Dave Taylor moved walls to transform his Grandin Woods Estates condo into the home he wanted.
Taylor buys and sells homes as investments and then renovates them with business partners Jon Damur, of J.D. Contracting, and Monte Gannon, a realtor and former homebuilder.
He purchased this one for keeps, however, because he saw its potential and he was prepared to put in a few extras to add to its beauty and comfort.
Built in 1979, the 1,800-square-foot condo retained many top-of-the-line fashionable characteristics of that era, but Taylor wanted to update it to 2012.
Taylor moved in a few weeks ago just as the final paint was put on the walls. Wednesday he stood in his new kitchen with his renovating partners to describe how he added $80,000 in structural and cosmetic changes to his home.
Before the renovations there were three eating areas in the home: at the dining room table; in the kitchen at the island; or in a small dinette between the kitchen and the front door. In a sense, the former kitchen was sandwiched between the dining room and the dinette and it was closed off from view from both areas.
Now, standing in the remodelled kitchen, the men could easily see most of the living areas on the main floor. The removal of the wall between the kitchen and dining room opened up the entire area so that Taylor has more natural light in the kitchen. He can also prepare a meal at the same time as he visits with guests in the dining or living rooms.
Supporting beams
"The kitchen was closed in. Now it has a more open concept," Taylor said.
Previously a main supporting wall between the kitchen and dining room made the dining room more formal. A French door connected both areas. That supporting wall was replaced with a supporting beam, Taylor explained.
At a house-warming party Taylor had 15 people in the kitchen and living areas, with everyone chipping in on the meal and the conversation at the same time as they popped in and out to help themselves to a beer.
"This is a reflection of the new lifestyle people have today. Back in the day, when the kitchen was closed off, maybe the woman didn't want people in her kitchen. Now people do more communal cooking. The kitchen is the centre of today's lifestyle and everybody is always in the kitchen," Gannon said.
Yet the kitchen is not the first thing you see when you walk into the renovated condo and the dining area remains private.
"It's good design that reflects feng shui principles," said Gannon.
"Many people don't want the kitchen to be visible from the front door. This way the kitchen is still away from the first view of the condo from the front entry," he added.
Abracadabra
Magically the renovators tripled the amount of cabinets and work counters in the kitchen, yet the square footage of the room has not changed.
"There was no physical gain of square footage, but moving and changing the fridge made a huge difference," Gannon said.
The old fridge stuck out into the room. Now the new streamlined fridge is built into the wall.
"To build the fridge into the wall, we stole space from the half bath, which had a washer and dryer and laundry room in it. Now the laundry is done downstairs in the basement," Gannon said.
The renovators gained more space by moving the clothes closet that separated the kitchen from the front hallway. The new walk-in closet is now located in the former dinette area but Gannon said it is more functional because it is located between both the front and back doors.
"Most people would come into their condo from the garage. Before, to get to the closet from the garage door, people had to walk through the dinette. Sometimes the coat might not make it to the closet but instead would be on a chair in the dinette. Now there is no dinette, but there is more usable closet space," Gannon said.
Taylor has four pull-up stools at the new elongated central island in the kitchen and the dining room remains as it was, so there is still plenty of room for sharing meals.
Ceiling changes
Visually, the renovation added the perception of height by removing the old sunshine ceiling and replacing it with a raised coffered ceiling and bulkhead.
The sunshine ceiling had a fluorescent fixture that provided light but structurally it also covered and hid from view the plumbing pipes from the upstairs bathroom.
"The sunshine ceiling was very fashionable in the 1970s but I found it to be dark and cave-like. It hid the upstairs plumbing but we dropped the bulkhead and then matched it with a coffered ceiling to give the illusion of height," Taylor said, as he explained that the bulkhead serves the same purpose as the sunshine ceiling, and hides the plumbing.
Whether the cost of the renovation could be clawed back if the home were to be sold is not something that can be immediately assessed, Gannon said.
"Unrenovated, these condos are selling between $275,000 or $280,000. But one with some renovations sold recently for $336,000 and it didn't have granite counters or a new bathroom, so it's possible," Gannon said.
In any case Taylor enjoyed the puzzle of changing and finding space while he gave his condo an updated look at the same time.
"I like finding something that's outdated and making it more modern. I like the challenge," he said.
