When they embarked upon a major expansion and renovation, the owners of a now-sprawling Greenville home—Carlo and Helene, husband and wife physicians—were mindful of its double legacy. The house, set on a coveted two-acre lot on a quiet cul-de-sac with few neighbors, was the husband’s childhood home—a cherished gathering place. So the couple wanted to respect that familial history after the patriarch—the husband’s father—passed away.
“We redid the home in our own way, honoring the Asian influence with custom trim, made to look like the top of a Japanese arch, and a sloped roofline.”
But even before the house was in the family, the original owners had left an indelible mark on the décor, giving it a Japanese flavor that eventually suited multiple generations of this new family. “The previous owners loved Japan,” Helene says, “so we wanted to keep that style throughout the renovation.”
Though the Asian aesthetic comes naturally to the current owners—Carlo’s lineage is from the Philippines, and Helene’s family is Taiwanese—they reinvented their house in a big way to accommodate their two young children. They not only executed a gut renovation (Carlo calls it a “90-to-95% redo”) but also enlisted Nicholas Fedyk of Architectural Alliance in Wilmington and John Sturgis Builders to add approximately 3,000 square feet to create an H-shaped layout—bringing the total space to 7,500 square feet.
“We really only kept the front family room area and the foyer area,” Helene says. “The house originally had four small bedrooms…and we had to add on a garage… and then the bedroom wing[s]. The front part of the H is pretty small, but the back extends into the backyard farther than it used to. And we went from a two-car to a four-car garage.” The transformation took around 18 months to complete.
The great room lives up to its name, featuring a dining room table that seats 14; interior designer Susan Tamassia enlisted a carpenter to custom-build it. “[We have] a big family,” Carlo says. “There were my parents and four siblings, and then each sibling had a boy and a girl. Family get-togethers typically [were] well attended, [and] the adults commandeered the long table, with the kids at the kitchen island.”
The living space was reimagined for functionality. They raised the floor of the once-sunken living room because “everyone was tripping all the time,” Helene says. The kitchen had been equally awkward, with a wall running through the middle. “We tore down that wall to just open everything up, so now there are two islands,” she adds.
“Our family travels a lot to Asia, so the home is really a mix of different Asian cultures.”
Carlo’s father sourced carved lacquered wood benches from the Philippines; figures of Catholic saints, also from the Philippines, get on amiably with Japanese Buddhas—one of which came from a flea market in New Castle. “Our family travels a lot to Asia,” Helene says, “so the home is really a mix of different Asian cultures.”
Carlo and Helene call the house a work in progress, but the success of their concept is evident: “We redid the home in our own way, honoring the Asian influence with custom trim, made to look like the top of a Japanese arch, and a sloped roofline,” Helene explains. “The original owners have visited a few times, since we custom-built the home in the Japanese style that they loved.”
There’s no greater compliment.
Related: This Greenville Home Pairs Modernism With Traditional Touches
