‘The Grand Lady’ in black

Posted 11/4/16

Originally a white two-story with expansive, covered front porch, homeowner Betty Carmon admits there were doubters when she made the bold decision to transform the vintage Powell home at 220 N. Division Street to a striking black.

But she has no …

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‘The Grand Lady’ in black

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Two-story home on Division Street nearly 100 years old

One of the grand homes of early Powell is now dressed in formal black.

Originally a white two-story with expansive, covered front porch, homeowner Betty Carmon admits there were doubters when she made the bold decision to transform the vintage Powell home at 220 N. Division Street to a striking black.

But she has no regrets. And there are plenty of admirers.

House dates to 1917

The two-story home was built to a Craftsman foursquare design in 1917.

Its original owners and builders were William and Euphemia Longley of the early-day Longley-Templeton Lumber Company in the new settlement of Powell. When it appeared on the landscape in 1917, it stood virtually alone on the west outskirts of town.

It has had only a half dozen owners in its nearly 100-year history. From the Longleys, the home passed to their daughter; then to the Evans family, to Wayne and Bonnie Austin, to Ernest and Rose Kylander and finally to Dennis and Betty Carmon.

It has been remodeled a number of times through the years and today features 4,000 square feet of living space.

The longest tenured owners were the Kylanders. They moved to 220 N. Division in 1963 and rented for a year before acquiring the property from Wayne Austin. It was the Kylander home for 43 years. Rose points out that during their four decades there the house was at times painted white, yellow and green.

After Ky’s death, Rose sold the house to Dennis and Betty Carmon in 2006. The sale to the Carmons was the result of longtime admiration for the home by Dennis Carmon, who lived next door growing up.

Early interest rewarded

Betty Carmon tells the story this way. Dennis had lived on adjoining property at 519 Avenue E with his mother, Nina Kennedy, and her husband Jim, his twin brother Darryl and sister Franzell. Dennis had always been interested in architecture and admired the old two-story.  He said to Rose Kylander more than once, “If you ever sell this home, I want to buy it.”

In February of 2006, Rose called. Betty remembers Rose saying, “I want to speak to Dennis.”

Rose told him, “I’m going to sell my house, and I’m only going to sell it to you.”

Dennis was surprised and pleased, but asked if his wife could see the house. Betty had never been in the house. Rose said that was fine.

Dennis and Betty viewed the property and Rose informed them. “This is what I’m asking. It will be the price, and we’re not negotiating.”

The Carmons agreed.

Betty and Dennis set out immediately to do some remodeling and interior redecorating, putting their own stamp on design while preserving the integrity of the old Craftsman two-story home.

“I’ve probably touched every inch of this house” in some way, Betty said.

A busy first year

“I started the minute we closed on the house in August of that year, ripping out the baby blue carpet and stripping the walls of brown paneling and rose wallpaper. We ripped out walls and cabinets and painted and refinished everything. Dennis didn’t have time to do it but he was in on everything. I painted and I did the refinishing. That first year was a very busy year.”

Her husband, Dennis, died in a four-wheeler rollover accident in June 2008, just two years after the couple acquired the two-story.

The early transformation of the interior had been attacked vigorously by this time, and it was time to do something with the exterior.

For years, the house had been painted in what Betty referred to as “Kylander green.”

It was a celedon green, the same color as the Kylander Construction Co. building on Cemetery Road where Ky’s paving business was located.

“Everything was green, even the trim,” said Betty.

“We had all these plans of what to do with this house. Before Dennis died, we had talked about exterior colors, and he had suggested brown.  We went round and round.”

Enter the Lady in Black

Then Betty’s visualization took over. It was two years after her husband’s death.

“We had put on a new black roof. I kept looking at this house, and I could see it painted black, with all those trim pieces painted in cream. In my mind, I knew exactly what it should be.”

It was the trigger for her to move forward.

“This house has that grand look, like a grand lady,” she said. “I could see this little lady with a black satin gown and a man in a tuxedo. A formal look.”

Today she is more than satisfied with that color decision.

“It looks like it fits this house,” she said. “Not all houses could wear these colors.”

Still, she had to overcome some doubters.

More than once she heard, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Others were more pointed. “I think you’re crazy. Do you know what you’re doing?”

She was warned that the black would fade and be left dull.

Nearly seven years later, it has not faded.

“This house never sees the sun,” she said, explaining that tree cover and sun angles are favorable. “When there’s dust in the air, it can look faded, but I just wash it off with the hose.”

She has also had many compliments.

“People will stop on the street and say, ‘I just love your house.’”’

She acknowledges that a black house is not for everyone. It fits her.

“I like doing things outrageously,” she said. “I’ve been an artist all my life. I didn’t go to school to train formally. My dad was an artist and a musician, and I’ve just been creative all my life.”

Showing the ‘Grinch House’

The Carmon home was on the Powell Christmas Tour of Homes in 2007.

“They asked us to be on the tour the first year we had it, but there wasn’t time. Dennis told them we would do it the next year. The house was still all green on the outside, and Dennis decorated everything inside in green lights that year. It was the ‘Grinch House,’” Betty laughed.

“The night before the Christmas Tour of Homes we had the Kylander family over. It was a year after we moved in here. I think they were pleased.”

“Everybody who has had this home has taken real good care of it,” Betty said. “Especially Rose Kylander. She was meticulous.”

Betty said she senses the history surrounding her in the home.

“I don’t just consider myself the owner of this home,” Betty added. “I am the steward of this home. So many people have lived here through the years, and I am stewarding it for them.”

The original house had a music room in the northeast corner of the first floor. The Kylanders remodeled that area into a master bedroom suite and put in a bathroom. Today Betty has opened the area up by removing walls and turning it into additional ground floor living space.

There are three bedrooms upstairs with two bathrooms. There’s also a basement for storage and one basement room used by Betty’s son as bedroom and “office.”

Through the years, the remodeling has been ongoing. “I tore walls down and put walls up,” Betty said.

At present, she is redoing two bathrooms, one upstairs and the bathroom on the first floor.

Betty has maintained a confident visualization as she goes.

“I know what it’s going to look like. I just do it. It’s been fun, and I enjoy it.”

A centerpiece of the house for all these years is a first floor fireplace faced with Travertine brick from Italy. It is a working fireplace to this day. The fireplace heated the home in the early days, radiating heat to the other rooms. Betty keeps the fireplace glowing today for its comfy effect, if not as an essential heat source.

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