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Burkett has added about 1,000 square feet of living space outdoors.
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When Burkett installed weatherproof glass in the sunroom, he moved the original windows to an adjacent space to create an outdoor living area.
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Upstairs, a second bedroom was turned into a walk-in closet. One wall is lined with black dressers from La Différence.
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The master bedroom is filled with works by Carlo of Hollywood. "The asymmetrical frame caught my eye," he says of the first one he found.
A bright red front door peeking through a mission-style gate is the first indicator that Mark Burkett and Jay Pearson's Westover Hills home has plenty of personality. The copper gate, made by Cathy Vaughn to cut through a "living" ivy fence, reveals a hint of the interior's splashy style that's otherwise hidden from the street.
Burkett, co-owner of Carytown's Mongrel and two chocolate-and-stationery shops called chocolatepaper in Roanoke, has a bold, sharply defined aesthetic, which is reflected throughout his home, yard and garden.
In 1992, Burkett moved into his Cape Cod home, which was built in 1949. Over the years, he has left the house's structure mostly intact. He redid his kitchen when he first moved in, and it's on tap for another update this year. He also removed an old furnace and added a natural gas heating system and fireplace, along with central air.
"I like 1950s mid-century modern. It was such a simple period," Burkett says. He mixes mission and mid-century pieces together throughout his home. "I like the color, I like the lines and I like the style," he says.
Burkett showcases his collection of pink elephant glassware from the 1950s in one of two lighted corner shelves made out of old windows in the dining room. "It's just fun stuff," he says. "It's the thing that got me started collecting." On the opposite wall, Fiestaware also is displayed in a glass cabinet made from old windows, and a large glass dining-room table from La Différence fills the center of the room. "I like the clear glass with so much other stuff going on in here."
Burkett also collects paintings by Carlo of Hollywood, and they fill the house with their trapezoid-shaped frames. He found the first one at an antiques mall. "The asymmetrical frame caught my eye," he says. After that, he kept looking for more. He's found Carlo's work in a variety of different mediums, but despite searching for years, he hasn't been able to find much information on the artist. "I think Carlo sketched the originals, then other people finished them," he says. Today he has about 35 Carlo paintings displayed throughout his house.
He also used to collect paint-
by-numbers paintings and still displays a few favorites in his dining and living rooms. The rest of the other 300 or so are stored away.
Italian vases from the 1950s and 1960s (with a few from the '20s and '30s) are displayed on the mantel in his living room, which, like most of the rooms in his house, features small lamps. "I like accent lights instead of an overhead glare, and I use a lot of dimmers," he says. "Every room has three or four lamps in the corners."
Upstairs are two bedrooms and one bath, and Burkett and Pearson use the entire floor as a master suite. The larger bedroom contains a bed, dressers and a desk; they transformed the second bedroom into a walk-in closet, with hanging racks and one wall lined with four sleek, black dressers from La Différence. "Every woman who comes into this house loves that room," says Burkett.
Over time, he's changed the 
wall colors. "I used to have white walls, then I went to gray," he says. Now, most of the walls in his home are painted in strong colors, like the gold in his living room and the teal in his glassed-in porch. "It adds warmth and just gives me a good feeling," he says. "The colors also change with the sun throughout the day."
When Burkett first enclosed the patio, he replaced the screens with old glass window panels from a friend's 1950s house. After he upgraded to weatherproof glass, he moved the glass panels to an adjacent space to create one of several outdoor living areas. "I left it rough and let it peel," he says. "It sets the boundaries for the outdoor room."
Although Burkett loves his home, he sometimes wishes the rooms were bigger, and that's inspired him to add space by creating those outdoor living areas. His house is 1,500 square feet, and he's added about 1,100 square feet of decking and outdoor rooms. When he moved in, the only thing behind the house was a brick patio. Burkett has added three seating areas with pergolas and ceiling fans, a koi pond, extensive gardens, and two cottage sheds for storage.
Light and a view of the outdoors is one of the most important elements throughout Burkett's home. "I love light coming in, and bringing the outside inside," he says. He replaced the double window in his dining room with a set of French double doors, which has become one of his favorite elements of the house. "Weather-permitting, the doors are always open."
