A bargain fixer-upper in a perfect location, their Davis Islands home is still a work in progress.
By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published October 15, 2004
DAVIS ISLANDS - When Laurie and William Benson bought their 700-square-foot, one-bedroom Davis Islands home a decade ago, they saw possibility.
Endless possibility.
At $64,000 the house was a deal - and about all they could afford at the time. But with the modest price tag came a plain, 1950s house that begged for a facelift. The Bensons were confronted also with a long "to-do" list of projects, including adding central air-conditioning, a garage and a paved driveway.
"I mean, who buys a one-bedroom house?" Benson says. "It hadn't been changed since the 1950s. Even the kitchen cabinets were the same. But I knew I could make the house into something special."
In the end, the little house, now twilight yellow with a tropical feel, offers a lesson in what can be done with time and creativity.
With two growing children, the Bensons wanted space and privacy. Benson, now 48, envisioned an "island house" or a "beach house," one that essentially looked backward both historically and on the leafy, 55-by-120-foot lot, rather than face the street. Inspired by Miami's romantic old Coconut Grove neighborhood, she hoped to give her house a dose of the same inspiration.
"From the moment I got out of the car, I wanted to walk into an environment that looked out at tropical gardens," she says.
To achieve that effect, Benson enlisted the help of her friend, architectural planner Susan Willy. Benson, an engineering drafting technician for Ash Engineering in Tampa, modified the plan over time. She and her husband, William, a residential and commercial building contractor, took 10 years to complete it, though the house is still very much a work in progress.
"I got a new bathtub for my birthday. I've got a bow on it, and I've got the bath salts," she says. "I'm just waiting to finish the bathroom."
The couple completed the construction in phases. Benson made a deliberate choice to start with the front of the house and work her way back - partly out of consideration for the neighbors' view.
For one year, the family contended with a family room area that was little more than a concrete slab without walls. Though some people might have seen the situation as one more remodeling headache, Benson hung pictures on the lath board and threw tablecloths on the dining room table.
"We just took our time getting it right," she explains. "We accumulated the right things for the house from salvage and antique stores, junk shops and builder's haunts."
The front doors were constructed of dark stained wood with a hammered tin added to the bottom halves for a tropical effect. The textured exterior stucco mimics the stucco on the historic harbormaster's building at Marjorie Park Marina on Davis Islands. At every opportunity, the couple re-used materials (including plants in the front yard) or found historic items relating to the history of Tampa.
"I call this The House of Recycle,"' Benson says. "We can make a house of almost anything."
With few exceptions, they didn't hire anyone to do the work for them: "My husband really did all of it and I was his demolition crew."
In the living/dining area they incorporated windows salvaged from a historic home on Bayshore Boulevard. Benson paved the patio herself and built an outdoor cooking fireplace with old bricks she rescued from downtown Tampa buildings that were being demolished.
Doors and crystal doorknobs are all from the 1930s, not reproductions.
The front entry - formerly the kitchen in the old house - Benson now calls The Davis Islands Room. She decorated the walls with early photographs of the islands, including ones of buses that developer D.P. Davis used to ferry real-estate hungry passengers around the island. She displays historic photos of her grandfather, Houston Wall at the famous Sloppy Joe's Bar in Havana. His sailboat, the Halagonian, and its racing crew set records from Tampa to Cuba.
Benson's interest in local history is personal: Her great grandfather, Perry G. Wall, was mayor of Tampa from 1924 to 1928. Davis came to visit Wall at his South Tampa home to ask permission to develop the spoil islands.
"My mother, who's now 88, was a little girl at the time, and remembers sitting under the table at her grandparent's house and listening to Davis talk about his islands."
Benson incorporated Perry's old rocking chair into her decor as well as her great grandmother's slipper chair. She even keeps his old silver tray atop her dining room buffet. Benson, who grew up on Davis Islands, has lived in Tampa most of her life except for a few years when she and William lived in New Jersey. They returned to Tampa, rented for awhile on the islands and ultimately decided to buy because they loved it.
Even though their house was built in the 50s, she wanted it to feel older, as if it had been there from the beginning. Now, at 4,000 square feet, it's the perfect size for the couple; their two children, Lauren, 19, and Max, 16; their chocolate lab, Molly; and two cats, the most recent a Hurricane Frances rescue.
The house feels lived-in and invincible, a place both charming and comfortable.
"I wanted to convey the idea that the house was old and had never been added on to," Benson says. "We tried to get every architectural detail both inside and out that we could afford."
Though they wanted heart pine floors, they couldn't afford the $10,000 price tag ("and that was for hauling it yourself") so they found an alternative: a floor that is actually a photograph of heart pine on a synthetic material.
Outside, Benson arranged the patio bricks in her own original pattern. A grand oak holds an English wooden swing, and an orchestra of wind chimes tinkles every time the branches rustle. In the winter, the couple throws open the doors to the bedroom and falls asleep to the glow of the cooking hearth where they prepare many outdoor meals.
"I never wanted a big house, that just means more to clean," Benson says. "I just wanted something comfortable and cozy, something that brings you back and gives you a sense of history."
