North Star put a two-story addition onto the back of our 1933 house: on the first floor, they did an entry/mudroom, one-half bath, and a family room with a dining area off the existing kitchen. Upstairs they did master a bedroom with bath and large walk-in closet. The project added one-third or more space to the house.

We looked at four or five contractors, describing to each what we were looking for. We had two or three of them, including North Star, do a preliminary design for us along with a bid. Based on the bid and design, we felt really comfortable with North Star and liked what they produced. Plus, North Star had done a project down our block, which we saw while it was being built.

Jerry Okerstrom listened to what we had in mind, how our idea would lay out. He made the plans fit exactly what we wanted, and the price was comparable to the competitors’.

The project took five months from groundbreaking to finish — from just after New Year, 2001 to the end of May. North Star did a nice job of keeping the original part of the house sealed off. We had access to the kitchen throughout the project, and could go in and out the front door. North Star kept the mess to a minimum, so we could live in the house very comfortably.

We have two young girls, and we looked at other homes in this neighborhood because we really wanted to stay here. But it’s hard to find a house of this era with the master bedroom and bath that we wanted. A lot of homes in the neighborhood don’t have even first-floor baths.

We wanted four bedrooms and a main-floor family room, so we could be in the kitchen with the girls, without having to run up and down the stairs to the basement, where we had a family room. Our new first-floor arrangement is very open, and yet North Star did a great job keeping the scale consistent between the old and the new parts of the house.

They matched the coved ceiling in our dining room in the new family room. The foreman, Tom Sarbacker, was fantastic. He became almost part of the family. Tom and his crew came on time and did all the work on schedule. They were very courteous, not making a mess everywhere, and the neighbors didn’t feel put out or disrupted.