of unpacking, she was finally all settled in. That is, until one day, while she was at work, she got a call from a neighbor telling her that a tree had fallen on her house.
Upon initial inspection, she thought it looked like minimal damage. “At first, when I drove up to the house, I was like, ‘Oh, it’s just kind of caught up on the roof. It’s not so bad,’” she says. “I had expected it to have gone completely through the house to the ground. I was relieved for about three days until they took the tree off and I saw the damage.”
To her dismay, the entire front of the house was tilted, walls were cracked, and the stairs were pulled away from the house. Although the repairs needed were extensive, Rothrock saw this disaster as an opportunity to change aspects of the interior and exterior design of her home that she didn’t like. So, she reached out to RKA Construction to do the repairs and remodeling.
“They were building houses down the street, and I thought they looked really nice,” she says.
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When a fallen tree damaged the front half of Becky Rothrock’s Midtown home, she enlisted the help of RKA Construction’s Hans Bauer and independent architect David Anderson to bring her home back to tip-top shape while changing aspects of the interior and exterior design she wasn’t happy with.
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When a fallen tree damaged the front half of Becky Rothrock’s Midtown home, she enlisted the help of RKA Construction’s Hans Bauer and independent architect David Anderson to bring her home back to tip-top shape while changing aspects of the interior and exterior design she wasn’t happy with.
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When a fallen tree damaged the front half of Becky Rothrock’s Midtown home, she enlisted the help of RKA Construction’s Hans Bauer and independent architect David Anderson to bring her home back to tip-top shape while changing aspects of the interior and exterior design she wasn’t happy with.
To her surprise, RKA got back with her promptly, and they recommended architect David Anderson for the design plans. By January 2018, after a few months of developing a solid design plan and getting estimates from the insurance company, project manager Hans Bauer and the rest of the team at RKA were able to get to work on the house’s “English Revival.”
“It’s always been an English style house, but the ‘Revival’ was sort of the rebirth that we gave it,” says Bauer.
Before they could put this rebirth into action, they needed to fix the structure of the front half of the house.
“The structure itself on the whole front was really damaged,” says Bauer. “We had to really strip it back to the studs and then reframe it to get it structurally sound.”
So, using materials supplied by Thrifty Building Supply, the team rebuilt the framing of the house according to the new design plans.
“I’ve never had a building experience like I’ve had with RKA ... I was very lucky in that I picked a great architect and a great building company, and they work really well together on top of that, so it couldn’t have been easier.”
Outside, a new roof plan was developed, and shingles were replaced with Owens Corning Oakridge asphalt shingles supplied by Travis Roofing Supply. On the facade of the house, new textured bricks supplied by Christie Cut Stone were added, and the entire exterior was painted white, to match the new front bricks with the existing bricks on the back of the house.
The front door was moved from the center of the house to the left and replaced with a new door supplied by Grandview Window and Door. In front of it, a new, covered terrace and blue stone paving supplied by Christie Cut Stone were installed.
Inside the front entry, to allow for a more open and liveable space, an existing sunroom was turned into a foyer with a window seat and a coat closet. A cased opening connects this area to a more defined dining and living space with a new study off of the dining area, reconfigured kitchen space, and a second fireplace.
The study, separated from the dining area by a pocketed door, features custom wall paneling and trim constructed by RKA’s carpenters. And, in the living room, a new fireplace with a limestone surround (supplied by Christie Cut Stone) and a new bay window (Lincoln Windows brand supplied by Grandview Window and Door) were added.
A double staircase in the center of the house was removed and replaced by a single staircase, making space for a larger kitchen area.
“Before, the kitchen was linear and ran along the side of the house, and it was narrow,” says Bauer.
So, with more room to work with, the team was able to add a full-sized island perfect for entertaining guests; and, off the kitchen, a butler pantry and a scullery were built. These rooms were outfitted with white cabinets supplied by Byler Woodcraft that were topped with Bianco Rhino Marble countertops.
Connected to the kitchen area is a new side entry with a dog door to allow members of the Rothrock family and their pets to enter the house from a parking area in the back.
From this side entry, family members and guests can access the new single staircase that leads upstairs. The floor plan upstairs stayed the same, except for ceilings that were modified to fit with the new roof plan, and Rothrock’s daughter’s large bedroom was separated by a partial wall to create a separate lounge area next to her bedroom.
All rooms in the house were updated with white oak hardwood floors supplied by Mid-South Flooring, recessed and canned lighting installed by Graham’s Lighting, and wall paint in Benjamin Moore’s Reserved Pewter, Charleston Grey, and Jack Frost colors.
Rothrock was able to move back in by November 2018, and she was pleased, not only with the finished product, but also her overall experience with RKA Construction.
“They are a well-oiled machine,” she says. “I’ve never had a building experience like I’ve had with RKA. I didn’t have to do a whole lot. I was very lucky in that I picked a great architect and a great building company, and they work really well together on top of that, so it couldn't have been easier.”
