Lifestyles

The men, who own a renovated Georgian Revival on North Lincoln Avenue in Pittsburgh's Allegheny West neighborhood, designed their 15 feet-by-16 feet kitchen on a shoestring budget. The wooden hutch which holds the microwave? Thirty-nine dollars at Lowe's -- and you never would know it. The wood perfectly matches the original yellow pine wooden cabinets.

The "poor man's tin" ceiling? Metallic silver and copper wallpaper from Home Depot. The granite-looking countertops? Gray laminate. Throw in the eggplant-colored walls, some original artwork and voila! An expensive-looking kitchen that any homeowner would want.

Duerlinger's and Dixler's kitchen is one of four featured on the Allegheny West House & Garden Tour, which will be from noon-5 p.m. July 15 and 16. The tour, sponsored by the Allegheny West Civic Council, highlights unique homes, especially kitchens, and fabulous gardens that you don't expect to find in the middle of the city.

Gloria Rayman, publicity chair for the tour, says this year's tour is different from previous ones. The tour started 20 years ago as part of Springfest. The neighborhood had more dilapidated homes and rooming houses then, but they are all gone now, says Rayman, who lives on Galveston Avenue.

"This will be our 11th House and Garden Tour, but it has been around for 20 years in one form or another," she says. "This year we're focusing on gardens. Last year it was interiors, mostly kitchen and bath."

The tour is a self-guided, walking tour for $12 per person. A high tea also is offered on Saturday for $30. Rayman says the event raises money for neighborhood improvement projects. Allegheny West is officially Pittsburgh's smallest neighborhood, encompassing just eight square blocks.

"Last year, we bought trees for our little parklet on Brighton Road and Western Avenue," she says. "I knew we had made it when I saw a bridal party getting their pictures taken there."

Bridal pictures could be taken in Ingrid Berglund's garden on Beech Avenue. Berglund, 66, a retired city teacher, has a beautiful refuge right in the middle of the historic neighborhood that will be one of the 10 gardens on the tour this year.

Berglund created her mostly perennial garden 13 years ago. It is brilliantly colored with vivid blue hydrangeas, California poppies, five different kinds of lilies, lamb's ear, butterfly bush, Queen Anne's Lace, coral bell and giant black-eyed Susans.

"It's kind of unexpected to find this here," says Berglund. "When I bought the house in 1970, this was all weeds -- no trees, no shrubs and no flowers. This is the first yard I've ever done."

The garden, complete with a winding brick patio and a wooden porch, is 100 feet long and 20 feet wide. It features a Florida dogwood, a paper bark maple tree, a bayberry tree and black snake root plants. Rayman is jealous of all the space Berglund uses.

"Isn't this spectacular?" she says. "This is prime real estate here. It's at least a two-car garage space."

Over on North Lincoln Avenue, Dixler's and Duerlinger's grand Georgian Revival stands out. The men bought the 1870 Victorian house 27 years ago and restored the structure to its splendor circa 1906, when it was modernized to a Georgian Revival. The house has expansive hallways and soaring ceilings. Dixler, 62, a computer software quality analyst for UPMC, says they've been renovating the entire time.

"We redid the kitchen two years ago," says Dixler. "There was a wall in the middle of the room. We took the wall out and moved the butler's pantry."

He points to a majestic, built-in cabinet that sits on one side of the kitchen.

"The whole idea was to save this cabinet, which is original to the house," he says. "We added a desk and put artwork all around."

The gas stove has five burners and two ovens. The square island features a vegetable sink and four chairs. Rayman says the men's kitchen is the only one on the tour with an island.

"We look for good use of the space, in original framework, but modernizing it," she says. "This was a unique use of the space."

Dixler, 55, a math professor at the Community College of Allegheny County, says the island is inviting because you can eat there and prepare food.

"We decided to make this pretty wide so we could have seating," he says. "The vegetable sink is in the island so people can prep and not get in each other's way. Everyone hangs out in the kitchen -- it was too small before."

Duerlinger designed the kitchen renovation and says that everyone calls him the "Kmart of Interior Designers."

"It's design, design, design on the cheap," Duerlinger says. "Even you, too, can have an expensive-looking kitchen."

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