The Lion’s Share

Part 1 of the remodeling project began in late January 2008. The entire project lasted for roughly six months and involved building a 355 square foot 1st floor addition to the back of the house for a state-of-the-art kitchen and mud room, adding a half bath to the first floor, creating a master suite on the second floor, and adding a two-car garage.

But more than that, we took the opportunity to restore as much of the original woodwork as possible and to extend the original detailing into the new areas of the home. Our only regret is that the photos of the final results don't do it justice.

The Garage

The whole project began with the garage. Since moving into the home in 2002, one of us had to park our car on the street or in the back alley. Living in Minnesota makes on-street parking quite difficult particularly in the winter and particulary in a crowded neighborhood like Uptown.

We replaced the original one-car garage with a two-car garage with a built-in greeenhouse.

The Exterior

The exterior of the home recieved a complete makeover including a new front walk and a complete replacement of the home's original stucco.

The Kitchen

One of the major reasons we bought this house was the large kitchen. However, it was lacking in counter space, storage, an exhaust fan, and the lighting was poor. A major impetus to explore a more extensive remodling project (beyond a new garage) was the idea of an updated but vintage-inspired kitchen.

The Second Floor

The existing layout on the second floor was typical for the time—three bedrooms and a single bathroom. The previous owner had cut a hole in the wall between the two eastern bedrooms in order to utilize the extra bedroom as a large walk-in closet. We decided to carry that idea further and created a master suite with a formal dressing room and second floor laundry room.

The Basement

The home had two separate stairways leading into the basement (both on the north side of the home). Our remodel plan called for both of those stairways to be removed and replaced by a new code-compliant staircase on the south side of the home.

We also decided to use some of the additional space created by the new addition for a separate room in the basement. This cellar room would be used for additional storage and provide a dust-free environment for access to our electrical and security panels.

The Laundry Room

The laundry facilities were housed in this dark corner of the basement, two floors below the closet. A major design goal was to bring the laundry room up to the second floor.