As renovation contractors, we love it when we have the opportunity to take a neglected old building and - with the help of dedicated clients and a good designer- give it a new life.
When I first visited this carriage house in Brookline, MA, I was intrigued by its beautiful exterior but quite taken back by the unpleasant interior. Prior owners had converted it into a rental unit but by the time our clients bought the property, the interior was in disrepair. It was dark, cramped, and felt quite damp and musty.
exterior prior to construction
The project architects, Meyer & Meyer Architects, had a great vision: they determined that creating a large opening between the first and second floors would bring much more light into the living areas and result in a more spacious feeling.
The main challenge was the calendar; our clients needed to be living in the carriage house just 10 weeks after the start of construction. When the interior demolition was carried out, the engineering was quickly done and the re-construction began immediately. Because time was short the project team- architects, homeowners, and us - met on a regular basis to review any new issues and to put the finishing touches on details (cabinetry, fixtures, etc). Good communication is the key to any successful renovation, but it becomes even more critical when the schedule is tight. This was a "fast track" project, meaning that construction began before all of the design work was completed. So while we were doing the interior framing, key elements such as the kitchen cabinetry and the spiral staircase were being drawn.
Prior to construction....
During the framing phase.... the opening between floors has been created.
The building had some serious structural defects and the desire to create the large opening between floors only added to its structural needs. But by the fifth week we had completed the structural work, the rough wiring, HVAC, and plumbing had been installed, and we had all of our rough inspections. Halfway there! Another week or so and the spray foam insulation and board and plaster were done.
During the spray foam installation....
Cabinets, counters, wood floors, tile, interior trim and painting were all done in the final month of the project. The project came to a crescendo on the day that the spiral stairs arrived. Ideally they would have been installed much earlier in the project, but because of the compressed schedule, the stairs didn't show up until the final week. Our friends at Deathwish Piano Movers quickly lifted them in through the second floor French door opening and we dropped them into place. Phew!
Here's the completed project... what do you think?
The interior is flooded with light now. The light walls show off the new white oak floors, the dark beams, and the spiral stairs.
We painted one bedroom wall with chalkboard paint.
Comments? Questions? Snide remarks? All are welcome! We'd love to hear from you so please comment on our posts.
Mark Landry is the President of Landmark Services, Inc, one of the premier old house renovation contracting firms in Massachusetts. He loves old houses and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your renovation, restoration, or addition.
While we're talking about innovative products I thought I'd mention another pretty cool new idea. A company called Trufig has invented a line of wall switches and outlets that can be flush mounted with any surface, and therefore made to almost disappear.
Here's a typical scenario: if you've ever renovated a kitchen you know that the electrical code requires a LOT of outlets along the backsplash area. A lot of people may never use many of these outlets but are stuck looking at them (unless you mount them on the underside of the upper cabinets as I did in my own kitchen). With Trufig's products, these outlets can be installed perfectly flush with, for example, your stone backsplash. In order to do this, the stone must be laser cut to fit the Trufig outlet. The rectangle of stone that is removed can be given to a decorative painter who paints the Trufig faceplate to replicate the pattern of the stone that was removed, as shown below.
Now suppose that you didn't even want to look at this code-required outlet? Simple. Give a blank plate to the decorative painter and the outlet virtually disappears.
This system can also be used to install plugs and switches in wood, drywall, plaster, or most other surfaces that you can think of. They also have products that can allow other devices to be mounted flush : heating or cooling air registers, iPads, speakers, etc.
Making electrical devices less visible is a great step forward, particularly for many of the historic renovation projects that we carry out. Standard plugs and switches can be visually distractive in many historic settings and I'm sure we'll be looking at incorporating this system in some of our upcoming projects. I'll let you know how it goes.
Comments? Questions? Snide remarks? All are welcome! We'd love to hear from you so please comment on our posts.
Mark Landry is the President of Landmark Services, Inc, one of the premier old house renovation contracting firms in Massachusetts. He loves old houses and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your renovation, restoration, or addition.
From time to time I see projects tabled or postponed due to budgetary reasons. It's unfortunate at any point in the process but it's particularly heartbreaking when the clients have spent many months and many thousands of dollars on design fees, only to learn that the beautiful project depicted in the architect's drawings will cost much more than they are able or willing to invest.
Sometimes the project doesn't get off the ground because the architect has simply drawn too large a project for the client's budget. It's easy for all parties involved - homeowners, architects and, yes, even contractors- to allow their enthusiasm for the project to get carried away. When this happens the scope increases and, of course, so does the cost.
Other projects go off the rails because the clients were unaware of the all of the costs involved in a construction project. People sometimes get fixated on just the construction costs and underestimate the other expenses.
So what are the hidden costs of construction? Many people use the terms "soft" and "hard" costs to define the two main categories of costs. Soft costs are all of the costs not associated with actual tangible construction. Hard costs are the direct construction costs.
Here's a list of the typical costs in residential construction. Your project may not include all of these, of course, but it there may be one or two things listed here that you haven't considered.
Soft Costs:
DESIGN FEES:
Architect
Landscape architect
Interior designer
Kitchen designer
ENGINEERING
Structural engineer
HVAC engineer
Land surveyor
Civil Engineer
Wetlands consultant
RELOCATION COSTS
Temporary rental housing (do you need to move out during construction?)
Moving and storage costs
MISC.
Legal fees (e.g. contract review)
Accounting (e.g. if any renewable energy tax credits are involved)
Financing (if construction or home equity loans are involved)
Hard Costs:
In addition to the well-understood costs associated with demolition, framing, roofing, etc, please consider the following.
SITE WORK:
Hay bales and silt fence
Site clearing
Tree removal or other tree work
Landscape construction (driveways, walks, patios)
Landscaping (plantings, lawns, irrigation systems, lighting)
Septic systems
Drainage systems
Utility hookups (water, sewer, gas, electric)
Fencing
CONSTRUCTION ADD-ONS:
AV systems (home theaters, built-in music systems, etc)
Home automation
Swimming pools
Outdoor kitchens
POST-CONSTRUCTION COST:
Furniture
Carpets, rugs
Window treatments
We'll talk more about some of these items in more detail in an upcoming blog post. In the meantime, if you are planning a renovation, addition, or new house, please take a few minutes to create a spreadsheet showing all of the potential costs. You'll thank me later.
Let me know if there are things that I've missed that should be on this list!
Comments? Questions? Snide remarks? All are welcome! We'd love to hear from you so please comment on our posts.
Mark Landry is the President of Landmark Services, Inc, one of the premier old house renovation contracting firms in Massachusetts. He loves old houses and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your renovation, restoration, or addition.
We have worked with the owners of a ca. 1895 Shingle Style house just south of Boston for over five years. We started by renovating the exterior, stripping the house of its shingles and installing new ones, rebuilding the porches, and restoring the carriage house. Two years ago we completely renovated the third floor (I'll post an article about that at a later date).
Last year they asked us to renovate the kitchen. The husband, Dave, is a very tech savvy guy and also the main cook in the family. He wanted to be very involved in designing the kitchen so we decided that he and I would design it together using Google Sketchup. So over a period of 5-6 weeks we sent files back and forth, developing the details of the kitchen.
Goals
Their old kitchen was dark and dated. The cabinets, installed some time in the 1980s were of mediocre quality and were poorly designed. Also, their kitchen tended to be the depository for homework, backpacks, bills, cell phones, briefcases and toys. It was cluttered and non at all functional. A successful renovation would need to provide better organization, a lighter and more timeless feeling, and would include places for the kids to do homework and for a mini-office. Here's what we started with.
Design
The interior designer, Tricia McDonagh, provided us with a great starting point by drawing a floor plan delineating the locations of the cabinet runs, the eating area, a desk, and the mudroom cabinets. Tricia also did a fantastic job selecting the finishes: lighting fixtures, tile, paint colors, fabrics, etc.
We imported those floorplans into Sketchup and started modeling the cabinets.
Our first efforts were rather crude models used just to verify the overall space planning. Here's one such effort:
We gradually modelled every cabinet, desk, and cubby throughout the space to the point where we knew exactly where everything would be stored. Before any cabinets were made, we had determined homes for cutlery, dishes, pots and pans, dry food, produce, placemats and everything else that needed to be put away.
Eventually the Sketchup models became more refined. It's easy to import models of your exact appliances, as seen here.
We also indicated cabinet door details and other construction details and dimensions so that our cabinet shop would have a clear understanding of what to build. Here are some views of the island.
Construction
One of the infrastructure problems with the old kitchen was that it was very cold. More than half the kitchen was over a crawl space instead of a full basement, so we insulated the crawl space carefully with closed cell spray foam and installed radiant heating in the floor.
This shot shows the arched openings that we created to match ones found elsewhere in the house.
The great thing about having the clients so intimately involved in the design process was that they were so familiar with the kitchen model that they felt right at home in the real kitchen. They knew right where to put everything! The other benefit is that there were no surprises. 3D modeling is a great tool to help clients visulaize the space prior to construction.
Here's the finished space. What do you think? The first shot is looking over the island towards the built-in banquette (we also custom built the trestle table). A newly renovated and much more functional mudroom is through the arched opening at the right.
(Note: The interior design was done by Patricia McDonagh Interior Design; photographs below © 2010 Kevin A. Latady, photographer)
This view shows the cooking center and island. Dual sinks (one in the island) allow others to help with the prep and cleanup. The clean lines of the painted cabinets, dark counters, and stainless appliances are just what the clients wanted to achieve.
A wall of full height cabinets provides plenty of storage for dry foods, small appliances, spices and oils.
Comments? Questions? Snide remarks? All are welcome! We'd love to hear from you so please comment on our posts.
Mark Landry is the President of Landmark Services, Inc, one of the premier old house renovation contracting firms in Massachusetts. He loves old houses and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your renovation, restoration, or addition.
Kitchen design is a very personal thing, especially when it comes to old houses. Some people want the kitchen to match the period look of their house while others don't mind having a more modern looking space.
Personally, I lean towards the first group. I've seen many nice old house renovations spoiled (IMHO) by undistinguished kitchens that will look dated in a few years. It can be jarring to walk through a beautiful period renovation and then walk into a kitchen that looks the same as every other kitchen. Much better to design a more timeless kitchen that complements the architecture of the house and gives a nod to the fact that 18th and 19th century kitchens looked nothing like 20th/early 21st century kitchens.
Of course, when I talk about period feeling I'm not talking about authenticity. None of us wants to hand pump water to the sink or store our food in an icebox (never mind do our cooking in a fireplace). So we're going after a look that somehow evokes the flavor of the period while still providing a kitchen that's useful and fun to work in.
We're going to use my own kitchen as the case study. My house (shown in more detail here) was built around 1830. We carried out an extensive renovation and expansion eight years ago. The kitchen is located in a part of the house that was rebuilt from the ground up but that we wanted to blend with the rest of the house.
1. No long runs of cabinets. Long, uninterrupted runs of matching cabinets and counters are probably the primary distinguishing feature of the modern kitchen. Back in day, of course, kitchen "cabinets" were typically free-standing pieces of furniture. Sideboards, cupboards, hutches and the like were brought together regardless of style, color, or materials. That was the look that I was going after in my kitchen, as you see here.
Here we have three different pieces (four if you include the corner cabinet). One is painted, the other two are natural (in fact, these were made from wood we salvaged during demolition of one part of the house). These were designed to resemble free-standing pieces although they are built in.
Instead of a long, uninterrupted length of counter, there are three separate sections here: two soapstone and one wood. Together there is plenty of prep space.
2. No inside corners. Almost all kitchens have banks of cabinets that have 90 degree inside corners. These are so common that most people don't even think about this detail. Of course, when kitchens were comprised of separate pieces, there were no inside corners. Take a look at how this subtle omission yields a different feeling than found in most kitchens today.
3. Mix and match. We've already touched on the fact that the cabinets in our kitchen are not all the same. Some are painted dark green, some are natural. The cabinets surrounding the fireplace are painted a different color; the gray/green of the rest of the woodwork in the room. Also, these have raised panel doors while the other cabinets have flat panels. It can be risky to do this. Done poorly, the room will lack cohesion and will look too busy. But done well and it can help achieve a really special place.
4. Appliances. We decided that to pull off a 19th century feeling in our kitchen, we wanted to minimize the visual impact of the appliances. The obvious answer for the fridge would be to get a built-in unit meant to accept cabinet panels. Two issues there: first those units (Sub Zeros and the like) are very expensive. Second, even with the cabinet panels they typically have a large stainless grille on display.
So instead we took a standard white bottom freezer fridge and mounted cabinet panels to it for a more built in look. We first mounted the panel to the fridge door with drawer slides so that the cabinet door and fridge door could slide open together. Later, we found some plastic slides from Hafele hardware designed specifically for this application.
To hide the double oven (to the left of the fireplace) we over-sized the cabinet and then installed retractable doors. These doors stay open when the oven is being used and until it cools off.
The dishwasher is an integrated Fisher Paykel, so we simply built cabinet panels to help blend that in.
We tucked the toaster oven and microwave into the pantry (the door to the right of the dishwasher above) to keep those out of sight. Finally, we opted for a fairly discreet gas cooktop and hid the hood into the cabinet above.
I recognize that most people won't go to these extremes to make a new kitchen look old. In fact, if you look at some of the other kitchens we've renovated you'll see a wide range in style and appearance. But hopefully this will provide some ideas to those of you about to embark on a kitchen renovation in an old house.
Comments? Questions? Snide remarks? All are welcome! We'd love to hear from you so please comment on our posts.
Mark Landry is the President of Landmark Services, Inc, one of the premier old house renovation contracting firms in Massachusetts. He loves old houses and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your renovation, restoration, or addition.
As a renovation and restoration contractor here in Massachusetts, I have built a lot of additions on to historic houses. Contrary to the philosophy of some preservationists, who feel that new additions should read as new additions and not pretend to be old, my philosophy is that additions are much more pleasing when they complement the architectural style of the original house.
In previous posts we discussed some of the concepts involved with designing appropriate looking additions for historic houses. Additions should not overwhelm or compete with the original structure, not should they looked tacked on. So in those posts we talked about ensuring that the roof placement of additions is correct and that the trim on the addition is sympathetic to that on the original structure.
In this post we'll look at the issue of massing. How large is the addition compared to the existing house? If it's as large or larger, it will best when broken down into smaller components, rather than one large mass. In the photo below, you see almost 5000 square feet of new space added to an 18th century house of about 2200 square feet. But because the addition was designed as a series of smaller shapes, it is less overwhelming to the original. Everything to the left of the chimney is new.
In the photo below, everything between the main house to the left and the attached barn to the right is new space. Originally there was a one story ell connecting the two. Notice how the roof line of the addition is broken and brought down much lower in the right-hand part of the addition, as if these two sections were built at different points in time. This decreases the visual mass of the addition and helps to blend the new space bettwe with the old. Imagine if the second floor roofline were carried all the way across to the barn- the addition would have overwhelmed the original house. (To see the completed house, check it out in our portfolio).
Conversely, tiny little additions look odd when tacked on to larger houses, as illustrated in the photo below. Of course, it doesn't help that the addition has almost no architectural detail!
There must be a more gradual transition in size. This is why the traditional Big House-Little House-Back House-Barn structure of old New England farmhouses is so appealing to the eye. These houses look organic and natural. There is a clear visual hierarchy of importance among the sections of the house.
Our advice? Work with an architect. Most builders, even those that bill themselves as design-build firms, have not mastered the subtleties of designing additions. And I say this as a contractor. Are there exceptions? Of course, but I believe that your odds of getting the results you want are higher when you work with an architect who has a track record of designing additions.
Also, it's really helpful to use models to help you visualize your proposed addition. Either physical models or virtual models, like the one below, obtained in most CAD programs can help you understand how the new addition relates to the existing house. If you're working with an architect, ask them to generate some 3D perspective drawings of the project or- even better- see if their software allows for 3D "flyovers". If you're not working with an architect yet, and you're in the Greater Boston area, let us know. We would be happy to recommend some architects that we think do a nice job designing additions on old houses.
(model courtesy of Latady Design, Bedford, MA)
Comments? Questions? Snide remarks? All are welcome! We'd love to hear from you so please comment on our posts.
Mark Landry is the President of Landmark Services, Inc, one of the premier old house renovation contracting firms in Massachusetts. He loves old houses and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your renovation, restoration, or addition.
In the course of a recent renovation of a ca. 1795 home in Milton, we
needed to replicate an original rooftop balustrade.The one surviving
section displayed a "spider web" pattern composed of many small pieces
of wood nailed together.
Concerned that wood would not
hold up to the elements well in this situation and would require a lot
of maintenance, we explored other options. After much research (and
some soul-searching) we decided to reproduce the balustrade by having
the panels milled from sheets of PVC imitation wood. We're very
pleased with the result. Visually, the new panels are indistinguishable
from wood. But in terms of strength and maintenance, the PVC product is
superior.
We brought the surviving panel to a friend who has a CNC machine in his shop and asked him to cut the new sections from sheets of PVC material (one popular brand is Azek). A CNC machine is a cutting and shaping machine controlled by a computer. Our friend Nick programmed the pattern into his computer by tracing the original with the cutting head and entering the key positions into the software.
The rest was simple. He laid 4' x 10' sheets of 1 1/4" thick material on the table and pressed a button activating the cutter head. The result was 30 panels matching the original in appearance but stronger and better able to hold paint.
While some may argue against the use of synthetic materials in historic renovation projects, we feel that they are appropriate in some situations. In this case, the use of this material does not affect the aesthetics of the project, but provides the homeowners with a longer lasting product that will require far less maintenance than would have been the case if we had used wood.
PVC trim is certainly not the right choice for most of our projects. Wood has a subtlety in appearance and touch that cannot be matched by synthetic materials and-except in rare cases such as this balustrade- we stick with traditional materials when we can. One other great use of PVC wood, though, is any trim that comes in contact with the ground such as the lower trim boards on a porch.
Landmark Services has been renovating historic Massachusetts houses, barns, and churches for almost 20 years. Have a look at our project portfolio to see some of our past projects.
We'd love to help you plan and build your project so give us a call!
Comments? Questions? Snide remarks? All are welcome! We'd love to hear from you so please comment on our posts.
Mark Landry is the President of Landmark Services, Inc, one of the premier old house renovation contracting firms in Massachusetts. He loves old houses and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your renovation, restoration, or addition.