Alienation at an end

In renovating the iconic space house on the side of Signal Mountain, builder James Faris took the carpet and mirrors off the walls in his first steps toward modernizing the saucer-shaped structure built in the 1970s.

In the process, Mr. Faris said he learned a lot about making things work.

"There's nothing standard on this house," he said. "It's definitely the most interesting project I've worked on in my career."

Mr. Faris bought the house at a December auction for $119,000 with plans to "greenovate" the two-bedroom, two-bath dwelling and rent it to vacationers or to locals for special events.

He spent four months and $75,000 gutting the house and renovating it and another $10,000 to furnish the home. Mr. Faris's wife, Nora, decorated the interior with futuristically styled armchairs, lamps and other furniture from Ikea.

Signal Mountain resident Cara Cameron recently attended a wedding party at the house. Green and white lights were brought in and arranged to rotate around the outside to give the illusion of a space landing.

"We were all talking about how we could live here," Mrs. Cameron said.

Currently Mr. Faris is renting the house for $195 a night, but the longer the stay the cheaper it gets, he said. Interest in renting the house has been good.

The home is listed on a popular vacation rental Web site vrbo.com, and Mr. Faris said he gets inquiries about the house every day.

In the spring, a photographer for the Italian version of Elle magazine found the house through a Google search. The photographer and a model spent three days there, with the model wearing stewardess-type outfits by different designers.

"It was fun to watch the process," Mr. Faris said, adding that it took more time to prep the model than it did to snap the pictures.

Mr. Faris, whose Quest EcoBuilders specializes in using environmentally friendly materials, made the house more eco-friendly by putting in flooring made from recycled tires.

The flooring cost about 10 percent more than traditional materials, he said, but it is very durable. In the kitchen, he installed Thermafoil cabinets and concrete countertops. He used small pieces of the mirror he removed from the front entryway walls to decorate the countertops. Throughout the home, he used a paint that emits less chemicals and odors than traditional paint.

He also put dual-flush toilets and bamboo cabinets in the bathrooms. He chose to leave the famous concrete tub in the master bath and another symbol of the 1970s -- the original in-wall eight-track player unit.

As he was working on the house, Mr. Faris, who lives on Signal Mountain, said he couldn't help but recall the stories he'd heard about the house over the years. One in particular involved a couple who lived at the house during the time the entry stairs could retract up to the house. The wife, angry at her husband, parked his truck under the retracted stairs, essentially locking him in the house.

"There's never a dull moment at the space house," he said.