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CommentsThe Never-Ending Project
Clary’s co–owner Lynée Fender has become quite the D.I.Y. guru.
By Tiesha Miller
 Photo Edward Biamonte Lynée Fender was a single woman when she bought her house and has done the bulk of the remodel work herself to make the home family-friendly. |
Branching away from its original green shag carpeting and avocado-colored appliances, the house now has buttermilk yellow, subdued blues, sage green, natural wood accents and hardwood floors. The diamond-shaped inset in the ceiling, bamboo shades and black and white photos of family help keep the living room warm and inviting, yet not overly feminine. The woodwork in the house—and there is a lot of it—was done by friend and craftsman Todd Evans, who essentially moved his shop into Lynée’s living room for several months.
The house has been one big remodel project after the last, and Lynée knew that it would be from the get-go. Much of the work she did herself with the help of family, her now ex-husband Eli Hall, and others. Careful not to bite off more than she could chew, she took on one area of the house at a time. Lynée was willing to wait through the tedious process of nearly gutting the entire house, one room at a time, to make sure it was done correctly.
The hardwood floors are originals, but they’ve been refinished. The plumbing has been re-done, and the bathroom was remodeled and expanded by eliminating the closet in the spare bedroom, now Tyson’s room. A built-in shelf and wardrobe was installed to replace the lost closet. She designed the kitchen cabinets and had them custom-built and at the same time had the ceiling raised. The master bedroom ceiling was also vaulted, and the doorways in entries and hallways were widened. The entire time Lynée was remodeling, she was living in the house, which created some interesting circumstances. “When it’s just yourself, it’s no big deal,” Lynée says. “I can eat peanut butter sandwiches every day. I couldn’t do it now with a young child. [Remodeling] can be so much mess.”
Never taking out a loan, she paid for each project along with way with overtime pay she earned at St. John’s as a medical technologist.
When she was house-shopping, she required a fireplace, a floor plan she liked and a stone exterior. She’d take care of the rest of the details. Lynée comes from a family with deep roots in construction, so she didn’t think twice about buying a house that needed work. “You just read, and you learn as you go,” Lynée says. “You get some books. None of it’s rocket science. It’s just meticulous.” She’s also learned along the way how essential it is to have the proper tool. From tiling to sanding to making the grooves in the woodwork, the proper tool makes the job go a whole lot more smoothly and fast.
 Photo Edward Biamonte The house is full of wood detailing, much of which was done by friend and craftsman Todd Evans. |
Lynée is exactly the kind of high-energy person who seems fit to remodel her home, patiently and meticulously. She’s a runner—partial marathons mostly—plays a little acoustic guitar, is a cyclist, is a gardener (strawberries, cantaloupe, radishes, lettuce and basil can be found in the backyard) and climbs recreationally from time to time. She does all of this while raising a son, working at St. John’s a few days a week and helping out at Clary’s.
Admittedly, Lynée’s a type-A personality with a flair for perfection. “An old house is never going to be perfect,” Lynée says. “You just learn to accept imperfections as character.” As a “work off the baby fat” project, she built the brick patio out back.
The projects the house has undergone seem innumerable, but so do the projects that Lynée still wants to complete. There are the stain-glass windows and the driveway, and the shelving in the laundry and, of course, the landscaping. Laughingly, Lynée says, “We’ll never be finished with the house.”
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