remodel Archives - Page 3 of 14

A flipped house is not a final answer with Un.flipping

55 min readI was thrilled to chat with Dana Jenkins and Colin Davis of the Instagram account @un.flipping,(who may have coined the phrase!) and have blown up online by sharing their five-year journey to add the soul back into their thoroughly flipped mid-century home.

We all know the story. You find an MCM ranch in your perfect neighborhood, only to click further into the listing to discover a flipper has been there first. They’ve ripped out the character and replaced it with trendy, generic finishes.

It’s a tragedy…(well, to us it is).

And many mid-century lovers believe it’s also the final answer for the home. Remodeling something that has been “updated” is wasteful, isn’t it? And it’s almost impossible to undo the damage to original finishes or find replacements for pieces that ended up in the dumpster.

Why does your house need a remodel … really WHY?

You’re thinking about a remodel. You have a budget in mind, a Pinterest board full of perfect tile, and a list of things in your house that just aren’t working. But stop right there.

Before you hire a contractor or pick out a single fixture, I need you to answer the single most important question you will ask in this entire process:

Why does your house need a remodel? I mean, does it? Seriously?

Knowing the underlying why, what you are truly trying to achieve in your life, will ultimately control what your remodel costs, how many parts of your house it affects, and everything down to the last tile choice.

It’s the only thing that will keep your remodel on track, keep you going when the planning gets slow or expensive, and help you avoid all the “shoulds” that will make a project unnecessarily stressful and pricey.

Oh AND without sticking to your why, you’re much more likely to take on a remodel that ends up damaging your home’s mid-century character!

So let’s talk about how to get under the surface of your remodeling why …

At Architect Office Hours: Mixed Era Houses, Fireplace Style Quandaries and Tackling Big Layout Changes

70 min 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!

Listen Now On

Apple | Spotify | YouTube

Resources for this episode

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.
Hire me to do the design thinking for your Mid Century Masterplan.
Check out retro renovation for a plethora of resources.
Make it Mid-Century has tons of resources!
Learn how to get ready to remodel in 2023 by watching my FREE Masterclass, “How to Plan an MCM Remodel to Fit Your Life(…and Budget)”, ON DEMAND.

Avoid the Kitchen Renovation Industrial Complex

43 min readYou’ve heard of the military-industrial complex, and maybe even the wedding-industrial complex, but what about the kitchen renovation industrial complex?

What is the kitchen renovation industrustrial complex? This is the system that pushes us toward renovations designed with a built-in expiration date. It encourages us to follow trends seen on HGTV or Pinterest, leading to homes that look like everyone else’s and feel dated just a few years down the line.

The solution? Push back by focusing on a renovation that is timeless, personalized and designed to fit your home and your life.

Designing Accessibility into Your Mid-Century Home

44 min 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.

DIY Landscaping Advice for Your Mid-Century Yard with Ginkgo Leaf Studio

25 min readDo need need some advice to get started on your DIY landscaping project? This week Jim Drzewiecki is back with his best tips for DIY landscape designers.

I get asked about landscaping a lot and I always turn to our favorite mid-century landscaping expert, Jim Drzewiecki. Jim is an APLD, award-winning principal designer and the founder and owner of Ginkgo Leaf Studio where he and Hannah Paulson design beautiful landscapes for all kind of homes.

Now, not everyone can afford to hire a landscape designer for their project. Others just love gardening and planning for their own yard. And Ginkgo Leaf Studio usually has a waiting list.

So, this week Jim is back with his best tips for DIY landscape designers.

If you tune into the episode you’ll hear him start off with a great idea that I wanted to write down and then start putting into my own designs, immediately!

Temperature and Moisture Control in Mid-Century Homes

Temperature and moisture control in mid-century houses is one of those topics that might seem less exciting and relevant until suddenly…it matters to YOU.

And while our mid-century houses have the potential be properly snug without being too sealed up. They also sometimes need a tune up. Plus a number of trendy, seemingly “esthetic” changes to your house – siding, soffit, or roof changes – can create problems that didn’t exist before. We’ll definitely cover the moisture consequences (yes, that sounds icky) of painting brick and adding vinyl siding.

So let’s dig into some building technology and the broader concept of thermodynamics so that you are READY to handle the most important considerations about moisture control in mid-century homes.

Who is your Master Plan for?

37 min readYour master plan is for you!

A Mid-Century Master Plan is more than a set of pretty drawings—it’s both a process and a document. Today, we’re talking about how to use that document to navigate your remodel, from getting bids from contractors to working with the city.

Ultimately, a master plan is for you, the person who will live with the finished home, and you should curate it to be exactly what you need. But, ideally, you will share pieces of your plan with various pros along the way to ensure understanding, meet permitting requirements and illustrate your vision for your remodel.

Mudrooms, Mudrooms and More Mudrooms

46 min 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.

By the way, this post has a companion post. Make sure you check out: How to plan a great Breezeway to Mudroom Conversion

How to plan a great Breezeway to Mudroom Conversion

40 min readTurning your breezeway into a mudroom is a great way to connect your garage and house. This kind of breezeway to mudroom transition is perfect for many mid-century ranch houses with detached or semi-detached garages. Here’s what I’m doing!

Let’s talk about the pros, cons, and process of converting a breezeway to mudroom space.

How does your house connect to the garage? And do you wish that connection was a mudroom? Most people do!

Early mid-century houses were built without garages, so the way an aftermarket garage connects to a mid-century house is inconsistent, but it’s not uncommon to have a covered space, a porch, a three season room or a breezeway, and it’s not uncommon to want to convert that breezeway space to a more functional mudroom.

So here’s what you might want to consider if you’re trying this. It depends on your house, your needs, and even your climate region. But this is a go to space to look for a little added interior square footage.

Note: this was originally posted 2019. It has been updated and now includes a podcast episode for those who’d rather listen than read!

So … this episode and post expand on this blog post series dating back to January 2019, when I was still thinking about this as an interim thing I was doing between one official, real job and another. Before I realized that I was going to make a life out of talking to people about mid-century homes, teaching people how to create their own Mid-Century Master Plans in Ready to Remodel and creating Mid-Century Master Plans for people directly.

I was working on my own home and talking about it because I knew people had questions, so I documented my own breezeway to mudroom conversion, mostly with progress photos. It’s still one of the most popular posts the history of this blog! Because other people are really looking for this. This is a major question for anyone with a mid-century house separated from its garage by a little covered area. It feels obvious to turn this space into interior space.

In reality, a breezeway to mudroom conversion is a little more complex. And in the years since I began my own breezeway to mudroom conversion, work with hundreds of design clients has provided me with even greater insight into what works and what doesn’t.