Joe Sikora and Shenica Redley love the historical past of their Phoenixville neighborhood. Sikora had been residing a couple of mile up the street when a brand new townhouse group being constructed on the unique website of Phoenix Metal, spoke to them. They moved in final Could.
“The metal mill had been the guts of the city for a few hundred years,” mentioned Sikora, chief income officer for International Gig, a clouds answer supplier primarily based in Austin, Texas. “Cannons for the Civil Warfare have been made right here, and it was one of many largest nail factories in america. It’s the place the primary Ferris wheel was constructed and in addition elements of the Golden Gate Bridge.”
Metal is a part of Sikora’s DNA. He’s initially from Pittsburgh, the place his father was a steelworker, and he put himself by means of faculty working in metal mills.
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Simply inside his present home, there’s a quote from late nineteenth century industrialist Andrew Carnegie, who was outstanding in steelmaking and in Phoenixville: “There may be little success the place there may be little laughter.” It has change into the couple’s mantra. Close by are a black-and-white image of a metal mill blast furnace the place Sikora as soon as labored and a photograph of one of many rolling mills on-site.
The pair have been drawn to the three,000-square-foot townhouse with three bedrooms, two full and two half loos, a exercise room, and 10-foot ceilings on the second flooring. They love the house’s walkout loft with a rooftop deck, full with fire.
“And I don’t should do any yard work,” mentioned Sikora, who moved from a 2½-acre property.
He appreciated the flexibleness for personalisation that Media-based Rockwell Builders supplied because the townhouse was constructed. Rockwell allowed the couple to tweak segments of the design to realize closet area and storage to raised match their wants.
“We took the time to personalize the house to what we would have liked,” mentioned Redley, vendor relationship supervisor at Vanguard. “We’re massive health individuals and needed to include that into our house, particularly with the pandemic. Our upstairs loft space doubles as Joe’s workplace, and we made it into this actually cool music room. Joe’s a guitarist, and I believe I can sing now and again!”
Sikora values his guitar assortment, which incorporates one signed by Les Paul, one which was Guitar Journal‘s guitar of the yr, and one signed by Los Lonely Boys. The fun-loving pair get pleasure from hanging out on the bar they bought from Restoration {Hardware} produced from steel initially used to check lightbulb wattage in Germany in 1926. They’ve an identical gentle fixture. They added a black shiplap wall to match their house’s black trim.
When the couple met, they linked by means of health. Now they get pleasure from figuring out collectively within the house health club they designed and constructed. They created an indication dubbing the area “The Health Lab” and put in mirrored partitions and a particular flooring for exercising that they purchased on Fb Market.
Redley considers herself the sous chef whereas Sikora does a lot of the cooking with their GE Café home equipment. They purchased their brass, gold and black stools at a retailer in Boston, making the drive in the course of the pandemic as a result of the stools match into their kitchen so properly. The couple get pleasure from posting their meals on social media, together with pastas, burgers, jerk hen, and stir fries.
An finish unit, the house has a entrance and aspect yard. Their entrance view contains the French Creek, the place neighbors use the operating observe and exercise path. Different outside areas embody a 10- by 20-foot again deck off the lounge the place they grill and entertain.
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The walkout rooftop deck is the place they celebrated Redley’s thirtieth birthday in August. With 40 friends, they danced to a DJ, and borough Mayor Peter Urscheler introduced a proclamation declaring it Worldwide Shenica Day.
“The truth that we will construct a relationship with the mayor that he can present up at my party to offer me this proclamation speaks to the closeness that we’ve got inside this city,” Redley mentioned. “You additionally get a little bit little bit of a metropolis vibe in Phoenixville as a result of we’ve got a major strip right here the place we’re capable of stroll to get meals, and there are probably the most breweries per capita in our city.”
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