Gut rehab and addition introduction

[rikki]

Hi everyone,  I have loved binging all of your posts on this page over the past few weeks and am looking forward to sharing the progress on our remodel, as well as getting your input and ideas!  

We recently started a gut rehab and 2 additions to our 1906 house.  We are adding an additional first floor living room and a second floor master in one area and pushing the house back about 6 feet in another area to accommodate an additional bath and laundry room.  We are taking the house to the outside brick (there was no framing on the exterior walls before) and replacing a lot of the beams, etc, so really nothing will remain after we are done except for the front brick facade.  We wanted to keep some of the really cool old details, but a lot of it was just not in good enough shape to even attempt to restore, so we will have to recreate it. 

We currently have 2 smaller baths and 5 bedrooms on the second floor.  When we are done we will have 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms upstairs. We will also have laundry next to the master, which is probably the thing that I am most excited about.  We have a living room, dining, large foyer, powder room and galley style kitchen on the first floor now.  We also have a second stairway behind the kitchen now which will be gone so that we can widen the kitchen and allow for an island.  We have a large 2 story porch on the side of the house now which will be removed for the addition. 

I just met with the cabinet maker today -- how exhausting.  I had no idea how many choices I would have to make. I can tell you if I like something or not, but I am bad at putting it together myself so I have been depending on a designer, but I am still really conflicted.  I keep wondering if I am making the wrong choices.

The demo went super quickly and now I feel like we aren't moving, even though I know we are. I will put photos below.  Send your best house tips, please! 

[rikki]

House before - porch on left side torn down

[rikki]

Demo

[rikki]

Current status

[k3am]

How exciting! Please post back often, I think many of us need this in our lives right now. 😉

[rikki]

If anyone wants to weigh in on design, please do!

[dr.girlfriend]

Hi rikki ! I remember you from ages ago (probably on MM?). The house looks amazing! The one thing that strikes me off the bat is how everything in the kitchen is in a row (makes sense given galley kitchen) but could be problematic for flow, plus not much uninterrupted counter space. Any chance of moving the sink to the island? I also hope there's pull-out drawers in all those deep cabinets if the cabinets themselves aren't pull-outs (which I much prefer, it's crazy how much it bugs me these days to open a door and *then" pull something out like I have to do for only one of my cabinets.  And maybe it's just the perspective since there's no true overhead view but will you really have room to open all those drawers and doors in the island?  It looks super close to the sink.

Since the room is gutted I would definitely put tape on your floor representing your plan and then play a little "pretend kitchen" -- make a pot of pasta and drain it, pretend to wash a dish and put it in the dishwasher (the dishwasher needs a lot of clearance to open unless you're doing drawers), throw stuff away where your trash would be, have your husband in the kitchen to move around each other.  

[rikki]

Jun 10, 2020 22:07:55 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Hi rikki ! I remember you from ages ago (probably on MM?). The house looks amazing! The one thing that strikes me off the bat is how everything in the kitchen is in a row (makes sense given galley kitchen) but could be problematic for flow, plus not much uninterrupted counter space. Any chance of moving the sink to the island? I also hope there's pull-out drawers in all those deep cabinets if the cabinets themselves aren't pull-outs (which I much prefer, it's crazy how much it bugs me these days to open a door and *then" pull something out like I have to do for only one of my cabinets.  And maybe it's just the perspective since there's no true overhead view but will you really have room to open all those drawers and doors in the island?  It looks super close to the sink.

Since the room is gutted I would definitely put tape on your floor representing your plan and then play a little "pretend kitchen" -- make a pot of pasta and drain it, pretend to wash a dish and put it in the dishwasher (the dishwasher needs a lot of clearance to open unless you're doing drawers), throw stuff away where your trash would be, have your husband in the kitchen to move around each other.  

Hi Dr G.  It is so nice to "see" you!!  

Great idea about taping out the kitchen.  There are currently no floors there, just beams from the basement ceiling, but as soon as there are floorboards in I will totally go and do that. 

I think that the design is just off in the pictures, as the island isn't really that close to the cabinets. If I recall, there is 54 inches between the wall of cabinets where the fridge is and the island. I really wanted to redesign the kitchen shape but there was no other place to put it in the house that made any sense.  It will be about 3 feet wider than it was before due to knocking out the second staircase.  I thought about putting the sink in the island but my husband doesn't like that idea and wants a big space there.  The other thing that looks like an island but is more a peninsula will not have an overhang in actuality, not sure why that is drawn on.  It does have a bookcase at the end next to where you enter the room.  All of the cabinets that are not drawers have pull outs except for the one above the beverage fridge because it is actually an appliance "garage" where the coffee maker will be hidden, and the one that is labeled cleaning closet because it will only have half shelves leaving room in the front to plug in my Dyson vacuum and hang it on the wall. 

[rikki]

Bathrooms - we are doing a wide 30’ Kohler Memoirs pedestal in powder room. These aren’t too exciting but I think work.

[rikki]

[rikki]

Last post because I know this is getting long and obnoxious. This is the kitchen counters I’m pretty sure I want. It isn’t so bold in person. I will carry it up the wall instead of a tiled backsplash.

[aprilsails]

Ooh good luck! Kitchen cabinet layouts are time consuming since there are a million choices. I am very excited for you to get a whole new house (effectively) and I hope everything goes smoothly. Very excited to see your progress!

[aprilsails]

I hadn’t refreshed the app since I went to sleep so I didn’t see the cabinets. If you have over 50” between the island and the sink I’m not worried about overcrowding. We only have 42” and it is a bit of a pinch point where the fridge door handles stick out, and we wish that we had slid the island back to give us 48”, or gone with a counter depth fridge.

I’m with your husband on team nothing on the island. If you have as much space as you said, you should be just fine for getting around. Our kitchen shape is not dissimilar and it works other than the rarely an issue pinch point.

I love the countertop you’ve chosen. Is that quartz, marble or quartzite?

[mrsukyankee]

How exciting. I did a total gut with a small extension. We didn't do as much re-working as you, but it was still a LOT of decisions. Note, you will end the work and wish you had done at least one or two things differently. It's normal. Brush it off or it will drive you crazy.

My other suggestion - start either a blog or have a place where you can have all the pictures together. You'll want to go back and look at things later on. It also helps to see the progress as it'll feel slow at times.

Best of luck!

[libbygrl109]

So exciting! I'm just starting the planning for our kitchen reno. I am going crazy, so I can only imagine doing such a huge project. Good luck! I can't wait to see the progress.

[lo]

Can your kitchen designer show you a 3D picture of what it will look like? We gutted our kitchen last summer and I sucked at picturing how it would all look from just the blueprints, and that helped me.

We are renovating our Victorian home, but in bits and pieces!

[InBetweenDays]

Gorgeous house! We did a full gut and remodel about 12 years ago. It was a one story with a walkout basement. We gutted everything, leaving the foundation, floors, and 1.5 of the four exterior walls, then started over and built up. It was a lot of stress and decisions but we ended up with exactly what we wanted and I'd go through it all again in a heartbeat.

One recommendation is to put bracing in the walls where you may hang heavy shelves or artwork. Then you don't have to be as reliant on studs. And also take photos of bracing and other areas behind the walls (electrical, gas lines, conduit, etc.) before they're drywalled in. You'll thank yourself in the future. We had conduit run to our wood burning fireplace in case we ever decided to convert it to gas. We're thinking of doing that this summer and having the photos to show exactly where the conduit is located is so helpful.

Also, I agree with your husband in keeping the island as one big open area. We have that and I LOVE it. It makes it much more of a flexible work space (we prep food there, eat there, do homework there, serve food there, etc.)

Good luck! Can't wait to follow along!

[ssmjlm]

Kitchen - always more drawers IMO. There is one area where I wish we did 3 drawers instead of a double cabinet. I'm just more of a drawer person.

Bathrooms, if you're not already, have your cabinet people make a pull out for under the sink. You lose a few inches, but it's worth it to be able to just pull out the whole bottom so nothing gets "lost" in the back.

[simpsongal]

Your house is gorgeous!! Keep posting progress pics!!

[memenee]

This combines my two great H&G loves - old houses and renos! Looking forward to following along.

[boiler717]

Gorgeous! Can’t wait to see it as it goes. I would suggest a bigger stove if you can swing the space. I think it goes a long way in giving a high-end kitchen look.

[rikki]

Jun 13, 2020 7:15:57 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

Gorgeous! Can’t wait to see it as it goes. I would suggest a bigger stove if you can swing the space. I think it goes a long way in giving a high-end kitchen look.

Thanks! The stove is 36. Would you do 48? It isn’t so big so I thought 36 was good compromise but I could do bigger.

[rikki]

Jun 13, 2020 7:15:57 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

Gorgeous! Can’t wait to see it as it goes. I would suggest a bigger stove if you can swing the space. I think it goes a long way in giving a high-end kitchen look.

This is the stove we bought.

[rikki]

Jun 11, 2020 14:37:17 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Kitchen - always more drawers IMO. There is one area where I wish we did 3 drawers instead of a double cabinet. I'm just more of a drawer person.

Bathrooms, if you're not already, have your cabinet people make a pull out for under the sink. You lose a few inches, but it's worth it to be able to just pull out the whole bottom so nothing gets "lost" in the back.

Thanks!! I have never had drawers but I have a feeling I will much prefer them! Will ask fo include under sink pull outs. Great idea.

[rikki]

Jun 11, 2020 14:29:41 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

Gorgeous house! We did a full gut and remodel about 12 years ago. It was a one story with a walkout basement. We gutted everything, leaving the foundation, floors, and 1.5 of the four exterior walls, then started over and built up. It was a lot of stress and decisions but we ended up with exactly what we wanted and I'd go through it all again in a heartbeat.

One recommendation is to put bracing in the walls where you may hang heavy shelves or artwork. Then you don't have to be as reliant on studs. And also take photos of bracing and other areas behind the walls (electrical, gas lines, conduit, etc.) before they're drywalled in. You'll thank yourself in the future. We had conduit run to our wood burning fireplace in case we ever decided to convert it to gas. We're thinking of doing that this summer and having the photos to show exactly where the conduit is located is so helpful.

Also, I agree with your husband in keeping the island as one big open area. We have that and I LOVE it. It makes it much more of a flexible work space (we prep food there, eat there, do homework there, serve food there, etc.)

Good luck! Can't wait to follow along!

What a great idea. We will definitely do that.

Is there a reason you want to convert to gas? We have 2 existing fireplaces and I was thinking leaving one wood and converting one to gas but I haven’t completely decided. I don’t really like the smell of wood so maybe both should be gas.

[rikki]

Jun 11, 2020 2:38:41 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

How exciting. I did a total gut with a small extension. We didn't do as much re-working as you, but it was still a LOT of decisions. Note, you will end the work and wish you had done at least one or two things differently. It's normal. Brush it off or it will drive you crazy.

My other suggestion - start either a blog or have a place where you can have all the pictures together. You'll want to go back and look at things later on. It also helps to see the progress as it'll feel slow at times.

Best of luck!

My husband, who has zero time, has said he wants to start a blog. I’m hoping he actually does. I’m taking a ton of photos but have zero skills to make a blog!

[rikki]

Jun 11, 2020 2:28:35 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

I hadn’t refreshed the app since I went to sleep so I didn’t see the cabinets. If you have over 50” between the island and the sink I’m not worried about overcrowding. We only have 42” and it is a bit of a pinch point where the fridge door handles stick out, and we wish that we had slid the island back to give us 48”, or gone with a counter depth fridge.

I’m with your husband on team nothing on the island. If you have as much space as you said, you should be just fine for getting around. Our kitchen shape is not dissimilar and it works other than the rarely an issue pinch point.

I love the countertop you’ve chosen. Is that quartz, marble or quartzite?

Thanks so much. It is a quartz.

[InBetweenDays]

Jun 13, 2020 7:31:29 GMT -5 rikki said:

Jun 11, 2020 14:29:41 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

Gorgeous house! We did a full gut and remodel about 12 years ago. It was a one story with a walkout basement. We gutted everything, leaving the foundation, floors, and 1.5 of the four exterior walls, then started over and built up. It was a lot of stress and decisions but we ended up with exactly what we wanted and I'd go through it all again in a heartbeat.

One recommendation is to put bracing in the walls where you may hang heavy shelves or artwork. Then you don't have to be as reliant on studs. And also take photos of bracing and other areas behind the walls (electrical, gas lines, conduit, etc.) before they're drywalled in. You'll thank yourself in the future. We had conduit run to our wood burning fireplace in case we ever decided to convert it to gas. We're thinking of doing that this summer and having the photos to show exactly where the conduit is located is so helpful.

Also, I agree with your husband in keeping the island as one big open area. We have that and I LOVE it. It makes it much more of a flexible work space (we prep food there, eat there, do homework there, serve food there, etc.)

Good luck! Can't wait to follow along!

What a great idea. We will definitely do that.

Is there a reason you want to convert to gas? We have 2 existing fireplaces and I was thinking leaving one wood and converting one to gas but I haven’t completely decided. I don’t really like the smell of wood so maybe both should be gas.

I love the nostalgia of wood burning fireplaces which is why we kept ours as wood in the beginning even though our architect and contractor recommended otherwise. But I don't love the environmental and health impacts of them so we rarely make fires anymore. Plus I now love the idea of being able to easily flip a switch when I want a fire 😊

[mrsukyankee]

We have an eco friendly wood burner in our fireplace (need to in order to burn wood in London). I don't know if they make such things in the US, but it's great!

[bhnumbers]

How exciting and what a beautiful house! I hope everything goes smoothly!