28min readThis week it’s a bathroom remodel advice roundup to help ease your worries!
Planning the right update for a mid-century bathroom is about space planning and the right product picks, sure. But it’s also about your lifestyle, your morning routine and your five-year plan.
I’ve had a lot of conversations with Master Plan clients and on consult calls recently that caused me to notice some recurring issues and questions, things that come up again and again for a lot of people, which makes me suspect that if you’ve got bath questions on the brain, you’ve had some of the same struggles.
So let’s talk through some of the most pressing issues you can nail down to create a good mid-century bath update for you and for your house and for your style.
37min readAs a designer, it’s so hard to pick a favorite project, but one I’m talking about today has certainly got to be at the top of my list. I recently covered this house on the YouTube channel, because it’s a perfect case study of getting the 90s out of a perfectly nice mid-century home.
Sometimes you find the house in the perfect spot that completes your future dream checklist … but no one has taken the time to revise the 90’s remodel. So only you can really see it’s potential.
Today I’ve invited homeowner, Michelle Cramton, to talk about how we took a shell of a house and turned it into her dream retirement home as she was literally starting from zero after the Altadena fires last winter. I am so happy to share her story of resettling back into her hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, and into her mid-century dream.
Her contractors are still tying up the last loose ends so no “after” shots yet but some of these progress photos are looking pretty SNAPPY!.
Settle in to hear Michelle telling you her story of how we met, how we started thinking about this project together, and how we explored her options in a master plan package.
And then had the opportunity to take it further through a bunch of really fun additional services.
She just let me stick with her from the beginning right through until now! We’re currently working on the last final few details of the house. It has been such a treat to get to follow along closely at every step.
You’ll find some photos of this house below. These are recent progress snaps. We don’t have final photos yet, because work is still underway. In fact, in the conversation you’ll hear just a little bit of banging – outside work being done.
If you’d like to see a bit of the design process, jump to the YouTube case study I just made about this house.
27min readUse the holidays to focus your remodel plans.
I want you to use your holiday prep time to plan your remodel.
Okay, Before you tell me, Della, that’s crazy. I can’t plan a remodel right now. The holidays are when I’m busiest.
You’re right. Of course you can’t. You know me. I wouldn’t ask you to make your life harder when it’s already full. But … what if I told you that you could also use this time to focus your remodel planning and make real progress without spending time picking out tile or making phone calls?
Instead, make your future life easier by harnessing all of the satisfactions (and frustrations) that are part of the celebratory times in your house.
Where are all my history nerds? Raise your hands. This week is for you. I’m talking historic maps, digitized collections and crowd-sourced cartography projects. I KNOW!
I was so tickled when a Ready to Remodel student showed up to an Office Hours call a few months ago with so much fresh confidence derived from finding the Sanborn maps of her own property.
Her local permitting office was willing to accept the map she found as proof of a grandfather in the structure that meant they were able to carry on with their plans for a WHOLE LOT LESS paperwork!
Plus, turning up a historic resource had helped her feel confident in her interactions with her local building department and advocating for her remodel plan. This is what Discovery is all about!
I was delighted to hear her name check the Sanborn map collection, because it took me right back to my university days.
Can you picture it? Sure you can. We’ve all seen some really scary remodeling choices —on Zillow, on Instagram, or sadly, maybe even in our own homes.
You can file this under schadenfreude if none of it applies to your house. Or it can serve as a what not to do guide to help you avoid mistakes. If you’re already living one of the nightmare mid-century remodel scenarios I’m about to describe, then let’s focus on the fact that you’re far from alone.
AND there’s hope!
I really believe that a good, solid master plan can bring any mid-century house back from the brink of horror.
36min readAre you considering new siding for your mid-century home? Before you call a contractor or pick a sample, let’s talk about what mid-century siding is and how to make good choices for your house.
During the 80s and 90s, when appreciation for MCM was at a low ebb, too many of our sweet ranches were re-wrapped in narrow strip beige vinyl, covering up their original colors and patterns.
If you’ve been dealing with that kind of generic cover-up, or if your siding is simply damaged or in poor repair, you might be considering a replacement.
Before you call a contractor or pick a sample, let’s talk about what mid-century siding is and how to make good siding choices for your home.
70min readReady to Remodel students have the chance to get questions answered – live – every month during our Architect Office Hours. And once in a while, I open up the opportunity to a wider group!
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 almost daily. I answer questions from students in Ready to Remodel every month at office hours. I pick up a few queries from my instagram DMs every week.
And once in a while I hop into a zoom and hold an open office hours for anyone with a question. I held an open office hours just this week…and the questions were fabulous! So, I’m sharing it with you!
Want even more … here’s a snippet of one of my student only calls from several years ago!
Did you miss office hours and still have a question to ask? Join me for a renovation strategy session THIS SATURDAY (September 27th). We’ll cover the basics of my Master Plan Method and I always stay to answer everyone’s questions.
44min readMid-century Ranch houses are pretty easy to get around for people with disabilities, especially with few key upgrades to add accessibility!
Designing accessibility into your mid-century home during a remodel is easier than you might think.
Mid-century houses have enormous potential to fit every stage of life.
They make great first homes for young couples and singles, were built for and are adaptable to the needs of growing families, and serve owners who choose to age in place.
They also work well for people with living disabilities … especially with a few essential updates.
Let’s talk about how to design accessibility into your mid-century home to fit your life and the lives of the people you love.
46min readWe love our mid-century houses for many reasons – their enduring design, clean lines and great indoor/outdoor connections. But MANY mid-century homes, both modest and high end, share one glaring omission. They lack a proper mudroom.
Good mudrooms are unfortunately rare in mid-century houses.
The process of leaving home and coming back has apparently gotten more complex since the mid-century era because … we have mudroom needs that time capsule houses just can’t meet.
Most of my clients come to me with homes that lack a transition zone that takes you from the sidewalk or garage into the house.
You probably do too. Even if you have a mudroom, it may benefit from an overhaul. So today, let’s take a tour of several past projects that need mudroom improvement.
44min readIs your house a (mostly) mid-century gem? The “mostly” means that your house that has some really great, intact mid-century features…and then an area or two where a maintenance failure or unfortunate remodel has wreaked havoc on the charm.
Is your house a mostly mid-century gem?
And by “mostly” I mean that your house that has some really great, intact MCM features … but there’s a room or three where someone made a few bad calls. Now you’re left holding the bag on a sweet place with a super tired kitchen, a really strange bathroom or even a structural issue created by the previous owners.
I see houses like this all the time!
Full of wonderful, intact details set against the backdrop of an over large kitchen or unfortunate addition. And the good news is they are perfectly suited to the master plan process.
While I love working on everything from grandparent time capsule houses to places that have experienced a brutal flip and need to be entirely hauled back from the brink … the (mostly) charming house is one of our most common projects.
Today, lets take a spin through three recent Mid Mod Midwest master plan projects. I’ll share some fun history, common design challenges and my favorite approaches to upgrading mid-century homes that are in (mostly) great shape. With a big focus on putting back the appropriate mid-century materials in those not-so-great spots.
In Today’s Episode You’ll Hear:
Why homes with just a few problem areas need a master plan, too.
How to approach right sizing a space post remuddle.
Where to consider if “decorative” mcm elements might be much more.
