Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette photos The original woodwork in the entry and stairwell attracted Steve and Kate Okabayashi, below, to this house in Friendship. Their home will be on the Friendship House Tour tomorrow.

By Gretchen McKay, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Like a lot of Pittsburghers, Kate Okabayashi didn't venture too far from home when she set up housekeeping with her husband, Steve, 14 years ago. She did, however, make this renegade move: She exchanged North Side for Friendship.

		13th Annual Friendship House Tour When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow. Tickets: $12 advance at Enrico's Tazza D'Oro, 1125 N. Highland Ave.; Babyland, 5543 Penn Ave.; and Friendship Development, 5530 Penn Ave; $15 on tour day at Pittsburgh Montessori, 201. S. Graham St. Information: 412-441-6147 or www.friendship-pgh.org.

Mr. Okabayashi, who grew up in a double house in a Philadelphia suburb, wanted a roomy single-family house that was close to the action. Friendship, which is full of Victorian-style homes and within walking distance of shopping in Bloomfield, Garfield, Shadyside and East Liberty, seemed a perfect fit.

It wasn't until the couple wandered into the brick four square at 221 S. Evaline St. that they realized just how good it could be. They were immediately struck by its many Old World touches, including mostly original woodwork. They were particularly captivated by the stately staircase in the foyer, which, luckily, had never been painted.

"When we walked in, it was just like, 'Wow!' " says Mr. Okabayashi, a software salesman for IBM.

"It had a nice feel," agrees his wife, who was nearly as impressed by the full-width staircase to the third floor.

Fourteen years later, the three-story house, which is on tomorrow's Friendship House Tour, is largely restored and has a new kitchen addition. But it's still that grand paneled staircase, graced with a built-in bench and scores of delicate spindles, that elicits most of the oohs and aahs from visitors.

	Steve and Kate Okabayashi Click photo for larger image.

Ornate woodwork and beautifully renovated kitchens are just a few of the visual treats offered on the 13th annual tour, which features seven houses of varying architectural styles and in different stages of renovation. Other tour stops include a former boarding house on Roup Avenue that was converted back to a single-family home and an 1892 Victorian on South Aiken Avenue that boasts a mosaic floor in every vestibule. Tour-goers will also get to see lots of stained-glass windows, working pocket doors and, in one case, a gold-leafed ceiling.

The self-guided tour, which begins at Pittsburgh Montessori on South Graham Street, benefits Friendship Development Associates, a community development organization that works to promote Friendship's architecture, affordability and diversity through strategic real estate development and community advocacy.

The Okabayashis' house had not been lived in for several years when they purchased it in 1992. It was rather dated on the inside and needed a new roof, new windows and a boiler. On the plus side, it hadn't been chopped up into apartments or stripped of its original architectural details.

The living room, for instance, still has its original oak floors and working pocket doors leading into the foyer. And while the quartersawn oak mantel above the gas fireplace is new (it replaced a cement surround with an electric plug in the middle), it dates to the period. The couple found it in an antiques store in Blawnox.

"And it fits just about perfect," says Mrs. Okabayashi.

The formal dining room is equally vintage. Deep-red walls pick up the colors of the oriental rug under the table and the reproduction stained-glass hanging lamp above it. There's also a long, kidney-shaped window seat that stretches beneath three lace-covered windows. The pair of stained-glass windows that once brightened a church on the North Side were a gift from Mrs. Okabayashi's parents. The church windows partially obscure oh-so-modern glass-block windows that are "on the list" for replacement, she says.

The eat-in kitchen is a touch more contemporary, with stainless-steel appliances, radiant-heat ceramic tile floors and striking, pumpkin-colored walls. Renovated just this year by Avanti Construction, it now features lustrous maple cabinets and shiny black-granite countertops. There's also a windowed eating area overlooking the back yard that architect Christine Mondor of evolve EA created by removing a pantry and enclosing a small porch. (The house originally ended at the kitchen sink.)

Before, the only way the family could admire Mrs. Okabayashi's sunflowers or check the progress of her tomato and rhubarb garden was to open the back door or peer through a window in the pantry. Now the colorful garden greets them as soon as they walk in the kitchen, thanks to a large wall of windows.

Just as colorful is Mrs. Okabayashi's extensive collection of Hall ceramic tea pots, displayed on a shelf above the cabinets. A great-aunt gave her a yellow "ball pot" some years back, and from there, "it just kind of snowballed," she says.