Curb appeal is something of great importance to me. My childhood home was a custom-built shingle and stone colonial perched on a hill with beautiful plantings in front. My mother had created an exquisite arrangement of azaleas that, when they bloomed in spring, attracted the attention of all passers-by. The effect of these bushes as they framed the front of this charming home was to create an elegant display of welcoming for our family, friends, and anyone else who ascended our steps.
Keeping this in mind as we sought improvements for our own home, my husband and I decided to tackle the project of eliminating all wrought iron railings, in and out of the house. Aside from the ugliness of this feature, grabbing hold of a cold, hard railing when one enters a home does not inspire a general feeling of “warmth”. In addition, the configuration of our outside walkway left a short set of stairs with no railing at all, creating difficulty for our aging parents and other guests who might need an extra hand when climbing steps. The solution consisted of wooden railings in a shaker/craftsman style – very plain, yet traditional and functional. Once the new railings were installed, we realized that our plan would be to pursue an overall craftsman/mission/arts & crafts feel in our décor. Combined with traditional American and a few Asian touches, we felt these would be appropriate both for the style of our house and for the ambiance we were trying to create for ourselves, family and friends.
Next, we honed in on architectural details, woodwork, and painting. The typical layout of Raised Ranch homes includes a kitchen at the top of the stairs, living room to the right, and dining room sandwiched in the corner between these two. Alternatively, the floor plan is reversed. Wherever the living areas reside, the bedrooms and bath(s) take up the other half of the floor plate. In our house, living areas are to the right and family bedrooms are to the left. Prior to buying this house, we had lived in a Split-Level home with almost the exact same layout, except for stairs in “different” places. At some point in its life, the owners of that home had created an archway separating the living room and dining room which was a detail we had loved. We decided an archway would give the living room and dining rooms definition they badly needed. The kitchen and dining room were separated by a small doorway, making both rooms feel cramped. By opening up this wall, we could create “flow” between the kitchen and dining room. We commissioned our wonderful friend and contractor, Gonzalo, to give us an estimate. He reviewed the proposed plan and put in his two cents. “Why don’t you add an archway to the kitchen entrance as well?” Brilliant. Three archways would define the spaces, give them a bit more character, and tie them together as parts of a whole. Widening the opening between the kitchen and dining room instantly increased the perceived size of both rooms, even as they stole “air rights” from each other.
Other details included a chair rail in the dining room, to create a more elegant feel, with an accent color (same as kitchen – Benjamin Moore “Sultan’s Palace”) above and trim color (Benjamin Moore “Linen White”) below. This gave the impression of paneling, without any additional woodwork. The living room and hallway were painted Benjamin Moore “Morning Light” with white trim. All trim was replaced/added throughout the main floor – bottom, crown, and around all doors. Speaking of doors, we decided to go for broke and replace all of our plain hollow doors with five-panel solid wood core doors. All hardware was changed to oil-rubbed bronze in keeping with our arts and crafts theme.
On to the bedrooms! The master bedroom got new trim and a paint job, a new light fixture to replace the existing piece of junk, and an off-white rug. We had fallen in love with the color the previous owners had painted the room (Benjamin Moore - “Sweet Spring”) so we gave the room a fresh couple of coats. Family bedroom 1, which our children currently share, was donned with a chair rail (trim paint below - white) and new top and bottom trim. Oh, and a few coats of Benjamin Moore “Cream Puff” (PINK) paint, which our children had chosen. We also replaced the light fixture, probably bought at Woolworth’s 20 years ago, with a cute chandelier from The Land of Nod. (Incidentally, all of the plants in our home are “descendants” of a single plant, purchased at Woolworth’s on 1st Avenue in NYC almost 20 years ago.) Family bedroom 2, which originally served as a nursery for our youngest child, was an office in its previous life. One of the only projects we took on when we first bought the house was to convert this dull dingy room into a “happy space” for our baby. We added wainscoting, painted white, and trim all around. The room is painted Benjamin Moore “Light Yellow”, which is actually not as light as I would have liked. The paint chips are terribly deceiving! We also replaced the cheesy, cheap closet door with a louvered door. This allows for ventilation when closed, or can be left open without taking up much space (it folds in half) in this tiny room. The room now serves as a play room for the kids.
The house is equipped with two full baths, one adjoining the master bedroom and one in the hallway, to be shared by other family members and guests. The previous owner had been enamored (apparently) with “sponge painting” the walls. Both bathrooms as well as the kitchen had served as her canvas. The master bath tile is a whimsical Villeroy & Boch design which would have been more appropriate for a children’s bathroom. We have left it, thus far, but changed the walls from lavender sponge paint to smooth light blue (Benjamin Moore “White Satin”). The hideous white laminate vanity has survived as well, but with new brushed nickel hardware to replace the polished chrome knobs. Where possible, we have tried to tone down the 80’s and 90’s influences throughout the house. Which brings me to the hall bath. I remember the previous owner gloating to our realtor 5 ½ years ago that this bathroom had been “her baby”. Allow me to set the scene: Gold sponge-painted walls, polished brass fixtures, towel racks, and toilet roll holder, leopard print towels and shower curtain, and white tile everywhere accented by gold trim tiles. Surprisingly, the vanity, made of WOOD (but topped with white laminate, natch), had a colonial look to it, but since it was a strange off-white color, appeared only to have been primed and not painted whenever it was installed. The polished brass knobs helped to accentuate its lack of luster.
Our first mission was to change the wall color to something more friendly. We chose a light green color, not unlike the color of mint chocolate chip ice cream, or pistachio. Getting rid of the gold, which had been painted (remember the sponge paint!) rather sloppily, was no easy task. We actually had to apply white semi-gloss paint to most of the areas where the paint met the tile in order to cover the remnants of gold. The vanity was painted white and all of the fixtures and hardware were changed to antiqued brass. Unfortunately, due to the accent color in the tile, we were tied to gold tones. The shower curtain is now white, and the guest towels are a medium blue color, which helps to tone down the pistachio walls. (Admittedly, this color does NOT tie in with the arts & crafts theme in any way shape of form. But it sure is cheery!).
Other small changes we made included light fixtures: modern sconces in the living room and a Victorian-looking crystal chandelier in the foyer were replaced with coordinating antiqued bronze fixtures from Restoration Hardware. The dining room had been lit by a crystal “teardrop” chandelier, which we quickly changed to black wrought iron. The chandelier, candle sconces and curtain rod in the dining room are all black wrought iron with a scroll design – not exactly the same, but certainly coordinated enough with each other to indicate a “theme”.
On the lower level, 20 year old linoleum in the hallway did not stand a chance after we moved in. We quickly replaced it with beige colored 12” tiles. In the family room, the fireplace cover had been polished brass. We looked into replacing it, but when Gonzalo informed us he could spray it black for a few bucks, we took him up on his offer. It now appears brand new and blends in nicely against the brick surround. We also added a mantel shelf to give the fireplace a smidgeon more definition. The only other major improvements to the house have been a new black roof, which was a necessity given the age of the original, and a new furnace system with three zones. These two changes have helped us to cut our heating and cooling costs and the latter in particular has created a more comfortable environment for daily living.
Overall, we have spent about $50,000 making our house more comfortable and suited to our taste. However, we are not satisfied. The disconnected family room is a big problem for us. We enjoy entertaining in our home, but feel it is impossible to have a formal dinner party due to the size of our dining room. Our wish list includes a family room that flows into the other living areas, a deck accessed via said family room, a master “suite”, a guest powder room, a full bath and bedroom on the lower level, new windows, siding, and a general face lift to the exterior. Having thought about our options for almost five years, but continuously spinning our wheels and making very little progress toward a path, we decided to hire an architect last summer. Not being experts in architecture ourselves, and generally having difficulty balancing our passion with practicality, we realized we needed “professional help”. We interviewed four different architects, all of whom showed us impressive portfolios of home renovations, but only one of whom understood the greater picture of what we hoped to accomplish with our entire property, not just the structure itself. He was the only one who really “got it”. He walked into our backyard and said, “You need to capture this view. You need to take advantage of what you have back here.” The other architects had talked about floor area ratios, and styles, but no one had looked at the big picture, until we met Paul.
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