Business Flip!Flip Business Flip

Photo by Mike Maple // Buy this photo

Not long after Bram Bors-Koefoed laid eyes on a tri-level storybook house in Germantown’s Oakleigh neighborhood, he knew it was the perfect space for him and his wife, Jean, and son, Sawyer.

It wasn’t so much a home search as an adventure.

But then, Bram and Jean Bors-Koefoed’s relationship had been pretty much one adventure after another.

So when, after finding and agreeing to buy their new sprawling, tri-level storybook house in Germantown’s Oakleigh neighborhood, Bram visited the vacant property and found it in a state of disaster, the young couple took it in stride.

Photo by Mike Maple
Buy this photo »

“It really reminds me of the house I grew up in,” said new owner Bram Bors-Koefoed, noting the third story with full bath and bedroom is similar to his old house.

Photo by Mike Maple
Buy this photo »

Just off the spacious kitchen, a large family room is the home’s main gathering area and features more wide-plank hardwood on the floors, a fireplace with a flat-screen TV mounted above, a walk-in wet bar and leather furniture.

Photo by Mike Maple
Buy this photo »

The backyard, complete with an in-ground pool, has become a sanctuary for the Bors-Koefoed family. It features a wide covered patio, perfect for two porch swings. And the fenced yard is ideal for the family’s dogs, Mugs and Socks.

“We were so excited the offer was accepted, and the next day Bram came over to the house to show it to some friends,” Jean said. “He was walking around outside and saw water pouring from the ceiling — a pipe had burst.”

Bram immediately got on the phone.

“The owners freaked out; they were afraid we were going to walk,” he said. “The husband said, ‘What are we going to have to do to get you to not walk away?’ “

The burst pipe was on the third floor, which meant water had flooded, basically, the entire house. As a result, the sellers redid ceilings throughout the house — replacing the old “popcorn-style” ceilings with smooth ceilings — and replaced all carpeting and flooring.

The Bors-Koefoeds paid only for upgraded flooring options.

“Basically, they ended up fixing all the things we wanted to change about the house anyway,” Bram said.

Once the repairs had been made, the home was move-in ready, and the deal went off without a hitch.

Finding the house initially had been much easier.

The couple, who bought their first house in Cordova, weren’t entirely sure they were ready to move. But through a friend at their church, the Bors-Koefoeds met Jen Carstensen, a Realtor with Keller Williams Realty. Carstensen was looking for a house to rent herself and thought the couple’s former home might fit the bill.

So the Bors-Koefoeds showed Carstensen the house.

“We sort of thought, ‘Well, if she likes our house then we’ll look, but if we don’t find anything we absolutely love, it wasn’t meant to be,’ ” Jean said.

Not long after, Bram laid eyes on what is now the couple’s new home. He knew it was perfect as soon as he saw it.

“It really reminds me of the house I grew up in,” said Bram, who works in medical device sales. “Our third story has a full bath and a full bedroom. That’s similar to how my house was set up. Even my friends I grew up with have said it kind of reminds them of our house in Massachusetts.

“So it made sense for my kids to grow up here.”

The couple closed on the five-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath home in February 2009. They paid $335,000 for the 3,700-square-foot house.

At the time, son Sawyer was 16 months old. Now 2, Sawyer recently was joined by a baby sister, Maggie, just 5 weeks old.

The house is ideal for the growing family.

“It was a perfect size for what we wanted,” said Jean, who previously worked in pharmaceutical sales and now is in school to become a nurse practitioner.

Off one side of the entry, Bram’s home office has warm, wide-plank hardwood floors and space for a large wood desk. Framed Red Sox paraphernalia adorns one wall. Across from the office, a formal dining room features textured faux-finished walls and contains a sideboard, corner cabinet and a dining table with six chairs.

It leads to a warm, spacious kitchen that had already been updated with creamy cabinetry with oil-rubbed bronze hardware, blue solid surface countertops and ceramic tile floors. A center island, built-in china cabinet and built-in desk provide extra storage throughout the space, which opens to a breakfast area with views to the pool.

Just off the kitchen, a large family room is the home’s main gathering area and features more wide-plank hardwood on the floors, a fireplace with a flat-screen TV mounted above, a walk-in wet bar and leather furniture.

Upstairs, Sawyer’s room contains a queen-size wood canopy bed and is undergoing a transformation from a Cat-In-The-Hat theme to a jungle theme. Maggie’s soft pink nursery, meanwhile, features a princess theme.

A playroom sports vivid aqua walls decorated with murals of sea creatures. A giant sailfish — caught by Bram on a trip to Mexico — is mounted on one wall.

“It’s so nice to have the playroom upstairs,” Jean said. “Our old house was overrun with toys.”

The master suite completes the upstairs, and a door from the playroom leads to a third level that contains a full guest suite.

But the family’s favorite feature of the home isn’t inside. The backyard has become their new sanctuary.

“In the summertime, we hang out outside all the time,” Jean said.

“I love it outside — it’s so peaceful and quiet,” Bram added. “Most of the time if I’ve got a lot of paperwork to do, I’ll take it outside on the porch to do it.”

A wide covered patio has space for two porch swings. The patio overlooks a pool, and lush landscaping continues from the patio area into a grassy area that’s large enough for a wooden playhouse and big wood swing set.

There’s plenty of room in the fenced yard for the family’s two dogs, Mugs, a Cane Corso, and Socks, a boxer-beagle mix. The Bors-Koefoeds also have an Eclectus parrot named Garcia.

Bram and Jean, who met while administering the Pepsi Challenge as a college internship, are happy with the results of their latest adventure. Bram, originally from the Northeast, and Jean, a Michigan native, are thrilled to have settled in a place that allows them to enjoy the American Dream.

“One of the reasons we moved down here is the cost of living,” said Bram, whose parents also live in the Memphis area. “We have friends who are paying $4,000 a month for rent. Most of our friends are not even looking to buy houses.”

But most of all, they’re happy to have found the ideal spot to raise their family.

“We both grew up in great families and we have memories of childhood playing in our neighborhoods and not having to worry about it,” Jean said. “We wanted the same for our kids.”

Stacey Wiedower is a design writer and staff designer at Virginia Rippee & Associates Interior Design. Read more at designinsider.blogspot.com.

Similar Posts:

• Builder of the Week: Park-side living a rarity
• My New Home: Impossible house
• My New Home: First-time homebuyer decides on a larger space, in a location close to family, work
• My New Home: Couple’s Lakeland dream home on shaky foundation; luckily it’s fixable
• My New Home: Thrifty trade