…”Making our house into a home”…

What started out as a simple kitchen remodel ended up turning into a Breath-taking complete home renovation on this 1958 Cape home in this neighborhood.

We met with the new family just a few short months after they bought the property. They had some painting and refreshing done to the inside so that they can move in. They knew they wanted to do a bit more work to the space but weren’t quite sure how to go about that. The kitchen was the main focus, the family love to cook and entertain, especially their youngest daughter, so the kitchen had to really work, it just couldn’t be a typical kitchen renovation.

On walking through the interior of the home, we had to go through two rooms to get to the kitchen, first was the dining room, separated by an open header then through a doorway to the kitchen. The family wanted to open up the kitchen to the rest of the home. They had a few ideas because they have already been meeting with other contractors to look at the space, but the more they explain to us what they wanted, the more we realize that if they do what they are asking, they would not end up with the results that they are after. We wanted to take a different approach to the house. We wanted to design and remodel this home to achieve a warm homey feel, open yet separated, practical and functional without compromising any of the footprints of the house.

With the client’s blessing on a whole new approach, they entrusted and handed over their biggest investment to us, to tear it apart and put it back together, fingers crossed we were sure and hoping that we could deliver on a promise that we had made on paper!

The house was dark, it had windows but not enough of it, we set out to cut in two additional windows into the living room area, we flank those around a one-of-a-kind unique design fireplace. we then tear out both walls that were separating the kitchen and the dining room. We ran into an issue there, it looks like when they added on the upstairs, they didn’t put that load-bearing wall in the right spot so the joist was literally hanging on no load in the ceiling, after consulting with our Architect and engineer, we design a new metal beam and post and extend all of the existing joists to the right location on both walls to make sure that the house is safe and sound. We use that opportunity to also bury these beams into the ceiling so they are not visible, another item on the wish list of the family to have a clean open footprint if that was possible, it was and we did that.

We then blocked in one of the windows that were in the old kitchen, since it was overlooking the neighbors’ and we cut in for a new beautiful picture casement window on the back wall facing the back yard. We block in another window and an old door and make it into a large French door accessing the porch. That then allowed up to design a kitchen at the back of the room which opens up to the rest of the new space. We didn’t want the kitchen to feel top-heavy so after we realize that we gained 2 more inches in height, we scrap our original intent and remove all of the crown moldings in the room, raise all of the upper cabinets to 42” tall and bury the refrigerator between two pantries behind a walkway, that we converted into an alcove that was once an access to the kitchen.  This opens up the space tremendously and allows for a ton more storage into that space without compromising the openness that we were shooting for.

Once that was done, we turned our attention to the living room. There was a closed-off attic area above the living room and rather than leaving that space untouched. We came up with the idea to blow it open by removing the existing ceiling and go up to the house rafters. There was some structural design challenge there as well but we use the existing structure of the hip and gable roof as a design feature that ties right back into the style of the house. We demo that wall separating the staircase to the second floor and open that up as a view back into the living room. The potential was there for character we just needed to expose it and tie it in nicely back into the space. We top that off by covering up the beam with some rustic pine, add a few more decorative trusses and extend the fireplace wall all the way up, paint it out in a different color for a distinct one-of-a-kind family room.

We then turn our focus on improving the bedroom area. The home had only one bathroom on this floor. Everyone uses it. There wasn’t a true master bedroom, so we spit the existing bathroom down the middle and open up a new access from the generic bedroom, and convert that into a true master bedroom with its own access, along with a few extra closets. The other half of that bathroom was now converted into a full 3-piece bathroom with a new access from the hallway which can now be used by anyone else.

Open concepts are great but practical use of space should always be the main focus of a home, especially when we are limited with a 1683 sqft home that needs to accommodate a young growing family. Again, with some very creative bold thinking. We block in the existing hallway and frame in for two huge new additional closets, we use that to also essentially divide up the house into two separate wings with the added benefit of giving the new master wing even more privacy.

New floors throughout the space, paint, some cool lighting fixtures, custom metal handrails, black hardware on new frosted glass doors were the final touches and details that this home needed to send a clear message that it has a new lease on life.

This 1958 Cape was stuck in 1958. The previous owners made sure of it. We had to pull this home out of the clutches of 1958 and push it straight into the 21^st century. It wasn’t going to be easy but it was necessary and it was a huge transformation, a place that will serve this family well for years to come.

Another happy client…now onto the next.

Another happy Client, now onto the Next!