Flow's Fantastic Fixer-Upper

Ranch style built in the early 70's, with horrible cabinets and kick ass wood paneling. Pics of deep red 70's shag are forthcoming....

Front Door


Side door


Back Door


Some of this will change most will not.

Utility Room


Flow's Bathroom in the utility room


Kitchen


End of kitchen/dining room

Living Room




Hall

First Bedroom



Bathroom

Bedroom


Bedroom

Dining Room/backdoor


Backyard


Bad drought brings no plants.

It's not horrible, but it is definitely dated. A lot like my house, which we extensively renovated.

So how much work do you want to do with it? Looks like a fun project.

Not a bad place as it is. Good littlle project.

What are the plans for the paneling/woodwork? Is it too dark for your tastes? Some people are like that about darker paneling.

I'm also interested in what you want to do with the kitchen. I've been involved in the industry for a few years now(part owner) and could probably help you if you have questions.

Me too!

Paneling and popcorn ceiling are goners. No exceptions. I want to paint and paneling doesn't do that well. The kitchen will be gutted.

What I need for that is ideas on layout. We are thinking of taking counters down both sides and at the very end put in a wall of cabinets. My main thing is that in that wall of cabinets I have an area of counter height cabinets that house all my appliances, so I can put them behind closed doors when needed and not see them sitting on the counter.

Also we want the fridge to more or less sit on it's own. Built in looks nice till you have to replace it and are stuck with one size of fridge.

Interesting. Very interesting. I'm guessing the furniture left with the previous owner? Because if the furniture stayed, you almost have to leave it as is for the historical aspect.

Barring that I have my thoughts on the interior. I'll keep them to myself unless you ask. The exterior I've got to comment on. I'm glad I don't have that house, because I'd be torn on the brick. My first impulse would be to paint it, but it would suck up a ton of paint and it seems like a crime to paint over wonderful brick. I would definitely add shutters and, ideally, flower boxes for the windowsills, possibly trellises or something like that on both sides of the front door to extend the horizontal aspect and call more attention to the windows. You might even pull it off with just some kind of sills added to the brickwork. But as it stands, the windows feel like an afterthought in the walls.

I'm not keen on the trim paint, but I'm not sure what I'd do yet. I feel like you need a big bold/deep color to, again, complement the brick. I'm leaning towards a (heh) brick red or forest green. One might even make some kind of bold yellow or even a sky blue work (but that'd be riskier).

Final thought, I really, really like the French doors opening onto the patio. Those are a key feature that you could really play up to great effect. I'm trying to see how they fit in. They're definitely being wasted the way the place is set up now. The pocket door in the one picture is a nice detail too.

Yup. You did good. For not very much money you could make some very nice renovations. The thing that gives me the biggest pause is the kitchen. The countertops are in very good shape and might be salvageable, but I'm thinking replace them. The cabinet doors and trim...really all the cabinet doors in the place are very dated. But maybe with the right paint/stain and hardware, they could be updated. Keep us posted.

One thing for the kitchen is to try and think about workflow. Anne says you should try and make as equilateral a triangle as you can between sink, fridge, and stove. In our house in Fayetteville the fridge was tucked into the corner, on the same wall as the the sink and that really sucked. We ended up pulling it out and just putting it against a wall so it was easier to get to and then shoving an armoire in the space to give us more cabinets.

We of course put it all back to sell the place, but it was a big improvement for actually usability. If we were going to do it over again I'd be sure to incorporate the principle from the get go.

Those look like faceframe cabinets. Bit dated I guess. Not sure how mainstream that is anymore. We don't sell anything like that anymore. The cabinets also go to the ceiling, or do they? There seems to be something on the top there. Hard to tell with those pictures.

What we usually do is put the fridge on the end of a counter, and just put a coversheet up on both sites, so that it is 'enclosed', but in theory its really just sitting there. There is a 635mm deep cabinet on top of the fridge that will usually get tray dividers or something like that. Or just leave it empty. Storage that you don't use that much can go up there. Its kinda high up, and most people will need a ladder or a stool to get something out of there, but it looks and works pretty good.

Dishwasher goes where you want it, depending plumbing of course. Rule of thumb is right beside the sink, since people put their dishes to the sink, and throw away the garbage and then load the dishwasher. On the opposite side you could put a pullout garbage bin that is mounted into a base cabinet. Its a pretty cool idea. There are two(or one if you want it) bins built in, and you can easily remove them or the garbage bag. It pulls out if you pull the door out.

Some people like the microwave on the countertop, some like it in a microwave cabinet. I'll upload a couple pictures that give you an idea. The other appliances like the oven, etc, etc can be built into cabinets, and I suppose if you really wanted to you could get whoever who does your cabinets to put a door over it. It looks damn good if they're exposed though.

Do you have any idea what kind of wood or color you're interested in?

I'll upload some pictures of projects we've done in the past.

Okay, I'll answer since she's at work. The paneling and the cabinets are gone. The french doors opening onto the patio are gone, with that wall opened to a new living room / patio area. The french doors might be reused in the master bedroom or something. We're really big on designing something to get us living outside more, as it's difficult in this house. In fact no porches and patios seems to be a theme with most 70's ranch styles.

As for the kitchen, we definitely want to embrace an open concept, with Anc's triangle in play. We are torn on the idea of an island, and may decide on a high table for eating. There will be no traditional dining room, eating will be split between some sort of casual table and a patio area. That's the plan at the moment, so keep any ideas coming. You may persuade her to give the dimensions of the kitchen area. We're already a contractor coming up with some ideas.

This is the exact set-up in my kitchen.

The island can be a good idea if you have a use for it. Most people actually don't, and for them its a waste of space. But if you turn it into a bartop or a 'high table' like you said where you can eat at, it might be a damn good idea. Whoever does your kitchen should be able to give you a better idea. Its really hard to tell from those pictures just how much space you have to work with.

If you do go with the 'high table' for eating, you could go half island for cooking and stuff like that, and the other half where you eat.

Also, if you have a high traffic house, with lots of friends over, etc, etc....I would personally recommend the island. It really improves the 'flow' of things such as getting drinks or food.

What about countertops? Granite is damn good, even if it is expensive. Good for cooking, good for keeping clean. Quartz has issues with hot/cold IIRC. Don't really have much to do with that part of the business as we outsource all that.

Wood? If you're going to get it stained, your contractor will probably suggest maple. I think oak is slightly less expensive though. If you go with the natural color, which for some reason I think you might, hickory, alder or cherry are really nice. Knotty Alder is really nice, but the wood is really soft, and it can dent or scratch easily. Cherry is slightly stronger, with a reddish color. Hickory is tough and looks really nice. If you want to go more expensive, bamboo is REALLY nice, and my personal favorite. I'll try to get a picture of my home office sometime. Recently redid everything with bamboo cabinets. Looks damn good. Went with an expresso stain though, which some people might not like.

Unless you like the European style cabinet....

Put the French Doors in the kitchen. That way when you are in the kitchen you can still be connected to the outside. And it's a quick trip between prep area and consumption area.

Quartz has no temperature problems that I'm aware of. I've put quartz (zodiac) counters in two kitchens now and never had the least bit of trouble with hot cookware or frigid stuff right out of the freezer.

I might be an unknown customer if your outfit works northern Virginia.

Also, notice the differences between the cabinets going to the ceiling, such as the picture Lanz quoted. There is a 85mm gap at the top, and we fill it up with a L shaped filler that we can two step. The 2nd step is the small piece that goes up into the corner. The other way is to not go up to the ceiling. There is about a 250mm spacing I think, and they put crown moulding or something like that on the top. Couple pictures up there show it. Upside its cheaper, downside is a lot of crap gets up there....which you don't see, but some people can't stand it. And you also lose a lot of space. Granted you would have to always get a ladder to climb up there, but its great for storage.

We have a Jen-Air indoor grill on our island which is useful in the winter. The rest of the surface we use as a prep area. I agree with Azure, though, that they very often are a waste of space. I like it because I can face away from the cooking area while working with a knife (easier to be social) but what I'd really like is one that is much bigger, with a significant amount of space for people to eat at, do homework, etc.

Maybe its the other way around.

Quartz is a natural product with manmade stuff added, while Granite is usually 100% natural. I thought one of them had a problem with heat.

I'm sure the contractor Flow will use will give them that information.

No, we don't operate in Northern Virginia. Not yet.

This is why I recommend designing an island that is functional for whatever the Flows want to do. If you want to eat, maybe have one side higher up or something, with the other side lower for cooking. Its very nice if you can prepare food at it, along with your normal countertop behind you. Easier to just turn around instead of running around from side to side to get stuff ready.

Yeah...It sounds like I'll just be quiet. My renovation work is more along the lines of flipping. If cabinets are fundamentally sound I'll paint or stain them and add new hardware. It is surprising how much you can improve a dated look with something as inexpensive as paint and new pulls.

I'll browse home magazines where they'll talk about how, by watching costs, someone was able to remodel their kitchen for under $80,000, and I'm like "My house cost under $80k. And I did the entire remodel--kitchen, bath, floors, paint (inside and out), new roof, landscaping--even tearing down a room on the back and trips to the dump--for under $15k.

OK, I lied. One last, strategic admonition: balance your costs and tastes with what the market finds desirable and what a future buyer is willing to pay for. The best example for this is the soapstone countertops I always mention. No one who is buying a little starter home on a blue collar street is going to pay a premium for luxe countertops. And most people find soapstone a pain in the ass to boot. So I settled for something that looked OK and wasn't a "waste" of money. (Yeah, yeah, you can say "but I WANT fun fur on the ceiling!" Like I said, just keep it in mind and go for a balance.)

Oh, and before you gut the paneling and face whatever may or may not lie beneath, I will point out that you can get a very nice clean look by simply painting the ugly '70s paneling. If I were going to go back to Wisconsin to renovate Mom's house and I had sole input, that is what I'd do:

The existing bathrooms as well as some of the hallway cabinetry will most likely get some of the paint or pull treatment. Our thing with the kitchen is that it doesn't work for us, we'd just as soon start anew.

We'll do the tear out, we told the contractor to get us to sheetrock, where we'll take over. Aenea is queen of the tile, and I'm a halfway decent carpenter.

omg you have to keep the red carpet - it's amazing.

Here are some pictures of my office. Redid it from hickory style cabinets and the island to the bamboo style expresso stained cabinets with the Cambria top. Its manmade, but great for the office. The fridge is pretty cool too.









Just throwing out ideas for you here. Bamboo is a lot more expensive, but its strong as hell.

Love the bamboo idea. The kitchen is roughly 12 by 20 I do believe and that is going from the pocket door of the utility room to the wall on the other side of the table in the "dining room". That far wall I want to be all cabinets. With an area where my appliances can be tucked away out of sight but very accessible. To the point that all I have to do is open up a cabinet and start using the blender or whatever then close the cabinet when done.

I would love the dark cabinets but worry about doing it with the wood in the rest of the house. The paneling is not nice bead board that would look good painted.

Placement of the fridge sink and stove are worrisome. We really don't want to box in the fridge as we may go bigger or smaller later on in life. The stove is easily moveable but the sink. Not so much as it is a slab construction. So it will probably stay in front of the window. The Island will be for eating, cooking, baking, rolling out dough, and homework.

The brick stays. It's a lot better than the yellow brick we currently have and painting brick....well it's best not to say anything.

The double doors will be taken off and reused in the master bedroom to come out onto the new outside patio. The current patio area will be enclosed on one side by the master suite and the other two will be done in the glass accordion doors. Pricey I know but its the outside lifestyle we want to live.