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Dee Gray started out adding a family room to her house in Avalon. She wound up with a room crested by what she calls an "upside-down gazebo."

That might be hard to visualize, but it's better than describing it as a "semi-octagonal loft with a domed roof supported by wooden posts."

"We wanted to be able to see out," she says about the addition's centerpiece, "and you get a really good view up here."

She calls it an "upside-down gazebo" because the support posts brace the floor. On a gazebo, the posts would hold up the roof.

The shape and top of the loft also resemble a gazebo.

Gray describes the room holding the gazebo-loft in simple terms — "it's just 24 feet by 24 feet," she says. But simplicity ends there.

The loft sits in the center of the back area. In front of it is a cathedral ceiling that rises from 10 to 12 feet, says Keith Staudenmaier, who also lives in the home.

The top of the gazebo roof is higher than the top of the rest of the room — while the floor pokes out from the back wall.

While the loft gives an unusual crest to the room, the rest of it is dominated by size and openness.

The space that extends from the kitchen has become the main room of the house, Staudenmaier says, adding, "Whenever we have people over, they gather here."

On New Year's Eve, they entertained 32 guests.

Couches and chairs nestle under the loft. A card table sits to one side. A full-size pool table dominates the center. A 60-inch television sits in a corner opposite a bathroom that's small enough to be unobtrusive but big enough to feature a shower.

The bathroom was going to be larger, Gray says, but she decided she didn't like the way it ate up space. It was one of many revisions to the addition that were designed as the project progressed. "At times, it became something like Revision 900 to Change 76," Staudenmaier says with a laugh.

That would seem to make sense with a plan that began in 1990 but was started anew in 1999.

Gray has owned the house since 1986, she says, and she and her former husband began the project to add a family room in 1990. Their marriage fell apart — and eventually the beginning of the room did, too.

In 1999, she, Staudenmaier and friends took on the project again. The concrete walls at the base had to be replaced along with the wooden floor structure. "We really had to start from scratch," she says.

Gray and Staudenmaier plead ignorance when asked how much the project has cost overall. Instead, both boast how it is a tribute to the teamwork of family and friends. "I think you could more easily look at how much we saved," Staudenmaier says.

Gray says the bulk of the labor was done by the two of them and her three sons, Chris, 36, Timmy, 23, and Tommy, 14. Studenmaier also gives a great piece of credit to John Holmes of Ben Avon, who helped with the wood trim, and Glenn Ross of Ben Avon Heights, who worked on the concrete block.

Work on the wood was vital, he adds, because of window trim and the curved staircase leading to the loft. He points to a section of stair rail in which eight pieces had to be cut and matched to provide a smooth curve. Although the individual pieces are visible now, Staudenmaier says he is sure they will disappear once coated with stain or paint.

The room might end up different in other ways, too. The space below it is open; for the time being, Staudenmaier says, it is "the shop" where tools sit ready for work.

"Eventually, the pool table will be down there, opening up things even more," Gray adds.

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