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John and Tyrina Browning’s home search started because they were looking for a small house in their Cooper-Young neighborhood for Tyrina’s mother and her husband. With little to choose from, the Brownings’ Realtor suggested they look at larger homes in the area and take the larger home for themselves.

John and Tyrina Browning were happy with their old Midtown house. It had tons of charm and character, and it was smack dab in the heart of Cooper-Young, the neighborhood they’d lived in and loved for 17 years.

So when they set out in search of a new home early last year, it wasn’t actually for them.

“My mother had always rented, and we were looking for a small house for her and her husband to move into,” said Tyrina, a vice president and product manager at First Tennessee. “But there wasn’t much to choose from.”

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The Brownings have been residents of the Cooper-Young area for more than 17 years and bought their house on Nelson looking for a larger space. They spent 8 months renovating.

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The living room is painted in “Belgian Waffle” and John laid the tile for the fireplace.

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The yellow color scheme for the walls was inspired by the quartz countertops in the kitchen.

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The dining room is Tyrina’s favorite room with apple green colored walls.

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The Brownings reversed one of the closets from the front study to accommodate two separate closets for the master bedroom.

That’s because the Brownings were limiting their search to small, modestly priced houses within a few blocks’ radius. Even though the house hunt wasn’t their own, they still didn’t want to search outside the borders of Cooper-Young.

“We’re both Midtowners,” said John, who works in sales for Memphis Equipment Co. “I’ve lived in several different parts of Memphis and I really like Cooper-Young. It’s home.”

And Tyrina wanted her mother nearby. So the couple’s Realtor, Jason Gaia of Prudential Collins-Maury Realtors, suggested broadening their search to include larger homes in the area — and taking the larger home for themselves.

That’s exactly what they did.

Within three months, the Brownings had fallen in love with a house two blocks away from their former Elzey Avenue home. They signed on the dotted line 17 years to the day after they’d purchased the other house, where Tyrina’s mom now lives.

It was a win-win.

“As soon as we walked in the door, she said, ‘I’ve got to have this house,’” John said of Tyrina’s reaction to their second historic Cooper-Young bungalow.

The Brownings purchased the 1,960-square-foot, three-bedroom house in March 2008 for $162,000. Although it was missing an important feature — a second bathroom — the Brownings didn’t let that detract from all the things they loved about the house.

Tyrina fell instantly in love with the home’s architectural details: the living room mantel, the crown molding, the French doors leading into what’s now a home office off the entry.

She also loved the hardwood floors that run throughout the house and the way the cozy space made her feel.

“The one thing we’d wanted was two bathrooms,” Tyrina said. “And the interesting thing is that when we found this house, there was one bathroom. But Jason said, ‘Well, how hard could it be to put in another bath if there was room?’”

The Brownings agreed.

And although they admit that, in all honesty, it wasn’t an easy process, they made it happen — and they’re thrilled with the results.

“It turned out really nice,” John said.

As it happened, the bathroom renovation snowballed into a comprehensive overhaul that turned the 1930-built bungalow into a home that perfectly reflects the Brownings’ taste, personalities and lifestyle.

To create a second bath, the couple worked with contractor Buck Thomas to reconfigure the bedroom hallway. They captured space from the home’s original bathroom, hallway and a former closet.

“We ended up with one full bath with a tub, shower and a storage closet,” said John, who took a hands-on role in the renovation process. “The front bath has a shower stall and no tub.”

John also redid the tile work on the living room fireplace, replacing its aging white subway tile with a warmer palette of terra cottas and beiges while keeping with the style of the house. The couple also undertook a kitchen redo, reconfiguring cabinetry and replacing countertops, lighting and appliances. In the process, they bumped out the former back entry to create a mudroom behind the kitchen.

“We put ceiling fans in most of the rooms and changed every light fixture except the dining room fixture,” John said. “We knocked down walls, did lots of ceiling work. And we primed and painted every wall and every piece of woodwork.”

In the cozy living room, two small olive green sofas are oriented around the room’s focal point: its newly tiled fireplace. John faux finished the walls in a soft, warm gold.

The room leads into a cheery dining area painted a bright apple green and furnished with two large mission-style cabinets that were a perfect fit with the Brownings’ new space.

“It’s almost like we were buying furniture all along for this house,” Tyrina said. “The two cabinets in the dining room are very big, and they looked OK in the other house, but here it’s just like they were meant to be in that room.”

The Brownings knocked out a wall to open the kitchen up to a small breakfast area that features built-in cabinetry and a hanging piece of mosaic artwork created by John. New pendant light fixtures top a breakfast bar with two barstools. The kitchen’s new tile floor is laid on the diagonal, and a new quartz countertop and stainless steel appliances finish off the space.

On the other side of the house, one bedroom serves as a guest room, and the spacious master suite sports cheerful but soothing shades of aqua on the walls. The couple added a second closet to the space, and the attached bath features tile work in white and teal, along with a new standalone vanity and silver framed mirror.

The home’s third bedroom now serves as a den/home office and has a view to the main living area through its original French doors.

Now that the Brownings have completed the interior of their new Midtown house, they plan to focus their efforts outside, adding a back deck and improving the already-extensive landscaping.

In the meantime, they’re enjoying their new house in their old neighborhood both inside and out.

“Our goal is that when you walk in, you feel comfortable,” Tyrina said.

Mission accomplished.

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