More photos of a reno on Ross Avenue, in Westboro, this time of the inside.
First, the front entry. The designers view, of course, is that two small spaces in a cut-up front entry have been consolidated into a single larger open space. It sure makes a great first impression when showing the home, but someone the open space with a few hooks on the wall will be a lot less practical when all our junk moves in. Definitely a great look for those who can live minimalistly:
The kitchen was formerly a separate room off to the right of the dining room. I do like the modern trend of opening up the kitchen to adjacent rooms. In this case, the opening is not total, so a modicum of a separate room is maintained. New kitchen floor is cork.
typically for an older home, the kitchen needs a major rethink and expensive revamping. The most expensive and awkward thing to relocate is the plumbing, which stayed put. The door to the attached bathroom was closed off; the new entry is tactfully done off the family room:
The view from the dining room to the “family room” addition at the back (facing east) . All traffic in the house went through the dining room. And still does, there isn’t room for a hallway. But now the space opens up and looks a lot more inviting. The kitchen relates equally well to either ‘living’ space at the front or back of the house:
Hey that’s my front door. I got many compliments on it several years ago. Mine is steel, costs around 2K installed and it replaced an old wooden door I loved but the old one wouldn’t keep out the cold nor close right. This new one is like yours down to the handles we chose. Anyway, I sure did not keep my inner vestibule for the looks (pokey) but for warmth. Even this high end door can’t keep out as much cold as we would like and so the vestibule remains while we live here. When you open the hall to vestibule door in winter there is quite a discernable lower temp in that little area. In cold snaps we even put a rolled up rug at the space under the inner door. And it is a very good high end door. We don’t have a “storm” door in addition to the new door. But back to these neat pics of yours. Very, very, nice. It is wonderful to see what can be done to improve existing houses. The new kitchen you show looks very warm and inviting, practical and current. Our house had a moderate one story addition off the kitchen at back. Neighbour has now put enormous two story addition (gorgeous) out the back of his house a few feet away, with many, many windows staring right into our house. Nice for him, sigh. I suppose when we move, our house will be a tear-down by some people’s standards, but at the time of our addition in mid-nineties it sure wasn’t. Thanks for sharing those great pics of the renovation.
Thanks for posting these Eric – I missed the open house last weekend, having watched the reno in progress earlier in the year. It would appear that the house sold within a day or so after the open house (as did another house further down Ross a few weeks ago). Seems like the market is pretty hot right now.
Chris: go knock on the door. The owner is the occupant and the sales agent. Ask for a tour.
Thanks for the post Eric. I always appreciate feedback (good or bad) about my work. You can see more at mattlove.ca and if someone wants a closer look pls feel free to get in touch.
Lovely reno job. Looks like some quality work. Some nice litte charmers in this neighbourhood and all some need is a similar treatment.