the midcentury ranch for a new generation
17 min readA master plan will help you pivot when surprises and setbacks threaten to throw your remodel off track.
Every remodeling project gets stuck at some point. Life is chock-full of surprises, setback and unexpected twists – work or family obligations change, supply chain snags mean choosing different materials, shifts in the economy make scope or schedule changes a must.
But setbacks will seem less bad (because, #realtalk, they always feel sort of bad) when you are prepared to pivot.
Continue reading “Pivot With a Master Plan”19 min readAn owners’ suite has become a must have in modern homes, but less than a generation ago almost half of homes were still without indoor plumbing. So how did our bathroom expectations change so drastically in such a short time? And more importantly, how the heck do you fit an owners’ suite into a modest mid-century ranch?
Does the primary bed/bed configuration – the owners’ suite – in your mid-century home leave a lot to be desired? Maybe you a have a glorified powder bath tucked in next to your bedroom through a pocket door. Perhaps your ranch has one bath for you, the family, and any dinner guests who use the main floor!
If you wish for a little more from your bed and bath configuration … You’re not alone!!
Continue reading “The Owners’ Suite: A Brief History and Foolproof Advice”22 min readSketching is the most important visual thinking tool you can use to plan your remodel. Sketches help you generate ideas quickly, explore alternatives without risk and avoid getting bogged down in the details too soon. And YOU CAN sketch…even if you have kindergarten-level drawing skills.
Sketching is the most important visual thinking tool you can use to plan your remodel. Sketches help you generate ideas quickly, explore alternatives without risk and avoid getting bogged down in the details too soon. And YOU CAN Sketch…even if you have kindergarten-level drawing skills.
Now when you think about a drawing that’s related to your remodel plan you are probably thinking of a blueprint. If you are, there are two things you need to know. One, blueprints haven’t been blue since, oh, before I went to design school. And two, they are the least interesting drawings in your remodel.
They also take months, years or even decades to complete depending on the complexity of the project. A sketch can be done in moments. It’s simple and yet surprisingly effective and evocative.
And here’s why. It’s not just less, it’s centralized. It shows the details that matter and only the details that matter. A sketch is precise to the level that you create it with no expectation of accuracy. It allows us to talk about the shapes and forms of things, the overall relation of length and width.
Continue reading “The Power of Sketches”16 min readEasy summer projects can help you kick-off this year’s (mid-century) home improvement season! Here are a few of my favorites.
What feels like the true beginning of summer to you? Memorial Day weekend? Seeing the first lightning bugs? The last day of school? For me, my birthday in early June is the real start of summer!
It kind of feels like we just dived into the middle of summer in the last week or two and I have a feeling you might be in exactly the right headspace to take on some easy summer projects to make your mid-century home a little more your own.
So, grab your lemonade and a lawn chair and listen in for a few fun (and, okay some less fun but more necessary) summer project you can tackle right now to kick off your mid-century home improvement season!
Continue reading “Easy Summer Projects to Tackle This Weekend”36 min readCan’t get enough mid-century house talk? Listen in on updates from recent Ready to Remodel students.
I LOVE updates from our homeowners, both design clients and Ready to Remodel students!
Photos in the Facebook group are great. Emails with project pictures? A delight!
I bet YOU like to peek inside other people’s remodeling process, too!
This is one of my favorite parts of setting up a strong Mid Mod ReMod Squad – you get to hear all about everyone else’s projects.
Their wins can feel like your wins.
Their challenges make yours feel a little easier.
And their advice can prove INVALUABLE as you work to avoid remodeling regret for your own home.
So, I’ve borrowed a little Mid Mod ReMod Squad energy to share with you today.
Continue reading “Ready to Remodel Student Stories”16 min readHow is a remodel like a vacation? Well, if you’ve ever planned a vacation that was truly perfect for you, then you already know how to plan your remodel.
I’m often asked, “What does it cost to remodel a kitchen right now?”
Wow! That depends on so many factors.
I might as well ask you, “What does it cost to go on vacation?”
Well, you might tell me that depends. Are you planning a sort of staycation to visit a few museums from an Airbnb in a nearby city? Or are you backpacking across South America? Or touring the luxe cities of the Mediterranean? Is it a package cruise or a DIY adventure?
There are as many types of home remodels, as there are different ways to travel away from home!
Continue reading “Plan your remodel like your last perfect vacation.”23 min readHow can you make sure the choices you make for your mid-century home RIGHT NOW will be ones you don’t regret in the future? Ask the right questions!
On today’s Ask Me Anything podcast, we are diving into questions from the Mid Mod Remodel listener community.
I received a wide range of listener questions, but they also represent the kind of inquiries I get all the time. Like what to do if you regret the choices you (or a former owner) made on your mid-century house, how to choose replacement and update elements that you won’t end up regretting, and whether it’s better to repair an existing house (even one that has suffered from some neglect over the year) or to scrap it and start over with new construction.
Continue reading “Ask Me Anything (Mid-Century)”21 min readWe created the Mid-Century Master Plan Package to get you from “I want to remodel” to “let’s call up contractors.” But what if you have a question after the master plan? Here’s how that works.
Our mid-century Master Plan package helps you bridge that crucial gap between, “hey, I think I want to remodel, what do I do next?” and confident calls to contractors to get quotes and start scheduling.
Our master plan process includes a clear scope of work for a fixed fee, so you don’t have to worry about hidden costs or how many hours it takes or what you’ll get out of it.
In a lot of cases, a master plan is all that’s needed to connect with a competent contractor, share your vision and make your remodel happen. But sometimes, folks need a little something more.
If you think a master plan is for you, the first step is to reach out to us! We have form on our website with a few short questions about your project and what kind of design help you need. Once we get your form, we’ll meet for a quick chat about your project to make sure we’re a fit.
Then we dig right in!
Continue reading “What Happens After the Master Plan?”18 min readReady to Remodel students have the chance to get questions answered – live – every month during our Architect Office Hours.
Psst … Did you want Pass Go and Collect $200 by skipping Architect Office Hours and just asking me a question directly? Submit a question for my upcoming Ask Me Anything episode, coming May 11th.
Movies love to show architects creating away at a drafting table or sitting picturesquely at a cafe, sketchbook in hand. It’s romantic, this vision of a endlessly creative mind conjuring beautiful buildings from some eternal, internal well. But *SPOILER ALERT* no one uses a drafting table anymore (except throwbacks and nostalgia lovers). In fact, I do all my sketching on a tablet.
There is another major element of architecture that is seldom shown in the movies…
An architect spends A LOT of time answering questions. I answer questions emailed in by my clients. I pick up a few queries from my instagram DMs every week. And once a month I hop into a zoom and hold …
Continue reading “At Architect Office Hours: how to hang pendants, choose great doors & focus any plans”17 min readHow do I choose the right mid-century house color for my house? The short version is that many colors work but here’s how to choose the right one for YOU.
The right Mid-Century House Color isn’t one that’s specific to the period or style of your house. It isn’t the color that looks so great on the house down the street. It’s the color that expresses the feeling you want your home to create in you and in others.
Choosing a color scheme for your home is one of the most effective ways to put your stamp on a house and start the process of making it your home. But before you “pick” the “right” color for your home … I want you to ask yourself a few more questions about what you’re trying to make happen here.
Don’t panic. This is part of the fun, I promise! Because today we’re going to talk about how to apply the Master Plan Method to help you confidently update your mid-century house color scheme.
Oh, and you might want to grab the free guide before you get started …
