John and Kacey Crncic have remodeled four homes over the past eight years and none, the couple says, has been more fun and, at times, more crazy than the Carrboro ranch home they expanded during the past three years. Crncic has been building and renovating homes for more than 10 years. Although he graduated from St. Joseph's College in Indiana with a degree in Biology, he moved to North Carolina in 2000, and says he has “been doing what I love since.” He primarily focuses on kitchen and bath remodeling, but says he also has “a passion for outdoor spaces.” The Crncics bought the home at 608 Hillsborough Road in Carrboro in May 2008, with the anticipation of it being a quick flip. The tightening economy slowed construction jobs for John in North Carolina, but he found work back in his native Indiana. Work on the Carrboro house would have to take a back seat for John, but Kacey stayed busy. She started the demolition of walls while John was working out of town. “I joked to people when we first moved in that I was able to check my hot water heater, put in a load of laundry, and be cooking on my stove all at the same time since they were lined up in that order in my kitchen,” Kacey said. By April 2010, John was back in Carrboro with his father, Ivan, a native of Croatia who had settled in the United States in 1967 and was eager to help his son and daughter-in-law remodel the ranch. First order of business was to cut down a huge pin oak in the back yard that had become diseased and had to go. With the help of a backhoe, massive sections of the trunk are now artistic touches in the back yard, which is enclosed with a wood and metal sheeting fence. That left the interior of the house to update and a master bedroom suite and laundry to add. But John’s father was diagnosed with cancer and had to return to Indiana for treatment. Over the next three months, John’s brother and Kacey’s sister moved down to help finish the addition, so the couple could live in the house while they remodeled the rest. Kacey helped frame the addition, but was sidelined by pregnancy. It was important to have some livable space because Kacey was now carrying the couple’s first child. By late summer, the expectant parents had to move back and forth between states to help John’s parents battle the cancer that eventually took his father in November 2010. After his father’s death, the couple moved back to Carrboro and finished two bedrooms and a bath and took on demolishing the kitchen, dining and living room walls to make a great room. “People always think I am crazy, and ask how I can do it, because they assume it is all Johnny since he is the builder,” Kacey explained. “When in reality, I am the one who has found every home that we have moved into and remodeled. We lived in the house throughout the entire project, and while it was crazy at times, it actually provided more laughs and enjoyment than stress.” And that sentiment expanded to the couple’s extended family. After Kacey’s sister and John’s brother returned to their lives, John’s mother came to help with finishing touches and the impending birth of John and Kacey’s first child, Ivanna. “We completed the great room floor and moved into the space the night before our daughter Ivanna was born,” John said. Ivanna arrived February 28, 2011.

Favorite things

Kacey says her favorite memory of the house is the day they came home from the hospital with their two-day-old daughter, Ivanna, who was sleeping in the car seat upon her arrival. Her father gently moved the car seat with the baby still sleeping into the house and set her down on the floor next to him while he installed the kitchen sink. “The finishing touches we have done since she was born,” Kacey said. “She has been doing them right along with us.” Kacey says being involved in the entire transformation makes it hard to pinpoint a favorite part of the house. She says she was probably the most excited when her hot water tank and washing machine were moved out of her kitchen. And while she loves the new interior space, the outdoor space has probably been the most enjoyable for her. “I am not sure what part I like the most – the large garden; the definite lines of garden, grass, natural area; the fire pit; the deck; the fence,” she said. “ In the front yard: the arbor welcoming all guests, the gabion wall up to the sidewalk, the front walk and patio that we did cause we were bored one weekend with working on the inside of the house and it was warm out. We found the stone at a really great price.” John’s niece loves the powder room floor, which is made of copper pennies held in place by flooring cement. John enjoys the satisfaction of recycling materials such as the kitchen island built from reclaimed Durham doors, timbers from Hillsborough and Carrara marble from Duke University as the island’s double counters. The existing brick chimney for an old boiler was left exposed and adds a nice point of interest when entering the home. John salvaged the oak floors in the bedrooms and hallway, but could not salvage the flooring of the old living, dining and kitchen. He chose cork to cover the newly created great room and kitchen space. Two skylights and custom-made maple cabinets with a white finish brighten the kitchen along with a wall of windows above the sink and back wall overlooking the backyard. Polished charcoal concrete counters and some old antique schoolhouse pendant lights over the island complete the look. The cook in this kitchen will enjoy using an Electrolux convection gas oven and range, a Bosch dishwasher, GE Monogram French door refrigerator, and a 36-inch apron front sink. The kitchen opens to a 12-by-17-foot deck through French doors. A few steps down, there is a repurposed concrete patio that looks for-all-the-world like stone. There is also a new over-sized two-car garage with additional under-the-metal-awning storage running along the side of it. The bar sink in the breakfast/dining area of the great room is made from hickory from a local mill in Hillsborough and has galvanized open metal shelving. The adjacent GE wine cooler holds 50 bottles. The master bedroom is three steps down from the rest of the house with its own foyer area, a linen closet, polished concrete floor with radiant floor heating. The bedroom is a spacious 14-by-20 feet. The adjacent closet is 8-by-9 feet. The master bath is 9-by-9 feet and has custom cabinetry from reclaimed timber from the Haw River stained a deep walnut to bring out the grain of the wood and a large open shower with dual heads. There are dual flush toilets throughout the house for water conservation. A frosted glass door from the master bath opens to the backyard patio. Easy to get in and shower off after gardening or working in the garage workshop. The large 12-by-14-foot laundry room clad in bead board from an old mill house in Hillsborough also opens to the outside. All of the drywall and insulation throughout this now 1,819-square-foot house has been replaced. The house is being offered at $459,000. For a tour of the Crncic home at 608 Hillsborough Road in Carrboro, call Jeff Rupkalvis of Dwell Real Estate at 919-260-3333 or log onto www.ncdwell.com.

To reach John Crncic’s company, JCCG, LLC, call 919-625-7806 or email him at jjcrncic@gmail.com.

Sally Keeney can be reached at shkeeney@yahoo.com or 919-932-0879.