Renovating and Relocating

Homeowner Caitlyn had hoped to renovate her 1945 house for a long time.  She loves to cook and made do in the small kitchen knowing it lacked counter space, cabinets, and a proper place for appliances.  But no matter how she looked, she couldn't envision how the new layout would work.

Only after being home during the pandemic did a light bulb go off. "Ultimately we came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to work in this room.  We walked into the dining room one day and thought, why don't we just move things in here?"  Once she realized that the dining room should become the new kitchen, she contacted Kate and Matt at Mint Construction to tackle the remodel.

Upgrading a mid-century kitchen definitely has its challenges.  "They had five doors in the kitchen and about two square feet of counter space, which was really non-functional for us."  The pine flooring of the kitchen didn't match the oak of the rest of the house.  "There was no insulation.  Original fixtures and plumbing in the bathroom.  We've run into all the fun original things that were never changed and updated over the years."

Matt enjoys the surprises you always find when you work on older homes.  "This house had a couple neat things, like the telephone nook.  It's neat to see a little piece of history before it's gone."  The molding over the dining room walkway and the registers over the heat vents were original 1940s details.  The owners particularly liked the built-in ironing board in the kitchen, which they never used but will be sad to see go.

The surprises Matt finds aren't always positive, however.  "In some of these older houses, what you can observe before things are opened up may not be how things actually are.  Somebody could have done their own project and cut a floor joist and shifted the way the house works."  But ultimately, he said, "It's surprising how well older houses do even though they don't live up to modern standards."

Caitlyn has been thrilled with the progress so far.  Mint has demolished the old walls on the first floor so she can get a good view of how big the space really is.  They're working on installing replacement windows and moving the monstrous, heavy tub from the upstairs bathroom.

Kate has shared her design ideas of classic white in the kitchen, partnered with shade variations to bring some gray tones into the room.  She hopes to make the area bright, open, and clean. "Hopefully when everything's done, you'll have a more functional house and living space, somewhere that's really comfortable."

Caitlyn hopes their bold strategy of modernizing and reorganizing will pay off.  "We're very excited about what this will become."