Classic Revival Remodeling House Ideas 01

Remodeling House Ideas : Classic Revival Remodeling House Ideas 01

An earthy palette adds warmth to white-painted walls. The cathedral ceilings and 4-foot half-wall were among the visual tricks Smith used to create the illusion of more space, enabling her to forgo adding square footage to the house.

At first glance, the small cape appears to be a typical New England clapboard farmhouse. Distinguished by a long, low-pitched roof that yields 3-foot, 8-inch second-floor side kneewalls and limited headroom, the house is picture-perfect in its rural Vermont setting. Since 1940, it has been owned by architect Pi Smith’s family. First purchased by her grandparents, the property passed on to Smith’s father, then to her. “A major renovation was definitely in order,” she said. “The whole first-floor structure had rotted. There was no
insulation, the windows leaked, and the heating system was poor. The house also had an unusual linear shape because a long, narrow L-shaped addition had been appended to the west gable end.”

Smith’s first step was to toss out the original floor plan of small rooms, multiple doorways, and limited traffic flow and rethink how to best use the total space via an open floor plan. Upstairs and down, walls were removed and repositioned, windows added, and rooms redesigned to create the illusion of a larger space. Attic space gave way to a child’s playroom, a loft-style guest bedroom-lounge area, and a cathedral ceiling for the living room. The oversize entry hall was converted into a cozy dining room. A large guest bedroom was halved so a combo guest bath-laundry area could be added.

To further expand the space, dropped ceilings were removed, revealing one of the home’s charming architectural features: original post-and-beam framing. Perhaps the biggest change of all was the stairway relocation and redesign. Now with a windowed landing and a view of the meadow, the switch-back staircase delivers traffic to the center of the second floor, making it possible to create a central hall and much-needed bath.

Going Green Remodeling House Ideas 05

Remodeling House Ideas : Going Green Remodeling House Ideas 05

Before the renovation, the kitchen bore the dated image of dark cabinetry, fluorescent lighting and six layers of linoleum.

In order to restore the home historically in an environmentally safe way it was necessary to gut the kitchen down to the studs and painstakingly replicate what had once been there. This meant each material and design decision had to be balanced between design, function, serviceability and price, and historic value and sustainability. Energy-saving appliances were used throughout.

Bathroom BEFORE

Bathroom AFTER

To improve the traffic flow in and out of an upstairs bathroom, a vanity, added in the 1970s, was removed. A
pink-and-blue tub was replaced with a 1920s-style white porcelain model. Virtually all of the original tile in the bath was reusable.

Going Green Remodeling House Ideas 04

Remodeling House Ideas : Going Green Remodeling House Ideas 04

The project that Karen Richmond, a designer with Neil Kelly, and the Drakes undertook was recognized as an exemplar of “green” remodeling by Portland General Electric. The local utility created its Earth Advantage program to help people save energy and make responsible environmental choices during remodeling. At the Drake house, nontoxic paint remover was used to remove the thick finish on a staircase, and energy-efficient appliances were installed throughout the house.

Among the most dramatic aspects of the remodel was the replication of wainscoting in the dining room. Upon removing plasterboard, Drake discovered nail holes that revealed the dimensions and scale of the original wainscoting, which had been removed years earlier. In keeping with the green theme, the designer salvaged old fir-bleacher seats from a local high school and had them milled for the new period-style panels.

Richmond decided to take the kitchen down to the studs and replicate what had once been there. The new base cabinets she installed are fabricated from wheatboard, a formaldehyde-free substance derived from agricultural waste. Upper wall cabinets are made of mandrone, an environmentally sustainable red-hued Northwest wood.

Going Green Remodeling House Ideas 03

Remodeling House Ideas : Going Green Remodeling House Ideas 03

When the Drakes bought the house the original paneling had been removed and new painted paneling installed.

The dining room walls were painted the color of straw, a slightly darker hue than in the living room.

The original wall panels in the library needed only a good cleaning. The room, now decorated with Arts and Crafts furnishings and reproductions of William Morris fabrics, retains its early-20th-century style.

Project designer Richmond referred to the original woodwork in the library as being “pickled,” a process that involved sandblasting the hemlock and fir panels to achieve a distressed texture. Four carved scenes, created shortly after the house was first built, depict life around Portland from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. The window, with a fixed center panel and two casements, is new.

Going Green Remodeling House Ideas 02

Remodeling House Ideas : Going Green Remodeling House Ideas 02

The living room retained its original rustic charm. Walls were painted a soft maple; the stone fireplace and ceiling woodwork were cleaned professionally.

The main staircase was stripped of paint and restored to its original wood finish. The custom-built bench was made from reclaimed fir.

The Wish List

• Remove the front porch and reinstall a decorative lintel
• Replace a fixed window in the living room with French doors
• Install a new dining room window and build a window bench under it
• Create a cutting-edge kitchen after gutting the old one down to the original studs
• Create wall panels in the dining room with recycled wood
• Restore the main staircase by stripping off white paint, using nontoxic remover
• Remove a vanity to open up the second-floor bathroom

Going Green Remodeling House Ideas 01

Remodeling House Ideas : Going Green Remodeling House Ideas 01

According to Bruce Drake, a professor at the University of Portland, Oregon, he has never been in a house he has liked more than this one. Bruce, who with his wife, Eileen, purchased this English Cottage-style dwelling in 2001, had spent weeks passing the “For Sale” sign in front of the house on his drive to work. “The house spoke to me,” he said. “This wonderful blend of architectural styles, with the stone wall flowing almost organically into the house. It’s very stately without being pretentious.”

Although the 1928 house was virtually intact on the outside, “inside, it suffered from a bad case of the seventies,” said Bruce, a revelation that was particularly disappointing since the house had been originally built by “The Oregonian” newspaper as a model home to show off local woods. The remodel during the 1970s looked dated and ugly—the previous owners had replaced an elegant set of French doors in the living room with a fixed pane of glass without muntins, installed dark-brown kitchen cabinets, and dropped the ceiling. They also used garish accents in an upstairs bath, and slathered so much paint on the wood staircase that the carved heads on the finials looked like abstract sculpture.

Not only did the Drakes want to restore the house, but they also “wanted to do so in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way,” Bruce explained. The couple hired the Neil Kelly Company, a Portland-based firm known for its emphasis on environmentally conscious design.

Salvaged Star Remodeling House Ideas 04

Remodeling House Ideas : Salvaged Star Remodeling House Ideas 04

The couple was keen on restoring the house rather than redoing or updating it. The original exterior lap siding was in poor condition, but the McConaugheys patched rather than replaced what was no longer usable, salvaging siding off the back of the house, then scraping, sanding, and repainting each restored surface. The only exterior wall that was changed was the rear one, with new siding, new windows, French doors, and a two-story porch. “We moved some of the old windows off the back of the house and used them on
the front and sides,” said Warner.

Floors throughout the house are original heart pine. Wood bores and termites long ago softened some of the planks, but as new tile flooring was earmarked for the baths and kitchen, reusable planks were pulled up carefully from these spaces and put down in other parts of the house, then sanded and coated with protective
polyurethane. During the course of restoring their home, which now has three bedrooms, Warner and Allison had two children—Zadie and Wilson. The couple’s lives changed a lot during the years of restoration, but their vision for the house never wavered. “In remodeling or restoring a place, you have to have an overall plan for whatever you want to do,” Warner declared. “Even if you’re doing a piecemeal job, stopping and starting as we did, whenever you pick up again, you don’t want to have to rework anything. The real secret is preplanning.”

The rear facade of the house was totally redone, with new windows and French doors behind a two-story porch that overlooks the new patio and landscaped yard.

The Wish List

• Patch old siding and windows, and move reusable windows from the renovated rear exterior to where
needed on the front and sides
• Install new roofing and build a new front porch supported by old columns bought from a neighbor
• Scrape, sand smooth, and paint all of the repaired exterior siding and trim
• Redo the rear exterior wall, adding new siding, windows, and French doors plus a new two-story porch
• Restore two fireplaces and repair the single brick chimney
• Patch and refinish the heart-pine floors, and put down new tile flooring in the baths and kitchen
• Use mostly salvaged materials to rebuild the front stairs, and create a new stairway access to the attic
• Convert the house’s fourth bedroom into a new master bath, closet, and dressing room, and also redo the upstairs hall bathroom.

Salvaged Star Remodeling House Ideas 03

Remodeling House Ideas : Salvaged Star Remodeling House Ideas 03

With new windows added to the back of the house, the dining room now receives more sunlight than in the past. Most of the other improvements were either mechanical or cosmetic.

Once the warren of bedrooms was cleared out, the floor plan became more attuned to modern living, though still true to its Foursquare geometry and modest scale of the architecture.

The front stairway is a mix of mostly old components: the heart-pine treads from a dealer in South Georgia, the posts from a local salvage store. The oak fireplace mantel was stripped, stained, and trimmed with tile saved from other fireplaces in the house.

Salvaged Star Remodeling House Ideas 02

Remodeling House Ideas : Salvaged Star Remodeling House Ideas 02

Water damage was evident in the living room.

The front porch was rebuilt around existing brick column bases. Pressure-treated pine flooring, railings and the
beadboard ceiling are new; the wood columns were from a neighbor.

The living room floor is the original heart pine, patched with pieces salvaged from the kitchen floor when that room was remodeled. The vintage light fixture is true to 1910 fashion.

Homeowner Warner McConaughey purchased the 1950s range for $100—five years before he had a kitchen to put it in. Now, placed against a wall of 5-by-8-inch ceramic tiles set in a bond pattern, it’s the centerpiece. “The old hood above the range came from a job site,” Warner said. “The owner didn’t want it.”

Salvaged Star Remodeling House Ideas 01

Remodeling House Ideas : Salvaged Star Remodeling House Ideas 01

For years, Warner and Allison McConaughey longed to have a house of their own, but limited funds suggested that home ownership might be an impossible dream. Then Warner learned of a house auction in Atlanta, where they lived. “It was built in 1910, an American Foursquare,” he says. “That was a really popular style after the Victorian period—a simple two-story home with simple rooms.” It was also a mess, as it had been vacant for twenty years. In the 1960s, it had been converted into eight apartments, all of which shared a
single bath. The roof was mostly missing, as were many of the windows.

Only one person was bidding against the McConaugheys; when he dropped out, they got the house for $15,900. Warner felt confident that given his and Allison’s expertise—she is an interior designer; he is the founder and president of HammerSmith, a Decatur, Georgia, general contractor—they could bring the house back to something approaching its former beauty. The two then embarked on a fifteen-year renovation, and it took a full year of initial spade work before they could even think of moving in. “The heating, cooling, electrical, and plumbing all had to be redone,” Warner explained.

The dilapidated house was acquired at auction.

A new roof, patched and repainted siding, plus a new front porch—supported by salvaged columns—restored this American Foursquare to its 1910 profile.

Beach House Remodeling House Ideas 06

Remodeling House Ideas : Beach House Remodeling House Ideas 06

The effect of the long, narrow living room, which Lee likened to a trailer, was mitigated by the addition of a rectangular bay window that makes a perfect dining alcove. The original fireplace remained, though it was redone with recycled bricks and enhanced with an art deco–style surround.

The use of salvaged materials and furnishings is a recurring theme in Lee’s work. Here, a kitchen worktable from his grandmother’s country house was refashioned into an elegant living room table. Except for some crown molding, most of the interior trims came from century-old Pennsylvania houses. Even the kitchen cabinets, made of window shutters, are recycled.

The only really new living space is the “winter garden.” Once a screened-in porch, it became an air-conditioned, year-round living area. In the winter garden, as elsewhere in the three-bedroom house, inexpensive, easy-to-maintain tile flooring was installed. Walkways and decks were created throughout the property to function as outdoor rooms surrounded by tropical plants and lush foliage native to the region. According to Lee, “This bungalow exemplifies my belief that the livability of a house is more important than its square footage.”

Beach House Remodeling House Ideas 05

Remodeling House Ideas : Beach House Remodeling House Ideas 05

Before work began on the house, the front garden was a jungle of plants—an area that has since become an orderly outdoor room.

On a deck suspended over water, Lee placed and planted orange, tangerine, and kumquat trees. The pressure-treated wood deck requires virtually no maintenance.

The old garage door was always open to the elements.

Corbels from a circa-1870 Italianate house and slate roof tiles from a century-old barn adorn the renovated garage.

Beach House Remodeling House Ideas 04

Remodeling House Ideas : Beach House Remodeling House Ideas 04

Improvising Cabinets

Lee is rarely able to let good building materials go unused. For the kitchen cabinets, he used several interior window shutters that date from the mid-19th century, which he discovered in an old Pennsylvania barn. He hired an Amish carpenter to turn them into modern-day cabinets.

• The shutters were stripped of varnish and white paint, then finished.
• Honey-maple surfaces were sprayed with a light shellac to create a slight sheen.
• Rather than deface the cabinets with hardware, Lee installed them to ensure that each opens easily by its corners.
• Kitchen drawers were also fashioned from shutters cut sideways.
• Lee designed the island counter on an angle as a way to maximize space.

Lee built a glass-enclosed winter garden because of a lesson he learned: “You can’t have a screened porch in Florida. Black soot invariably collects on the screens and coats the furniture.”

Beach House Remodeling House Ideas 03

Remodeling House Ideas : Beach House Remodeling House Ideas 03

Originally, the house’s floor plan was a rabbit warren of spaces. Redesigned and modestly expanded, it became more open and felt more spacious. Even so, rooms remain distinct while melding with others. The windows, French doors, and winter garden let in fresh air and light.

The Wish List

• Add French doors to link the interior of the house more closely to outdoor areas
• Strip exterior walls of their worn quarter-inch plywood veneer
• Reconfigure interior spaces by removing walls to create more open, sunlit areas; paint remaining walls in light
tones
• Install decorative woodwork in several rooms to create an illusion of height
• Replace one standard window with a bay window extension to visually widen the narrow living room
• Restore and repaint the garage, adding a new working door and antique architectural embellishments.

Beach House Remodeling House Ideas 02

Remodeling House Ideas : Beach House Remodeling House Ideas 02

The old living room was cramped and small, with knotty pine paneling and dark wood floors.

Architect Ligo remarked that he was “tired of yellow, white, and green in Florida houses.” Instead, he chose soft caramel hues for the living-dining area to highlight the furnishings.

The open doorway to the right of the fireplace in the living-dining area leads to the new winter garden.

The old house had paneling covering walls and ceilings.

This sunny guest bedroom features adjustable blinds that regulate light through the west-facing window, which is accented by a casually hung plaid-scarf valance.

Beach House Remodeling House Ideas 01

Remodeling House Ideas : Beach House Remodeling House Ideas 01

Architect N. Lee Ligo, AIA, has worked on many large high-end projects over the years, but when it came to his own remodeling project, he preferred to stay small. Lee and his wife, Linda, purchased a modest beach house in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where some homes are the size of ocean liners. Their house was originally a 1,550-square-foot bungalow, sheathed in dirty asbestos shingles and lost amid a tangle of tropical plants and trees. The Ligos were familiar with the property—they lived right across the street in a much grander house—but Lee insisted that “there was something about the place I liked.” For years, he had walked past the open garage door, which revealed a rusty hulk of a car. “The day the title was transferred to us, the first thing I did was try to close the garage door, which immediately fell to the ground,” he recalled.

Lee was intent on maintaining the diminutive scale and unpretentious feel of the Florida house, yet he also felt the need to perform a gut renovation. “The place hadn’t been touched since it was built in 1949,” he explained, “and interior walls were covered in nubby plywood that looked like cordovan shoe leather.” By the time Lee was done, not one original interior wall was left standing. The living space was expanded without significantly altering the footprint of the house by building a bay window extension and enclosing a screened porch.

The original street elevation of the house, with overgrown greenery and worn asbestos shingles, can only be described as plain and dowdy.

What was once a screened-in porch became a comfortable enclosed winter garden.

Color Coated Remodeling House Ideas 06

Remodeling House Ideas : Color Coated Remodeling House Ideas 06

Wield Color Power

How do you make rooms interesting when the architectural details are unimpressive, the furnishings are ho-hum and homeowners are reluctant to make changes? New Canaan, Connecticut, designer Donna Gorman used color to create warmth, definition and excitement in what was once an all-white decor. She added a textured wallcovering to the living room and a vibrant combination of wallcoverings in the daughter’s
bedroom.

“The living room wallcovering adds the right amount of color without being oppressive,” said Gorman. “In the other room we used multiple patterns because it’s a more whimsical space.”

Color and pattern are just what the doctor orders when you’re feeling the malaise of neutrality. Designer Gorman has these suggestions to enliven a room with color:

• TAKE A RISK Color needs to be aggressive enough to make a statement in a room, whatever its size.
• MIX IT UP multiple patterns create interest. Use coordinating wallpaper, as was done in the girl’s bedroom, to add definition.
• WATCH THE BUDGET You can take more chances when things aren’t too precious. The inexpensive bright yellow living room chairs make a statement without being treated as heirlooms.
• GET CRAFTY Have fun embellishing furniture and accessories with unusual details. The rickrack on the bed, pompoms on the coverlet and trims on the pillows make this room unique.
• FOLLOW YOUR HEART When it comes to choosing colors, go with what makes you happy. Start with a rug or fabric pattern you love and build from there.

Color Coated Remodeling House Ideas 05

Remodeling House Ideas : Color Coated Remodeling House Ideas 05

Top Tip

“Color is personal, so I have to respect people’s wishes,” said designer Applewhite. “But I always warn them that it’s going to be very cold living with blue and green. You must get some warmth in there! Most of us love and respond to warm colors.”

A three-panel screen, painted with Mother Goose motifs by the wife’s great-grandmother, hangs on the wall behind a chaise in one corner of the bedroom.

A bright gold chenille duvet on the four-poster bed in the master bedroom punches up the pastel tone of the
apricot-painted walls. The plaid curtains had been the room’s only splash of color before the redecoration.

Color Coated Remodeling House Ideas 04

Remodeling House Ideas : Color Coated Remodeling House Ideas 04

Examples of the owners’ art flank the door between the dining room and the family room-kitchen.

KITCHEN BEFORE

A cumbersome island and a breakfast bar crowded the inefficient kitchen. “You almost couldn’t cook, and when you dined, all you could see were white cabinets,” says one of the owners.

KITCHEN AFTER

A breakfast table and chairs occupy one end of the remodeled kitchen. Clear glass doors in the custom oak cabinetry denote the bar area. Counters are topped with granite.

Color Coated Remodeling House Ideas 03

Remodeling House Ideas : Color Coated Remodeling House Ideas 03

Their designer had no trouble convincing them to choose teal-green for living room walls, terra-cotta for the dining room, and pale apricot for the master bedroom and remodeled kitchen. And all the ceilings were repainted in a subtle yet fresh cream tone. With Applewhite’s help, her clients selected new upholstery fabrics and new window treatments. “The house had no oomph,” said one owner. “Now I walk through the door and think I’m really glad to be home.”

The new palette was inspired by musical motifs painted on a custom armoire that holds the owners’ music system. With teal-green and terra-cotta dominant, the piece creates a striking transition between the living and dining rooms. The homeowners started their collection of unusual walking sticks during one of their many visits to London.

An oblong table with a lacquered top is the dining room’s centerpiece. Some of the owners’ glass collection is displayed in the giant hutch. The rug inspired the colors chosen for the nubby seat covers of the pineapple-back chairs.

Color Coated Remodeling House Ideas 02

Remodeling House Ideas : Color Coated Remodeling House Ideas 02

The Wish List

• Add color by repainting walls and ceilings throughout the house, replacing the original cool blue-and-green color scheme with warm tones
• Redesign the kitchen so that it provides more space for cooking and dining, and flows easily into the family room
• Install window treatments where there had been none to control the impact of light from the bright California sun
• Reupholster existing furniture to reflect the new color palette and also complement the homeowners’ art and
glass collections
• Add decorative accents that pick up colors from existing rugs and accessories

Stunning views of Raccoon Straits and Angel Island are visible even at street level. Brick posts at the top of the front steps draw visitors to the entry from the concrete driveway where cars are parked.

Color Coated Remodeling House Ideas 01

Remodeling House Ideas : Color Coated Remodeling House Ideas 01

New homeowners in Belvedere, California, an island facing an extension of the San Francisco Bay, fell in love with their home’s spectacular water views and urged their interior designer, Linda Applewhite, of Linda Applewhite & Associates in nearby San Rafael, to minimize distractions. They requested walls and ceilings to be stark white to frame the views and create a backdrop for furnishings they wanted mainly in blue and green—their favorite colors. Applewhite obliged her clients, but tactfully warned them they might come to regret the absence of any warm colors.

Five years later, when the couple decided to remodel the kitchen, they called Applewhite and admitted their mistake. “The house never felt warm,” said one of the homeowners. “It looked so cold and felt so cold, I hated going into the living room.” On days when gray clouds hung low in the sky or fog shrouded the island, her clients’ white walls looked drab, making the blue-and-green palette seem lifeless. The only real color was in the couple’s collections of paintings and art glass displayed throughout the house. Applewhite was certain that adding rich colors to her clients’ blue-and-green palette would soften the background for their collections and enhance their enjoyment of the bay, visible from nearly every window.

Columns that frame the space between living and dining rooms were painted a shade more intense than the wall color. The owners’ art and glass collections provide colorful accents.

Soft Roman shades on living-room windows and French doors can be lowered when the sun pours in. The paint color in the room repeats the colors of the incredible water view seen through the windows. Twin sofas are upholstered in a lively stripe featuring the owners’ favorite colors, blue and green.

Duplex Remodeling House Ideas Part 04

Remodeling House Ideas : Duplex Remodeling House Ideas Part 04

Make the Most of Molding

The original kitchen had a confined, boxed-in feeling. The primary purpose of molding is to add interest to a
room, and it need not always be installed horizontally.

• You can apply molding strips vertically to section off long walls and simulate paneling.
• You can create huge squares or rectangles framed in molding and, within these shapes, apply wallpaper or
paint, or hang framed art.
• Keep in mind that crown molding has a profile that angles or steps outward. But cove molding always curves inward, so you can position it to help hide indirect lighting, which can give a soft, subtle glow to the upper portion of your walls.
• In a tall room furnished in a period style, you can apply a grid of cove molding to the ceiling to achieve a coffered effect.


Duplex Remodeling House Ideas Part 01
Duplex Remodeling House Ideas Part 02
Duplex Remodeling House Ideas Part 03