Living in a very old farmhouse can be challenging in Minnesota winters when your garage isn’t attached. But how do you attach a two-car garage and large workshop to the historic home that’s been in your family for generations?

The garage and shop addition to the historic home

The original house is a remarkable piece of history–most of it original. The exterior has several interesting elements that we wanted to honor and not demolish or connect to in an insensitive way. We also needed to work with size and site limits since the property falls within city limits. To minimize the proportion of garage doors to existing home, we built windows into the hydraulic-lift shop door. It breaks up the facade of the wall and makes the shop look more residential. We also added an entry vestibule between the shop and the garage, which provides more room at the entry, adds character to the outside, and enables a straight path of travel up the stairs and to the storage area over the shop. We mimicked the gothic window from the front of the house at both ends of the storage room.

The overhead hydraulic door opens out

The glassed-in porch connects with the hallway leading to the garage. As a benefit, the wide hallway acts as a mud room and a seating area to enjoy on sunny mornings.

The wide hallway connection adds mudroom, seating space, and great views.

The owners chose to add pavers for a driveway and beautiful plantings outside the seating area. The addition provided much more than a garage and workshop–it expanded the living and livability of the home.

island and framed ceiling box

working side of island

glass panel backsplash

Not every kitchen layout works for every family. The owners of this kitchen found themselves hemmed-in during cooking and unable to interact with guests and family members while prep, cooking and clean-up were underway. One of their specialties is pizza made in an outdoor oven and they found it difficult to travel between the kitchen proper and the outdoors, especially if the pizza chef was trapped in the U-shaped kitchen. The kitchen came with a walk-in pantry, but they found it too small to easily store items but big enough to cram things in and then make those things difficult to get out when needed.

By slightly reworking the floor plan and tearing out the pantry, we were able to turn the peninsula into an island with seating and storage, and build in large cabinet pantries that were much easier to see into and use.

Prior to the remodeling, there had been a dropped ceiling over the peninsula and a framed wall enclosing the end. The dropped ceiling camouflaged a structural beam, but the end wall wasn’t critical. We removed both and treated the ceiling to a framed box, highlighting the work area over the island and creating much more openness over the kitchen. The beam remained, but now feels much less weighty and allows light to flow between the kitchen and the adjoining dining room which is full of windows and outside views.

The pantry is now home to a utility cabinet for storage and a wall oven/speed oven. There is plenty of work space adjacent to the ovens and room for spice storage.

One design consideration was how to treat the wall above the range. Only open shelves were desired, and it was difficult to find a place to meaningfully stop a wall tile installation. A large glass backsplash provides the wall protection and openness desired as well as provides a clean, contemporary aesthetic and an easy-clean surface. An added bonus is the way the backsplash reflects light and views from the dining room.

before

before

The Konmari method–and tidying up in general–has grown increasingly popular in the past few months. Whether you are spring cleaning or getting ready to remodel your home, you can find real value in organizing your belongings. Today, we’re going to focus on using the Konmari method (or any organizing strategy!) to make planning your remodel or build easier.

Getting organized showcases your home’s character–as it is!
When your home is cluttered, it’s tough to appreciate what you already have. We start seeing the boxes, totes, and piles instead of the way natural light pours through the windows, or a room’s cozy proportions, or the nice decor hidden under the piles. We start to overlook the charming parts of the house, and often fail to notice that there are maintenance needs that should be obvious. Keeping things tidy allows you to appreciate what you have now while planning for something new.

Getting organized helps you get clear on your values
When getting ready for a remodel or a new house, it’s critical to know yourself–and be honest about what you value. If you are a book lover with several overflowing bookshelves, are you really going to switch to an e-reader when your new home or remodel is done? It is better to plan accessible, beautiful storage for the books you love than to force yourself to forgo something that brings you joy. The same goes for collections and hobbies: if there are items/activities that fulfill you, work with your designer to plan for a place for them instead of hiding your favorite things away in boxes and bins.

Getting organized makes sure you don’t waste precious space
I often help people plan for a remodeling after they’ve given up on cleaning, since they know everything is going to be removed anyway. This actually makes the design process harder. Having a concise inventory of what will be staying with you helps plan for the correct amount of storage and display. Beginning in a new space with the proper storage/display makes keeping the house organized easier going forward.

Getting organized helps you choose the right storage space
Careful storage is better than a lot of storage. Walk-in closets are not better if they are just black holes where you only access the first 24” in the front. If you do best being able to see everything at once, plan for flat closets that open to view. Big linen closets stuffed full of old pillows no one wants to use can be replaced with more storage in the bathroom, a small closet by the bedrooms, and then an out-of-season bedding area elsewhere.

Getting organized saves you money in the long run!
There is a real cost to storing things you don’t really want or need. I’ve helped people plan for large garages and finished basements to store the same (large!) quantity of boxed-up items they have in their current home. Each part of this storage has a cost: the construction cost; the ongoing heating/cooling costs; the maintenance and insurance costs for that square footage. Are the things in those bins worth keeping after considering the construction and future dollars you are committing to them? This can also be true of “buyer club” shopping: what is the cost of the extra space you are using to save a few dollars on bulk paper towels?

By being deliberate with what you keep in your home, you can find more joy in what you already have and save money in the long run–all while working with your designer to create a space that serves you better. If you think your home could use an update, new closets, or a do-over, get in touch to schedule a consultation.

The Owner wanted to know if we could reinvent the attic in her 100+ year-old house as a place for her teenage children to hang out. She was using the attic as it was built: the place to store things that she rarely needed to access. She dreamed of having a space where her kids could hang out with their friends, where she could know who was visiting without giving them ongoing oversight.

The attic had been remodeled in the late 1960s or early 1970s, with a wall framed in to make what may have been used as a bedroom. The remodeling was done in a make-shift fashion and the rest of the attic was essentially unfinished. The windows were single-pane and there was no insulation in the walls, offering no barrier against Minnesota’s bitter winters. But the attic had character, including wide-plank original floors and windows overlooking the side yard and a beautiful park across the street.

After walking through the attic, we envisioned a space that was much more wide open, with lots of natural light. Storage would still be available, but it would be contained to the kneewall closets and in storage furniture. The attic would be warm and cozy in the winter but cool in the summer, with year-round views of the outdoors. We knew it was important to have a space that could be used by the kids and their friends–so durable finishes and easily-arranged furniture were a must.

As with any remodel in a century-old home, there were plenty of quirks and design challenges. For instance, the attic stairs were more of a ladder than a staircase. There was no room for a new stair, so we worked with the building official to make them as safe as possible.

Finishing the ceilings required insulating to the current residential code–causing the ceiling heights to change considerably, and insulating/finishing tricky spots around the gables and kneewalls. We worked on-site with the contractor to find the best way to frame in these non-standard areas, creating effective and homeowner-friendly solutions in the process. An additional quirk: the heating and cooling system, which was too complex to extend to the attic. Instead, the solution was a mini-split system that serves just the attic. Heating/cooling can now be controlled independently of the rest of the house whenever the room is used, which is often.

These challenges often lead to creative solutions and energy savings. It will be interesting to find out how much lower the overall heating costs are since the remodel. The original attic had no insulation, so any winter warmth seeped out the top floor. Now, insulation holds heat inside, and the door at the bottom of the staircase can be closed when the room is not in use.

An important consideration in this project was allergens. One child has severe allergies, so it was critical that we found finishes–and insulation!–that would not trigger a reaction. Instead of carpet or an engineered flooring, the family took it upon themselves to reuse the original floor. After lots of vacuuming out the cracks between floorboards, countersinking nails, and general cleaning, the boards were painted a nice clean neutral grey. The floor adds immense character to the space and allows light to flow in and bounce around, and saved on material and installation costs for new surface coverings.

Another clever solution was to carve additional storage out from behind the bookcases. The shelves aren’t mounted to the wall, so sentimental but rarely-accessed things can be stored safely and out of the way.

In the end, the family found a lot of flexible, comfortable square footage–without putting on an addition. The kids love having a hang-out spot to share with their friends, but when they are gone, Mom sneaks up to the attic and has the whole room to herself. For her it is a getaway. Instead of cramped, chaotic, and cluttered, this attic now feels serene and relaxed: the perfect place to unwind after a busy day.

If you have an attic, basement, or bonus room that could become family room and want to make sure you get the most out of your space, contact us to schedule an initial design consultation.

Swoopy Island curves gently, offering a spacious place for entertaining, chatting with the cook, and for wide open views of the outdoors.

The new owners of a home built in the 1990s saw great potential in a first floor that had been built with a series of smallish rooms that each served a purpose, but didn’t lend themselves to the way the family wanted to use the house and didn’t take advantage of the home’s views. In the photo below you can see a TV room that had been constructed between the living room and kitchen. Connecting the spaces was a dark hallway that housed an ill-placed bar. The size and location of the hallway also minimized the laundry room and made the back entry tight.

Before: an angled-entry TV room separated the kitchen and living room, and made the hallway between dark.

During the design phase, using sketches, floor plans and 3-D visualization, we looked at different options for how a new open-plan kitchen could take shape in the space originally occupied by the existing kitchen, TV room and hallway. A mudroom space, walk-in pantry and better laundry facilities were also on the wish list. Some of the questions we tackled were, “is the kitchen TOO big?”, “how do we tie these spaces together?”, “how will we exhaust the stove?”

By inserting a large island to be used for cooking, prep work and seating/entertaining, we could tie the rooms together yet separate the business of cooking from entertaining. To add interest and to keep it from looking like a runway, we tried a gently curved form, and the plan nicknamed “Swoopy Island” was born.

After: the new island cuts through what had been the TV room and provides a bridge between the kitchen and living room.

The island sports 16′ of cooking, prep work and entertaining/seating space. Topped in a marble-look Cambria quartz top, it can endure the rigors of baking and cooking, and look beautiful as a place for buffets or casual dinners for family and friends. Large-scale light fixtures and an island hood fix the island to the ceiling, anchoring it and keeping it from feeling like just a piece of furniture in a large room.

Custom cabinetry throughout provided the flexibility and opportunities for most flexible storage, display and organization. To ensure the kitchen is tidied during cooking, there are two trash roll-outs: one next to the dishwasher and another in the island by the range. Although it may seem like overkill, having trash and recycling disposed of right away reduces kitchen cleanup time.

A buffet area was created at what had been the entry to the hallway.

High-skilled cabinetry work includes the inset doors, beautiful stained finish, and details such as this display cabinet that opens on both sides.

Drawer and cabinet accessories make setting a table and unloading the dishwasher easy for the family and guests who want to help.

In addition, the small laundry room got expanded by incorporating what had been the hallway/bar. A large closet, folding counter, cabinetry and mudroom bench/cabinets were added to provide storage and a drop-off place by the garage entry.

The existing laundry was reworked to include a large closet, bench/coat storage and a beautiful area for storage and clothes care.

A walk-in pantry connects the back entry and the main kitchen, creating a drop-off place for staples after grocery runs. Accessed by a beautiful patterned-glass sliding door, it is a lovely, functional asset for the kitchen.

The walk-in pantry sports a patterned glass door that allows natural light but doesn’t display all the kitchen staples.

The end result of the Swoopy Island kitchen is a space that is much greater than the sum of the rooms that it once occupied: more connectedness, more function, more storage, more light, more view.

Mostly original, the kitchen in this over 100-year-old house had just worn out. The owners made a valiant effort to work in it as long as possible, but the lack of light, worn out-surfaces, inefficient storage and general layout didn’t serve these people who enjoy cooking. See the photos at the end of this article for the “before.” Kitchen windows were enlarged and a small doorway beside the range was expanded to allow a larger walkway and an eat-at island to be included in the space. The abundance of sunlight from the adjacent sitting area pours into the kitchen through the enlarged opening and through punched “windows” on either side of the range hood.

The large range sits in its own alcove, freeing up the main part of the kitchen for prep, serving and clean-up. The alcove harvested a few square feet from the sitting area, expanding the functionality of the kitchen. Sometimes it only takes a few more square feet, or better-utilized square footage, to completely open up new opportunities. This was just the case. Custom cabinetry throughout allowed the homeowners to make the best use of every nook and cranny. Clever storage accessories allow for maximizing the storage in the cabinets themselves. Custom-made brackets under the wall cabinets and island counter hearken to the original kitchen and age of the home.

Inspired by the imagery of Greece, the homeowners partnered with a local ceramic artist to make custom tiles for their walls. Each was designed, carved, and fired especially for this project. Classically-inspired and yet innately local, they bring a worldly yet approachable feel to the kitchen, and make the tiled areas of the kitchen a conversation piece.


Scattered amongst the commercially-made tile, the variety and artistry of the handmade tile elevates the entire kitchen.

As a solution to the radiator pipes that had to be exposed, the same artist painted them with an underwater scene. It is a charming surprise. The home still uses radiator heat, and a slimmer, modern model was chosen to replace the existing standard one. Custom cabinetry surrounding the radiator allows the heat to flow out through the louvers, and small shelves are built around the radiator itself, perfect for bakeware and other smaller items. The pulls on the cabinet were specifically chosen as a place to hang a damp towel (which will quickly dry in front of the radiator). Granite counters were chosen throughout, and especially over the radiator: it is the place where the avid bakers can proof their bread dough.

A custom-built, granite-topped counter is perfect for entertaining–or rolling out pastry.

Light pours in from the sunroom, making the kitchen warm, airy, and inviting–rather than cramped and dark, like before.

At the end of the island, on the sitting area side, a custom TV cabinet makes casual viewing easy–without the “black hole” effect a big screen can have on a room.

Above the radiator, glass-front doors show off the homeowners’ stemware.

[CLOSING REMARKS]

Before, the kitchen had random-height and random-depth cabinets that had worn out. Once the cabinetry was out, the walls were opened and additional insulation was added to the exterior walls, eliminating the cold spots in the walls and floors that the homeowners had before.

Additional light was one of the big requests for the new kitchen. Careful lighting plans allowed for not only additional borrowed light and daylight, but considerably more ceiling light, new island lights and undercabinet lighting. The new kitchen has many more options for how it can be illuminated for working in, entertaining or general functions.

The end result is a kitchen that blends in with the rest of the house, but is a much more usable part of the house as a whole, now that it is better connected to the sitting area, and can be an eat-in kitchen or a place to drink coffee and converse with whomever is cooking. It is also a great place to entertain, allowing people to travel through and around without getting in the way of food prep.

Project Background