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What Happens After the Master Plan?

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?”

At Architect Office Hours: how to hang pendants, choose great doors & focus any plans

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”

The Style Guide System will save your sanity. (Part 4/4)

21 min readA style guide system is the lever that lets you easily control the way your home looks.

A style guide system is a VIP – Very Important Piece – of your masterplan.

You need a masterplan approach to be able to…a) get started in the first place, b) keep going with a minimum of unpleasant expensive surprises and c) end up with a home that looks and works the way you want and need it to.  

Making changes to your home’s layout and flow is how you make sure it is going to work the way you want. Those changes adapt your home to the modern life you and your family are living in it every day. The style guide is the lever by which you can easily control the way your home looks. Your style guide system really is the secret sauce for a simpler remodel. It can both help you get started by simplifying decisions AND is a crucial part of creating a cohesive look.

I’m sure it’s possible to craft a beautiful remodel without one. 

But you will do it at a cost of 10 times more decisions to make – questioning yourself, rehashing every choice and adding endless stress to your remodel. 

I don’t want that for you. If you’ve been listening to this podcast for any length of time you know the master plan method it’s all about doing it right and doing it more easily. 

So make your life easier by using the style guide system to pick every product in your remodel.  

Continue reading “The Style Guide System will save your sanity. (Part 4/4)”

Name Your Mid-Century Remodel Era (Part 1/4)

18 min readQuick! Name your favorite Mid-Century remodel era! Do you love 40’s fab or 50’s space-race or earthy late 60’s vibes?

What is your mid-century remodel era? 

I know you are here because you love mid century design. I know this because I love mid century design! And we all love to talk about “mid century” style…and then wonder what does that actually mean in terms of hitting that just right tone in an MCM remodel.  

What does Mid-Century Even Mean?

Mid Century is a broad term that covers anything from the immediate postwar building boom, up into the late 60s (or even the early 70s!).

When I’m planning a remodel for a design client, I need to know which end of the mid century era really lights them up in order to create a remodel that is right for them.

Continue reading “Name Your Mid-Century Remodel Era (Part 1/4)”

Your Remodel needs a Master Plan not a Floor Plan

14 min readToo many people skip over essential steps in planning their home remodel … and it shows. With the Master Plan Method, you take the time to plan your remodel right, right from the start.

A great home remodel needs more than a good floor plan. It needs a master plan.

Having a master plan is more than pinning a bunch of things you like. It’s more than having the furnace guy or the roofing guy come out and say, ‘Oh yep. Your home inspector was right. Plan for a remodel.’ And it’s more than having a perfectly tidy, organized blueprint for your house.

Continue reading “Your Remodel needs a Master Plan not a Floor Plan”

Spot Your REAL Kitchen Problems … then use Design to Solve Them in a Mid-sized Remodel

14 min readMake sure you’re solving the RIGHT kitchen problems with your remodel! Let’s talk about common underlying MCM layout issues and solve them at the right scale.

Is your kitchen actually too small or does it just feel too small?  What Kitchen problems are you really trying to solve with your remodel?  Let’s make sure you know the answer!

Continue reading “Spot Your REAL Kitchen Problems … then use Design to Solve Them in a Mid-sized Remodel”

Love yourself? Love your home!

3 min readOur homes – where we spend the majority of our hours – profoundly shape our lives. That should inform the way we plan a remodel!

If planning a remodel seems like a superficial thing to be discussing right now, I want to tell you that I believe it is ANYTHING BUT.  The space we live in defines our experience of life.  Why not help that space be its best so that it can help us in turn.  If you love yourself, you should love your home too.

It will love you back!

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Your Sustainable Mid-century Remodel: Why and How

13 min readHave you ever considered remodeling your mid-century ranch is an act of radical sustainability?

Think about it! There are 15 million of these modestly-sized, well-built houses across America located in walkable neighborhoods close to local businesses and schools. Taking on a sustainable mid-century remodel means helping people occupy them, love them and preserve them. In doing so, you prevent their demolition to build something larger or just building new homes on greenfield land elsewhere, and this is a significant environmental win.

Yes, mid-century modern style is cool and fun, but more than that – coming up with design tools to help 15 percent of US housing stock stay relevant is IMPORTANT WORK.

Continue reading “Your Sustainable Mid-century Remodel: Why and How”

What came before: The Bungalow and Ranch Side by Side

6 min readToday I consider the similarities and differences between two closely related building types, the Chicago Bungalow and the Midwestern Ranch. What can one teach about the other?

These two building types are very closely related.  Specifically, the Chicago Bungalow is very closely related to the Midwestern or “tract” Ranch.  They each share an older  California cousin which features more variation, more drama and was originally designed as one-offs by architects.  They are similar in square footage, in class and in initial cost. Their differences are useful in highlighting the modernism and innovations of the ranch type.  Let’s look more closely!  Continue reading “What came before: The Bungalow and Ranch Side by Side”

In other news: Design for a (ranch like) Passive House

2 min readSo I haven’t been making as much progress as I’d like on the Togstad project in August but it is for an excellent reason.  I’ve been designing another project – a new Passive House residence to be constructed in the Bloomington, IL area.

While nothing in the design brief said “ranch” it is no coincidence that it has an elongated single-story profile and flowing open plan layout.  I do have ranches on the brain.  Here are some of my sketches from the Schematic Design phase.

   Continue reading “In other news: Design for a (ranch like) Passive House”