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New homes, historic style

Tom Berry's houses blend comfort and charm.

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published September 1, 2006

GRAY GABLES

First-time visitors walking into Tom and Karen Berry's house in this tucked away South Tampa neighborhood usually think it's old and rich with stories.

The hardwood floors have a nicely aged patina.

The kitchen cabinets look like they came straight from a charming farmhouse.

The art-glass light fixtures, transoms and pocket doors add an old-fashioned touch.

Even the exterior of the two-story mint and cranberry bungalow with a comfortable front porch looks from the street like it sprang up early in the last century.

"People always want to know when we did the renovation - and that's the best compliment," says Tom, 35, an Ocala-born entrepreneur who started Native Dwellings, www.nativedwellings.com, which specializes in building houses that fit in with the character of South Tampa's oldest neighborhoods.

The Berrys, who married in 2004, love living in the house that Tom dreamed up for them. It sits on a comfortable-sized lot on Beverly Avenue not far from Kennedy Boulevard. He built another bungalow-style house next door, adding more newly minted historic character to the neighborhood.

For Karen, 33, also a native Floridian, it's the kind of lifestyle she's used to.

"I grew up in McIntosh (near Micanopy) in a 1910 Sears catalog house, so I like this kind of thing," Karen says.

And, she adds, the best part is that the 3,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-bath house feels up to date with a main living space that's open and airy and looks out onto a generous back verandah. The kitchen island is big enough to prepare Thanksgiving dinner - with room for lots of family helpers, too. There's even a built-in alcove for the large, flat-screen TV. All the cabinets and closets are much bigger - and better suited to a 21st-century lifestyle - than those in older homes.

"Houses that are 80 to 100 years old have lots of character but not a lot of function," Tom says. "They had chopped-up rooms - some of which they never used - and small closets just big enough for a couple of suits and a few pairs of shoes."

Tom Berry, who studied exercise and sports science at the University of Florida, initially worked in sports marketing at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando. It was a glamorous job and he met some of the biggest names in sports, but he soon realized that "I could work 100 hours a week with no hope of ever making more than $30,000 a year for the rest of my life," he recalls. "Rather than getting free tickets to the games, I realized it would be much better to go ahead and find a job where I would make much more money - enough to buy tickets to any game I wanted to go to."

Berry pursued a career in sales, but soon realized that if the company he was working for couldn't keep up with his pace, he would never earn the commissions that fully matched his potential. So, a few years ago, after a solid real estate investment in a South Tampa condo paid off, he began researching businesses to buy. He decided to buy a franchise of Maids Home Services, a company that started in Omaha, Neb., and specializes in healthful, deep cleaning, with 800 markets in the United States and Canada. He was lured to the business because it didn't require much start-up capital and offered appealing incentives.

The business - in a small strip mall on Kennedy Boulevard between Dale Mabry Highway and Himes Avenue - allowed him to pursue his other passion: building historic-style homes.

"I would always find myself jogging just to look at old homes," he says. "Old neighborhoods with their big oak trees, history and front porches really attracted me," he says. "In fact, when I build homes now, I know that front porches are the most important thing you can do."

He named the business Native Dwellings, because he and Karen are proud to be Florida natives.

He dislikes tract mansions and "stucco box" styles that have become prolific in the state.

"You don't see many natives saying, 'Build me a 7,000-square-foot house out of stucco,' " he observes.

He's also targeting sophisticated homebuyers migrating from cities rich with historic homes, such as Portland, Ore.

"To build houses like this is more expensive than building stucco block," he explains. That's because of the amount of workmanship required as well as all the fine details, including bigger cabinets and closets.

Berry builds his houses with a team that includes Steve Algood, of Algood Construction Services, and Mike Pullara, "a draftsman and creative thinker."

His latest project includes a massive restoration of a sprawling 1923 bungalow at 1812 Hills Ave. When he holds an open house for Realtors from 5 to 7 p.m. Sept. 27, visitors will see Berry's work at its best. The house includes a small, tasteful swimming pool and an airy kitchen with cabinetry by Bob Ballard, a talented Tampa woodworker who owns Environstudio.

The Hills Avenue house features refurbished original heart-pine and oak floors; large elegant, clean-lined bathrooms with old-fashioned clawfoot tubs; beadboard wainscoting; and pretty floor tiles that look like sea glass. Like the Berrys' own house, it features plenty of character from the past. The home is rich with details such as pocket doors, new light switches that look like knob-and-tube fixtures and chunky five-piece crown molding. It's also wired for the technology that will bring the house squarely into the media age.

"I never envisioned putting this much money in a house - but it's worth it," he says. "This house has been here 80 years. We've made it so that whoever buys it, really enjoys living here."

[Last modified August 30, 2006, 08:32:57]