Hi, everyone. Welcome to the first project of my blog. Bear with me on this, there's a lot to take in. It's a pretty big project but the house has lots of potential and the clients are letting me go wild with my imagination – a contractor's dream.
The living room and family room are sunken.
And those railings, yeah, they'll be gone soon.
The kitchen is long and narrow, but pretty small, especially for my client who entertains a lot. Also, there's a wall dividing the kitchen and dining room on the oven side that really compartmentalizes the home.
The previous owners extended the house out and up several years ago. They broke the back exterior wall of the home to extend the family room, making it double in size.
Yeah, it's big, maybe too big, unless you're making a home theater. It's also not configured well. Can't imagine how they furnished it, especially with the built-in library off to one side.
Fourth bedroom, another look. Note the sink and freestanding wardrobe.
to open it up and update it. They bought it well under market value (at least the recession is good for something), so the idea is to give it a more contemporary look both structurally and cosmetically while adding features that will get them a good return on their investment when they eventually sell.
My first thoughts – let's try to get the downstairs all one level by either raising the sunken living and family rooms or by lowering the kitchen and dining area (did you know that single level homes and homes that do not have sunken rooms are becoming more desirable as the baby boomers get older and want to age independently in their homes? Something to think about for your home – more about that another time).
Raising the family room might be a problem because the ceiling right now is about 8 feet high. Raising the floor might make the ceiling too low. But lowering the entryway, kitchen and dining room is a much bigger job , maybe more money than it's worth. I might run into another problem if lowering means not leaving enough crawl space to get to the pipes – a big no no. I'll just have to wait and see what it looks like under floors.
To offset that huge, unmanageable family room, I'm thinking of breaking the wall between the family room and laundry room (the one with the ivy painted on) and taking some of the square footage away from the family room by expanding the laundry room into a full guest room or office.
That would mean moving the laundry room upstairs. I'll have to see about that. And the built-in library would have to go. I don't think it will be missed.
the kitchen. We can update the kitchen with new tile flooring and a big, granite island with seating for six.
living room, leaving a cozy seating area in what's left of the living room. My guess is they won't miss the formal living room since they have that oversized family room.
still leave the room at 10'x14' – certainly big enough for my clients' preteen.
Those of my thoughts for now. Gotta sit with Theodora, my talented architect and get some plans drawn up. Demo starts tomorrow. Can't wait to see what's inside those walls.
Hi, everyone, and welcome to my blog, Practically Renovating. You know me as Doron from Eden Flooring and Construction in Orange County, California, but now you'll get to know my alter ego, Doron the Blogger (yes, with a little help from my sidekick and faithful partner). I decided to start this blog because I want to share with you practical ways to renovate your home. We all know how exciting home remodeling is and that it leads to years of enjoyment for you and your family. But have you ever stopped to wonder if the improvements you're making today will yield a return on your money when you decide to sell? On this blog, I'll show you incredible ways I help my clients get the beauty, features and convenience they want while guiding them to sound financial decisions that add value to their homes.
We'll start with a major renovation I'm working on in Irvine, but more on that tomorrow. For now, I invite you to check out the many projects and helpful tips on practical renovations I'll be posting, share your thoughts, spread the word and most of all, enjoy.