Marge Colborn

Royal Oak bungalow is small but stylish

Curb appeal and character define a couple's first home now on the market.

Carolyn Artman and Jeff Samoray are the antithesis of clutterbugs.

Although the married couple are neat and tidy by nature, they're compelled to stay that way in their 1923 Royal Oak bungalow, which "boasts" a mere 886 square feet of living space.

"This house has enormous curb appeal and vintage period details -- that's what attracted me and then convinced me to buy it as a single professional in 2002, but it is small by today's standards," says Artman, 42, a community relations administrator for HealthPlus, who formerly did media relations for Cranbrook, Mackinac State Historic Parks and the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.

In 2005, Artman and Samoray married at Cranbrook -- they were introduced by mutual friends -- and Samoray moved into his wife's white-frame Craftsman home with its charming but somewhat feminine feel. The newlyweds merged belongings and started accumulating arts-and-crafts furniture and accessories. Vintage home buffs, the two are now looking for a 1,500- to 1,800-square-foot Tudor or arts-and-crafts house to reflect their mutual interests.

"We'd like to buy another house in the Vinsetta Boulevard neighborhood," says Samoray, 40, who owns a communications business, "and, of course, make it into our home."

And so the house is for sale at $139,800, but before the couple departs, they took Homestyle for a tour of their lovingly maintained and furnished first home.

Homestyle: The house is filled with spring-like hues. What was it like, Carolyn, when you bought it?

Artman: It was taupe, taupe, taupe everywhere. I was coming from an apartment, and I couldn't wait to add color with paint. I painted the living and dining rooms a soft green, the kitchen a sunny yellow and the bedroom a bright blue. Because the house faces southeast, it gets lots of light. Previous owners had updated the kitchen and bathroom, refinished the hardwood floors, added recessed lighting, eliminated a wall between the living and dining rooms and combined two small bedrooms into a large master bedroom. The house has a nice, open flow, and it's been tastefully updated and restored with period details intact.

Samoray: I grew up in older homes in Detroit that my parents renovated. I remember one house had a Pewabic tile foyer. And my mother owns Gull Cottage Antiques in Applegate, north of Lexington. So I was delighted with Carolyn's house. I hung some historic maps and artwork of Corpus Christi College, part of Oxford University in England, where I spent a summer studying. We replaced newer light fixtures with vintage fixtures, including one ceiling fixture purchased at the Modernism Show in Southfield.

Your furniture and accessories reflect the era this home was built, but the rooms aren't filled with stuff.

Artman: We both love history, and we've been carefully collecting arts and crafts furniture, such as a mission-style dining room set and Stickley rocker from the Royal Oak Antiques Market, and an art deco settee. I inherited an art nouveau coffee table and side table from my mother. We have several pieces of Pewabic pottery, too, and Jeff gave me a clock with Motawi tiles, which are similar to Pewabic tiles, as a Christmas gift. Our glass lamps are from the 1920s and '30s. We purchase items locally at Artew Mission Studio and Lovejoy's Antiques, both in Royal Oak.

Samoray: I bought a barrister bookcase for $475 and a 1938 GE radio from an estate sale in Huntington Woods. I rescued a 1915 Victrola from curb-side trash near the Shrine of the Little Flower and had it restored. An arts-and-crafts lamp came from my mother's shop. Together, Carolyn and I bought a vintage oak hat rack and a circa 1910 stained-glass window at an antiques shop in Elk Rapids. We live and entertain comfortably with a judicious amount of furniture. We find it amusing that friends think a 1,700-square-foot house is tiny. The thing is, a smaller house is more energy-efficient than a larger home because it's cheaper to heat and cool.

What do you know about your home's history?

Samoray: I did some research and learned the original owner was Gladys Bromley, who lived here until she died at the age of 99. She was the first female graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and she served as the Royal Oak city treasurer from the 1940s to the 1960s. One day, I looked out the front window, and two women were on the sidewalk admiring the house. It turns out they were Gladys' granddaughters reminiscing about visiting their grandmother here.

What do you like the most about living here?

Artman: We love having coffee or lunch on the three-season, glassed-in front porch. We like being able to walk to downtown Royal Oak, Vinsetta Boulevard and Waterworks Park.

Samoray: We enjoy riding our bikes or walking every evening. Plus, I love the fact that I can cut the grass with a reel or push mower!

You can reach Marge Colborn at (313) 222-2756 or mcolborn@detnews.com. Read her blog at www.detnews.com/homestyleblog.