Reader's home - a local reno
Tue, 17 May 2011I was SO EXCITED the other day when I received an email from Gillian, a local Ottawan who at one time had grand plans to turn a boring 1945 2 bedroom Ottawa bungalow into something modern and spectacular. Sounds kind of familiar. :-) Luckily for Gillian her plans were put into action and completed in November of last year - and the results are FABULOUS!! (and I'm totally going to hit her up for advice throughout my renos). Here's the scoop from Gillian:
The objective was clear: build an edgy, modern, sustainable home. The wish list included: 3 bedrooms; an open concept, chef’s style eat-in kitchen for entertaining and doing heaps of cooking; an ‘urban great room’ across the back of the house to let the sun shine in and provide main floor family space; a custom, “wow” open staircase (none of that pre-fab stuff!); a mudroom; a dog bath; and an exterior that pushes the envelope. And so ensued the design process and renovation by Moneca Kaiser Design Build.
The idea was to be able to stay put, and not be forced to move in future, ‘cause that’s a whole lot of waste.To do this, for example, we put the master bedroom with ensuite on the main floor, which also features an accessible bathroom, at the side entry, that presently does double duty as a dog shower! The 2nd floor loft style family room on the ‘kids’ level’ can also easily be converted into a master bedroom (for now it’s our family room/ gym).
Using sustainable products, like bamboo flooring and parallam beams for the staircase (and it is “wow”), as well as choosing greener options, such as spray foam insulation and a condensing hot water tank (among maaaany others), we aimed to take a practical approach to sustainability.
This forward thinking was carried right through to the decorating, where we opted to make the investment in well-designed pieces with nice clean lines that are totally timeless. With the exception of our One Stools by Magis, we chose an all-Canadian roster of designers, with the help of two amazing Ottawa-based home stores, Alteriors and Blueprint Home. Proudly, our furnishings are among the coolest designs by IZM Furniture, Gus Modern, LucyAu and William—all Canadian. The work of Louis Helbig, an abstract aerial photographer and fellow Ottawan, ups the edge factor, and its organic, context-free composition pulls the interior together in an uncanny way. (Sources mentioned above are listed at the end of this post!)
Below is a before photo of the exterior (bleh), a couple after photos (WOW!), and one peek at the interior (YES!). The rest of the photos are after the jump. (Photos via Gordon King)
Reader Comments (47)
wow it looks amazing! I love the front of the house and what huge changes must have been made inside. Done really tastefully!!
Wow amazing!!! I love the transformation of the house - especially the dining and kitchen areas. I fancy how white it is. How many lights / bulbs have been installed in the 2 areas? Does it radiate?
Also, what kind of flooring is that? I love it. It looks elegant.
What I envy the most about this house is the renovated family room / gym. How I wish I could have this layout in my apartment.
Hmm nice ! But how do they workout in a space like that, is a riddle to me ;-) ; i will be tempted constantly to sit back in those nice orange seatbags (dont know the correct English word for it)
Wonderful home and fantastic dogs ;)
It’s great to read the comments about Gillian’s house here, I’m Moneca Kaiser the design and builder. It was a radical transformation from the existing floor plan that some of you have asked about and I will post something about that on my blog eventually. I highly engineered the renovation so we could create the great expanse of unsupported space. It allowed us to maximize the opportunity in the space while having to honor the existing 8 ft ceilings and this is where the delight comes in doing a renovation rather than a new build. It’s a little like writing a sonnet which I imagine Shakespeare might attest to discovering a freedom within the framework, though much more eloquently.
It’s true that a reno costs more per square foot and is much more challenging than a new build as one reader pointed out but there are so many good reasons for doing it not least of which is how it can honor the tradition of a neighborhood all the while elevating it’s esthetic. It’s exciting to merge the old with the so very new and I really wanted to keep things like enhance the existing dramatic and so elegant traditional roofline that we uncovered when we removed the part that was folded over... What Gillian and I like to call the, “porch of the year,” is almost an homage to it and the age this house was born in. I choose to incorporate the more classic gray stucco at the front so that there was something on the street that was relational and so the galvalume corrugated steel was introduced into this neighborhood gently cause Gillian is for sure the first on her block to go here and we hope the next kid to take this on can go a little further and a natural rhythm evolves... I can’t wait to see how this impacts its community cause architecture needs to be all about community, inside and out.
Gillian is the ultimate perfect client, ready to take risks, great taste and always patient as I was obsessing over the details of how to create a truly unique stair case ( white washed paralam beam by the way and one of kind) or dramatic porch that still honored the vintage of this house with a history that we aspired to recreate and celebrate. It was delightful to work together and we’ve become great friends, and somehow I feel that comes through in this space that feels so great to be in.
Lovely to read all the comments and kinda cool that it invokes just a little controversy at least over the porch, lets me celebrate that it’s a little bit edgy and not for everyone. Thanks Kim, what a great blog, you inspire me and Gillian for such holding such an awesome vision and picking me to help you realize it!
now that is quite incredible!
nice and airy interior
'sustainable' gets a bit overused here though, e.g. marble, halogens, etc. ;)
What a stunning staircase!
I'm not super keen on the exterior, though it's definitely edgier and more contemporary looking than the before.
It's great that the owners really took the time to think about how they might need to use the space in the future so that this can be their "forever house."
I'm not much of a dog person usually, but I love that pic of the dog in the dog shower.
"the front of the house is a sympathetic reinterpretation of the 'before' house"
really?
The game of Monopoly comes to my mind when I look at the front of this house.
Is it really bad to give opinions on a house that has been posted online?
If someone doesn't really want to hear everyone's opinion then why would they want to post it?
Kim, I know I don't agree with every post you do but you do post a lot of beautiful homes and interiors.
I'm sorry that my taste differs from yours at times, I know it's hard for you to see comments without the "love" word but everyone has different ideas of beauty.
People review movies,cds etc etc and not all reviews are glowing just because someone took the time to create something.
Kim I hope the interior designers you have helping you create your new home are strong enough to lead you in the right direction without offending you.
wow! I love it - bright, light, airy, minimalist but still warm.
just wondering where those shoe storage shelves in the mudroom are from. i've been looking for something like that for years!
Thanks, Moneca here the of Moneca Kaiser Design Build /
The mud room accessories are great, really nice design that we found at Ikea, I really like that most of their things are low voc and sustainably sourced.
It's been fun reading everyone's comments and questions and has inspired me to do a, "Renovation Retrospective," on Where the Heart is, my beloved blog, with before and after and during pics as well as floor plans and changes we got inspired to create along the way. And engage in my other passion for story telling! This has been such a lovely journey with Gillian and seems to have sparked some get observations and questions that it will be fun to explore!
I will keep you "posted." and thank you again Kim, this is so much fun!
Holy cow - this is AMAZING and GORGEOUS! What an incredible transformation. I love the house, the dog and the decor (especially the cotton branch in the tall vase). Congratulations to the whole renovation team!
Jordana
Inside is great! Front door area--not so much--looks unfinished!
Unbelievable!! What a transformation! The exterior looks amazing and the inside is fresh and beautiful. I'd love to know how long the whole thing took.
What was the construction budget for this reno?
Wouu! Is perfect!
Amazing house!
I just want to know how they got the dog in the shower???? My two mutts would rather die than get a bath. They won't even go outside if it "looks" like rain, forget about if its actually raining!!!
i'm not a big fan of the wooden construction outside, but the inside is AMAZING!
i love the kitchen tiles and the few color splashes with orange and the yellow in the bedroom!
i also really really love the wooden stairs, they give warmth!
great job!!
@ kim,
To be fair, Tom's comment is just constructive and thoughtful criticism. He's not a hater.
Like the saying goes, if everybody loves you, something is wrong.
Darryl, I didn't call Tom a hater. I was just pointing out that he always focuses on the negative and never picks out anything positive. I have absolutely no problem with constructive criticism. I just think it's polite to speak of both sides instead of saying "Yeah it's great but here are all the things I hate...."
you guys did a really amazing job, now all that's left is to sit back and relax
Thanks Polish Chick, nice to know people are looking out for us (IZM). Beautiful reno Gillian! Also to Tom, thanks for honest comments. The world needs more honesty