a split-level fixer-upper: downstairs remodel -after

Monday, January 14, 2008

downstairs remodel -after

and finally, some after images. the new bathroom got a soft cork floor and of course a new pocket door (with sandblasted glass panel to let the light through) so no more swinging out into the hallway although the hallway is a bit wider, the walls were moved a bit.

the new curved walls of the shower are tiled with 2-inch tiles and the new toilet is sitting under the new area we took away from underneath some stairs (see angle of the wall above toilet). the mirror is from IKEA but we attached lights to its two sides.

there is a spacious new closet (compared to what it used to be) inside the bedroom, and the stairs are now moved over to the entrance; the "drop" is no longer between the hallway and the bedroom.
what a difference!
thank you cj and tj for the beautiful work here!

Welcome

“There was a time in my life where I remember thinking to myself hey, you know, you're doing OK. You're not even 30 and you're married, you own a home and you have this career. And you really have your ($&*#) together and you've really sorted some things out, and you should be really proud of yourself.
And then I remember thinking that a house does not make you a better person, or a more complete person. It's just a house. And it's the things that you do in that home, and who you do it with and all that stuff, that's far, far more important.”
(Kathleen Edwards,
NPR Interview, Jan 2012)

A cookie-cutter split-level

"the split-level is an original type that represents a significant time in the history of North American housing, the postwar building boom (and it) has a cultural value worth preserving.
(…) this is unlikely to occur until the split-level acquires widespread cachet, which it currently lacks, or the stock becomes endangered.
Right now there is a surplus of cookie-cutter split-levels strewn across the continent. These buildings will continue to come down – which is wasteful, because many of them are structurally sound. When people talk about sustainability, they are usually referring to new architecture (...) but when you figure that most of the energy that goes into a building comes from the one-time act of construction, you are already ahead when you can keep a building rather than demolish it."
(Dwell magazine, Dec/Jan 2008)