RESTORING THE GRAND IN PETTIT A 13-Year Love Affair Karen Sterner doesn’t believe in ghosts. She’s said so to the many people who’ve asked about living in the historic Pettit House at 870 University Drive. But fate might be a different matter. Karen, a pianist and music teacher, and Steve Boechler, a psychologist and woodcarver, bought the once-grand mansion in 2004 and began a massive restoration and renovation.
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The 4,200-square foot house was chopped up into apartments in 1926–27, and the couple dedicated themselves to returning it to an elegant single-family home. Combining talents in design, woodworking, masonry, textiles, construction knowhow, with sheer emotional and physical do-it-yourself stamina, Karen and Steve were destined to be custodians of the historic mansion.
SPRING 2017
Serious DIY Commitment Because of the major 1920s reno, taking it back to the original was not always possible. Pure restoration gave way to sympathetic renovation from time to time. ‘The major renos took the first eight years,” says Steve. “The structural, electrical and plumbing. We started at the top and worked down. Two years in, we opened it up so
you could actually walk up and down inside instead of going outside to the exterior stairs. That was very cool.” The expansive verandah had been partitioned off for separate apartments. The couple celebrated the day they broke through the brick, and opened up the length of the original. “When we do a house, we try to tread carefully. This