Bill and Sue Otten were looking to get closer to downtown Columbus than Flint Road north of Worthington.

At first, they thought, German Village would ideally fit that bill.

"The lack of green space kind of put us off," Sue Otten said of the couple's search.

A home on Walhalla Road charmed them sufficiently that they took the plunge in 2004.

"We liked it because it had a lot of charm, and the view, of course, is fantastic," Sue Otten said. "This one just kind of grabbed us."

In the intervening years, the Ottens have grabbed hold, in many instances with their own hands, of myriad renovation, improvement and even emergency rescue projects. What was once a two-bedroom, one-bathroom home constructed in 1937 has been doubled in size.

It has all the "mod-cons," as the British would say, but Sue Otten said virtually every aspect of the renovation has been undertaken with keeping the place true to its origins.

The home at 296 Walhalla Road is one of eight stops on the 27th annual Clintonville Tour of Homes on Sunday, Sept. 13, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets to "A Walk on Walhalla" are $12 in advance online at www.clintonvillehomestour.com or $15 the day of the event.

Proceeds benefit the Clintonville Community Fund.

The Ottens' home was built for a single woman who had a basement added, the couple's research revealed. The woman sold it to a couple who didn't live there long and were followed by a husband and wife who remained for three decades before returning to their native New England.

The house was 1,500 square feet when they purchased it, Sue Otten said. She's no longer certain how much the square footage is, but knows it "easily" has been doubled.

Otten said the place needed considerable work when they moved in, but both she and her husband are handy. They tackled much of it on their own, including updating the wiring and plumbing, as well as tile work in the entryway and a brick patio facing the ravine. Scraping several layers of paint off the exterior revealed the original redwood beneath, Otten said.

"We've had quite a few challenges," she added.

Because the Ottens wanted a garage, an architect friend created one that permitted a new master bedroom to be built underneath further back into the hill. The same technology used in parking garages was employed for that project.

Sue Otten, a retired teacher, recently graduated from Columbus College of Art and Design with a goal of becoming an illustrator of children's books as well as painting landscapes and portraits.

Looking out the ravine side of her home, she's got one heck of a landscape to paint.