Home Renovation & Design
I'm a true do-it-yourselfer. Lots of money is saved that way and along with being sure the completed product is just how I intended, the strong sense of satisfaction achieved is priceless.My Historic Orlando Bungalow
Located in one of Orlando's historic districts, my home is a circa 1924 bungalow that has seem some updates over the years. My goal is to continually renovate and restore the home to its depression era charm. Homes of that area offered simple amenities with natural wood trim and some architectural elements that gave construction at the time some flare and style. One of my renovations involved the restoration of my original wooden windows. Under 20+ layers of paint, some of my windows were painted shut. My work incolved stripping all the paint off, staining the wood inside, repainting outside, polishing the hardware, and performing any carpentry work to replicate and original wood that was damaged with a century of use.
Family's Pennsylvania Cottage
When my mother decided buy a lakeside cottage, we found her a small, 1930s fixer-upper. The goal was to not only add some modern conveniences, but also preserve and enhance the look and feel of the vintage cottage. The outside was covered in well worn, anachronism, 1970s aluminum siding that was also not only an unfavorable color. After pealing all that away and revealing the original wood, the search then began for dutch lap siding to patch up holes and even an entire doorway that had been covered over in the 1970s! Due to the closure of many local mills, the search for this specific cut of dutch lap became difficult. A two hour drive to Pittsburgh was fruitful as the only place that still carried the needed dutch lap. After I made the repairs, my brother and I blanketed the house in the new color - one chosen by my mother to be fitting for the resort-like area.
It was evident the existing kitchen was not original to the cottage as it was poorly constructed of fiberboard cabinets, plywood walls, linoleum, and was completely cramped.
My brother and I demolished the existing kitchen and removed all the non-bearing walls in an effort to open it up to the dining and living rooms. We removed the plywood ceiling to expose the ceiling joists. This greatly improved the final product by enhancing its cozy cottage feel while giving us a little bit more headroom.
We laid out the kitchen in a way that would maximize space, while creating a more welcoming atmosphere. I replaced the tiny window with one that would allow more light to enter the space.I insulated the walls and installed new bead board wainscoat on the walls before installing the new cabinets, fixtures, and vintage lighting.
