Chapter 3 - More Design Decisions

The first couple of chapters have outlined the problems we are facing with completing our remodel. Now I'd like to share with you some of the decisions that we've faced (again) and how we came to our make our decisions (so far).

Background -- The Basement
As I mentioned in the previous chapters, this is our second attempt at finishing the remodel we started in 2002. When we first started the remodel, we had a general idea of what we wanted, a bigger kitchen, a bathroom on the first floor, and a master suite over the improved kitchen. The first design/build contractor talked us into much more than that and convinced us that it would be doable within our small budget. One of the things that we added to the project turned out to be a lifesaver. We made the basement into a small one-bedroom apartment so that we could live in the house while the upstairs was being remodeled.

This space is where we've been living since February 2004. It is much better than the period of time when we spent 9 months without the back wall of the house or a kitchen.

The decisions in the basement were really driven by the end goal of having a media room/suite in the basement. That and keeping the costs down so we could spend our money on the upstairs where will eventually live. So in keeping with these goals, the basement is practical. It has a bathroom with a tub, a large walk-in closet (eventually for one-a-year clothing storage), a washer and dryer, and a small kitchenette (part of which we need to remove once the house is complete).

On the second pass of the remodel, we need to rethink little things like what will the flooring and wall colors be.

Finding a Great Designer -- The Best Decision to Make
Going into the remodel this time, we decided (Miranda really needed) to get some help that was lacking the first time. Miranda remembered that she had a couple of business cards from open houses in the neighborhood that were several years old. The cards were from the stagers of the house for the open house. The houses were staged in a way that made us both go "That's it!"

Miranda made calls and we interviewed a couple of people that were designers, people that can help guide you through the myriad of things that need to be decided both when remodeling and decorating. The person we liked the most was also the person that did the best staging. Her name is Leela Willow and we think she is the best! To be honest, I thought that hiring a designer was a waste of money because my preconceived notion (somewhat based on the first remodel experience) was that they make you spend money hand-over-fist and bend you to their will. Leela is completely the opposite. Her goal is to make you happy with the design.

I'll be mentioning Leela quite a bit as she has been an enormous help to us throughout this process.

Fireplaces

In Chapter 2 I talk in detail about the fireplace decisions. Leela was a major factor in how our decision was made. She made us think about the final look we wanted for the living room and dining room and whether a fireplace made sense with that look. As we worked out what our desires were, the decisions started falling into place. We also needed to solve a couple of problems that the first contractor stuck us with regarding venting of the furnace and the water heater. Recently as we've been working on the house, we have needed to rethink keeping the living room firebox (I'll talk about that in a later post).

Revisiting Old Decisions

Because of our circumstances, we needed to basically rethink several decisions we had made with guidance from our first contractor. We simply couldn't trust those decisions anymore. The big ones were around the kitchen layout and the exterior. The exterior stoops (the front entry, the kitchen entry, and the back stoop) either needed to be built (kitchen and back) or as was the case in the front had to be rebuilt to fix water intrusion issues that the first contractor basically ignored and made worse by an attempt to use marine epoxy.

In order to ensure that our current decisions were good, we looked at the project anew. Since we had drawings and such from the first time (drawn by Miranda and Susie, Miranda's Mom, without help from the first design/build contractor) we could use those as a starting position, but the idea was to rethink all of it to make sure that we were happy. Using Leela as a sounding board we showed the drawings and she helped guide us to the final decision which was to keep the design we had with the addition of some crown molding.

As to the exterior, the parts that were not yet built we decided that they were easy enough that we didn't need to change them. The front entry however is a different matter. Since the repairs to the house require that we remove the flooring from the original part of the house and the front porch decking, it made sense to think about what we really wanted for a front entry.

Front Entry

For me it was difficult to imagine what I wanted for the front entry. I hardly ever notice entries to homes. I mean when you go to a friends house you only see the front entry as you come in. As Miranda and Leela pointed out, the front entry to a home should be a reflection of the home owners and should be inviting.

After a concerted effort to notice them, we came up with the idea of adding a small overhang over the newly centered larger front door. The overhang will provide a place to shelter from weather and an ideal location for an overhead light. The change requires that we remove an odd detail at the top of the entry (which is perfectly fine) and that we fix many of the waterproofing issues that the entry has had over time.

Overall the design will match well with the existing house as well as make the house more appealing. That's what an excellent designer gives you.