Adding More of a Good Thing to a Midcentury Modern Home
I love how midcentury homes often fit beautifully into their neighborhoods. Many are only a single story, with low-pitch roofs and subdued color palettes. The homes also tend to be small and are often in need of enlarging to accommodate contemporary households. Fortunately, designers have come a long way from the 1970s and ‘80s, when midcentury was out of fashion and additions often disregarded the original house design.
What is the best approach to making an addition to a midcentury home, while keeping the spirit of the original home intact? Should the addition harmonize or contrast with the existing home? Should the addition be placed out of sight from the street or be a new focal point? There is no right answer; it depends on the character of the original house and your own design personality.
The windows of the original house, on the left in the photo, were replaced and the striking white exterior was maintained. The addition on the right was designed to contrast with the original home through its natural cedar siding, making a clear distinction between new and old and highlighting the design of the original.
The addition is also set back from the original house, with a deck and trellis occupying the space that links new and old to respect the original. The addition features a metal roof deck and railing that forms an overhang to shade the windows, a contrasting riff on the original home’s simple roof overhangs.
The interior design takes a different approach with a continuity of materials and finishes that tie the new and old together. Natural wood ceilings and flooring flow seamlessly from one end of the house to the other. The architect replaced the original fireplace with a suspended rotating fireplace that captures the spirit of midcentury modern design.
Details That Count: Tips for Range Hoods, Appliances and Lighting
As a kitchen designer, I have developed many secrets for creating a successful kitchen remodel. Read on for some of my tips for getting the details of your kitchen — the hood, appliances and lighting — just right. Which one would you try in your home?
Before we get started on the details, I have one overall bit of advice: select finishes that you love, regardless of what is trending. Recently, I bumped into an old client and asked if she still loved her chartreuse kitchen seven years later. She does, and chartreuse is still her favorite color. Remember that trends come and go, and select the finishes that make you happy. Now on to design tips for your kitchen remodel.
Use door restrictors. Due to the projection of the hood, the doors on any directly adjacent wall cabinets will hit the hood when opened. To avoid dinging your beautiful cabinet doors, you have two options. You can add a restrictor to the door closest to the hood, keeping the door from opening past 90 degrees. Or you can use a door that opens away from the hood, as shown here.
Consider a ceiling hood. In the past, if you had a cooktop in your island, your only choice for venting, other than a downdraft, was a hood placed over the island. It then became a focal point, often obscuring sightlines. These days, I specify ceiling hoods to alleviate this issue.
Get a larger hood. Consider an oversize hood, as shown in this photo. A larger hood accomplishes two things. First, it becomes an umbrella that can capture more grease and odor than one sized exactly to your range or cooktop. Second, it increases the distance between the cabinets next to it, visually creating more openness.
Spotted! Sunken Spaces, Inside and Out
Letting in the light, blurring the boundaries between inside and out, and creating communal areas to gather with family and friends are almost always at the top of homeowner priority lists when it comes to renovating. But adding a box-like, open-plan living, dining and kitchen area isn’t always the way to go. As you’ll see from the houses below, a sunken room can not only make for a far more interesting home, it can also bring people together. And sometimes it just makes the best design sense.
In-Between Rooms
Locating a sunken kitchen between two rectangular volumes achieved two aims in this house. Architect designed it to maximize available space and to create additional opportunities for indoor-outdoor flow. Two offset rectangles sit at either end of the narrow site, and the kitchen serves as the bridge that unites the two. The design effectively splits the home into thirds.
Space Saver
Apartment dwelling is on the rise as cities encourage higher-density living over urban sprawl, but creativity is often needed to deliver the needs and wants of the homeowner within a confined footprint.
Split-level dwellings can make the most of the available space. In this London apartment on the ground floor, sinking the kitchen allowed for a mezzanine level overhead for extra living space.
The floor of the living area sits level with the kitchen countertops. Sealing off the kitchen with a glass wall keeps things hygienic without isolating the two rooms from one another.
Rethinking the Open-Plan Space
Open floor plans have become the norm in newer homes, and while there is a lot to love about this layout, there are times when having a bit more seclusion is welcome. See whether any of these dilemmas sound familiar, and determine whether an open layout — or an alternative configuration — is right for you.
Dilemma: You love older homes, but you’re not sure whether they will work for your family. Older homes can come with stunning original details, such as wood floors, built-ins, exposed beams and graceful architecture. They also tend to come with smaller, closed-off rooms — a far cry from the open floor plan model that has become so prevalent today. If you’re used to living in newer homes, it can be difficult to get used to the flow of an older home, even if you are completely in love with it otherwise.
Solution: Try a barn door. While it has become popular to tear out connecting walls from older homes to create a more open space, consider going with a more modest change — such as replacing an interior doorway or two with barn doors. Being able to slide the door out of the way can be an effective way to gain a bit more openness without knocking out any walls; particularly if this is paired with a wider opening.
Dilemma: You want to be able to hide the kitchen mess. When the cooking frenzy is complete, and you’re ready to sit down at the table, the sight of messy pots and pans in an open-plan space can detract from an otherwise lovely dinner — especially when you have company over.
Solution: Semiopen floor plan. Having some separation between spaces can help hide away the cooking mess without isolating you while you prepare dinner. In the space shown here, a pass-through counter with built-in cabinetry and doors on either side offers a gentle separation between the kitchen and great room
Data Watch: Renovation Spending Up for Younger, First-Time Buyers
Renovation spending among younger homeowners is on the rise amid a strong renovation market, a new research report reveals. Among the report’s key findings: Younger homeowners and first-time buyers are driven at least in part by a desire to customize their homes.
Millennial spending is up. Homeowners spent an average of $60,400 on their renovations in 2016, close to their average spend of $59,800 in 2015, the survey found.
Notably, millennial homeowners (defined here as those ages 25 to 34) invested 7 percent more in their home in 2016 compared with 2015, bringing their average spending level to $26,200.
First-time buyer spending is up too. First-time buyers also bumped their spending level last year, averaging $33,800, up 22 percent from 2015. By contrast, long-term owners saw just a 3 percent rise in average spending year over year (YOY).
Older homeowners spend more. While younger and first-time buyers are trending upward in their spending, older homeowners still spend far more on their home renovations than the younger group. In fact, those ages 55 and older spend about three times the amount of those ages 25 to 34.