Houzz Tour: Openness Meets Intimacy in Wisconsin

I can’t help but hear my mother’s voice repeating a tidbit of parental wisdom: “Good things come to those who wait.” Well, seeing how designer Dino Maniaci fell in love with his dream home 25 years before actually purchasing it, let’s just say mothers can be quite perceptive.

Maniaci had liked the location and style of the Madison, Wisconsin, midcentury house, but he particularly prized its setback, far from the street, which gave it intimacy in a relatively dense neighborhood. At the time, though, he couldn’t financially undertake its tricky interior design challenges. The previous owner, who was in a wheelchair, had reconfigured the plumbing and electrical elements — outlets were 2 feet off the ground, for example — and created wide corridors in an ad hoc fashion.

So instead of purchasing the house right then, Maniaci bought a single-story warehouse in east Madison and waited. And waited some more. Finally, when his dream house came up for a sale again about a year ago, he and partner Jason Hoke were in a position to scoop it up. By that point the house was fairly dilapidated, so they set about the long-awaited contemporary makeover and expansion.

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Dino Maniaci, Jason Hoke and their Whippet, Stewie; Maniaci and Hoke own Spawoof (a dog day care) and Woof's sports bar
Location: Madison, Wisconsin
Size: 2,200 square feet; 3 bedrooms; 2½ bathrooms

Photos by Tricia Shay Photography

In a serendipitous event, Hoke and Maniaci were traveling on separate business trips when they both flipped through the same magazine and earmarked a house by Madison architect Stephen Bruns. Returning home from their trips, they showed each other the house and decided to hire Bruns to handle the remodel.

On the original house, the near absence of windows was a response to maintaining privacy from surrounding neighbors. But the connection to the outdoors was lost. So Bruns thought about how he could create views to the outdoor spaces without opening up windows directly onto views into the neighbors’ homes and vice versa.


This resulted in a theme of openness meets intimacy. Spaces open to the outdoors, but architectural gestures subtly maintain privacy.

Additionally, the pair knew they wanted to add a second-level main bedroom suite, but didn’t want to replicate the entire ground-level floor plan, so Bruns designed a single second-floor suite that's punched up from the original house layout.

To get the look right, he played with raising portions of the house and studying how that made sense while traveling through the public and private spaces, and what that did geometrically and aesthetically to the structure. He landed on a design that created architectural interest while iterating the intimate but open concept Hoke and Maniaci were hoping for.

To develop the latter, Bruns created a series of courtyards, the first of which begins at the entrance, which is enclosed by a midcentury concrete screen. “These used to be ubiquitous in the 1960s, but the supplier had to find the molds and dig them out," he says. "They not only have a durability and robustness because of the masonry; there’s a transparency and delicacy to it that doesn’t contain you in a detrimental way.”


The entry courtyard “tells the whole story of the house before you get to the front door,” Bruns says. “It puts you in a private outdoor space behind a screen wall, but still with a connection to the entry. You experience a level of privacy that’s only steps from the street.”

Bruns painted the original teal-colored vertical cedar siding gray. Meanwhile, new horizontal cedar siding adds warmth to the exterior.

The roof cutouts over the entryway lessen the amount of pieces needed, plus let light stream into the courtyard and interior.



This timber and steel staircase design shows up in a lot of Bruns' projects. It has a solid look and feel but at the same time appears to float.

Bench: Design Within Reach


Bruns refaced the original white brick fireplace with gray stone. Built-in shelving creates activity between the dining and living spaces. The shelving on the left becomes a buffet in the dining room. On the right the shelving takes on the role of hearth and display shelf.

Maniaci handled all the interiors, with Bruns collaborating along the way to respond with the appropriate palettes that would work with the furnishings and art. “He was respectful of not wanting to deviate from the design intent of the architecture,” says Bruns. “And I was respectful of their involvement and guidance of how they wanted to address specific material finishes.”

Bruns says he likes to think of a house in some respects as a museum. “Not as cold and stark, but as a great backdrop for life and art,” he says. “Rather than painting walls a bunch of vibrant colors, I push for slightly more neutral backdrops so art, furnishings and people who live there become that layer of vibrancy.”

Sofa: West Elm; chair: Design Within Reach


Table: One Kings Lane; chairs: Safavieh Home Furnishings


One of Bruns' biggest architectural moves was continuing the porcelain tile from the entryway to the kitchen to interrupt the new prefinished bamboo flooring. He then took the wood that the porcelain replaced and slid that up to reinforce the ceiling and create a space that's more intimate than the adjacent areas.

Hood: Wolf; cooktop: Viking; sink: Kraus; cabinets, countertops, flooring: Nonn's Design Showplace



The first floor wraps around a middle courtyard, which Bruns added by taking a big bite out of the original floor plan. The new main suite rises overhead. The architectural levels underneath the terrace conceal some structural and mechanical elements.

Hoke and Maniaci liked the midcentury-style pitched roof on the original house and wanted to maintain a similar style. The rear half of the house has the original roof, while the new addition mirrors its pitch.



They saw a similar three-sided fireplace in a publication and asked Bruns to re-create it. “It does a remarkable job of containing smoke and controlling breezes,” Bruns says.



For the new bedroom addition, Hoke and Maniaci wanted an industrial element. Bruns delivered with a composite wood and metal truss sloped ceiling.

A partial privacy wall blocks views to and from neighboring houses while preserving the treetop scenery. “It’s quite illuminating up there,” Bruns says. “You never realize you’re in a fairly dense neighborhood.”

Bed set: The Century House


The bedroom terrace is the most private of the outdoor spaces. The pair have their morning coffee here and kick back in the evenings near the outdoor fireplace.



A lowered cumaru wood ceiling creates a more intimate zone in the main bathroom; otherwise, the ceiling is open to the steel and wood trusses that run over the bedroom.


Maniaci, left, and Hoke pose with their 2-year-old champion Whippet, Stewie. Hoke has bred purebred dogs since he was 9 years old and has judge's status for more than 35 breeds. He's judged the Westiminster dog show in New York City and Mexico City.

Interior design by Dino Maniaci, Mani & Company

All finish carpentry, railings and details by Bradley Squire, Madison Design & Construction

URL: Houzz Tour: Openness Meets Intimacy in Wisconsin http://www.decor-ideas.org/cases-view-id-21767.html