Heritage Hills house will grace cover of home trend magazine
The backyard pool area at Rick and Kathy Rafail's home in Heritage Hills will be featured in the spring edition of Pittsburgh Housetrends Magazine. The couple recently renovated their entire home to reflect a transitional style of beach and cottage. (Photo courtesy of Craig Thompson)
A transitional style of beach and cottage is reflected in the formal living room in the home of Rick and Kathy Rafail in Heritage Hills. The couple recently renovated their home with the outdoor pool area featured in the spring edition of Pittsburgh Housetrends Magazine. (Photo courtesy of Craig Thompson)
The pool area in the back of Rick and Kathy Rafail's home in Heritage Hills will be featured in the spring edition of Pittsburgh Housetrends Magazine. The couple recently renovated their home to a transitional style of beach and cottage. (Photo courtesy of Craig Thompson)
The outdoor room that leads to the pool area of Rick and Kathy Rafail's home in Heritage Hills will be featured in part in the spring edition of Pittsburgh Housetrends Magazine. (Photo courtesy of Craig Thompson)
The mailbox of Rick and Kathy Rafail's Heritage Hills Road home is designed with old sidewalk stones and antique pieces. The couple's pool area in the back of the home that was part of a whole-house renovation is being featured in the spring edition of Pittsburgh Housetrends Magazine.聽(Photo courtesy of Craig Thompson)
The outdoor pool area of a South Union Township home designed and decorated by its owners with a transitional style that extends throughout the property will grace the cover of Pittsburgh Housetrends Magazine.
Rick and Kathy Rafail of 37 Heritage Hills Road recently expanded the back of their 2,800-square-foot home adding a gazebo, stone fire pit and concrete stamped deck that borders the pool situated off the family room.
It will appear in the May/June edition of the magazine, which features unique and creative ideas in home and garden designs in the areas of Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland, Ohio; Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay, Florida.
鈥淲e are excited because we worked so hard on it,鈥� said Kathy Rafail. 鈥淚t蘑菇视频 our passion.鈥�
A self-employed businessman, Rick Rafail added that he蘑菇视频 been dabbling for the last 10 years with designs of backyards, pools, landscape and gazebos.
Built in 1992, the Rafails said their two-story brick and stucco house was custom designed after California homes they had seen while visiting the state.
Kathy Rafail said the home蘑菇视频 interior and exterior include furniture and decor that create a coastal or beach cottage atmosphere.
The items were selected by Rafail with the help of her friend and interior decorator/designer Bradley Halstead, co-owner of Bradley Michaels Furniture in Pittsburgh.
The Rafail蘑菇视频 said they became familiar with the magazine about five years ago and later learned from Halstead that its editors were contacting various furniture stores in the area in search of unique homes.
While Halstead蘑菇视频 home was featured twice in the magazine, he also had pictures of the Rafail蘑菇视频 home that he submitted.
According to Rick Rafail, the couple renovate their home every seven years adding different innovations to the formal living and dining room, kitchen, three bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths.
Halstead said Kathy Rafail is very open to new trends and changing styles, which enabled the creation of beautiful fresh spaces in her home.
She said all the rooms are open so when you do one you have to do the other to get the same look.
Rick Rafail noted that each ceiling in the house is also different, ranging from trays to crown and barrel.
Prior to decorating with a transitional style, Kathy Rafail said the house was accented with Victorian and French Country themes.
One thing that has remained a focal point is a 100-year old wood entry door that Rick Rafail said was one of several items salvaged from demolished homes in the 1970s located on what was called 鈥淢ansion Row鈥� on Gallatin Ave. in Uniontown.
Rafail said he also purchased an oak staircase for $15 that was used in one of two prior homes the couple previously resided.
Several years ago, Kathy Rafail spotted a window she recognized from the home she grew up in on West Crawford Avenue in Connellsville once owned by the city蘑菇视频 founder, Zachariah Connell.
She said the window was sitting in a warehouse owned by the same contractor that remodeled her childhood house and was re-framing the Rafail蘑菇视频 current house.
When Rafail asked if she could purchase the window, the contractor offered it to her because of the story behind it.
At first, Rafail said she didn鈥檛 have a place for the window, but later found the perfect spot in the gazebo area.
The couple believe their renovations and house design have come to serve as a template for others that have either taken pictures or stopped and asked about the style, including the mailbox made of sidewalk stones and antique pieces.
Kathy Rafail said one neighbor even presented them with a pen sketch of their home as a gift, from which she had Christmas cards made.
鈥淚t蘑菇视频 wonderful to have your home featured and to be able to share it,鈥� she said.