Darin of seed architecture studio is a new reader of plastolux and was eager to share his personal project. Darin and his wife did most of the work and have since sold the place. I personally think they did a killer job of utilizing and maximizing the space they had to work with. Darin, we are glad you found us and are so willing to share. Read their story and see more before and after pics after the jump.

The house was in complete disrepair when we purchased it. With a limited budget, and a baby on the way, we needed to work quickly to not only make the house livable, but make it something we wanted to live in.

In typical demolition fashion, friends and family were paid off with beer and pizza. The walls were all stripped to the studs so we could insulate with spray foam to really tighten up the house. The main level space consisted of living, dining, kitchen a dysfunctional bathroom and a bedroom. We left the dining and living rooms more or less in tact. To remedy a non-code compliant steep stair to the upper level, two of the stair treads were moved and integrated into a bench and built-in book case in the living room. The only remaining ‘character’ left in the house was a 2 sided built-in cabinet between the dining and the kitchen. Rather than remove it, we chose to refinish it and add cleaner hardware to make it current.

The rest of the kitchen was completely remodeled. In an effort to make the small space feel as big as possible, the eastern exterior wall was removed and replaced with a large operable window. Glossy white subway tile, white corian counters and white ceiling painte were all used to reflect light into the space. the western wall was covered with chalkboard paint. For spacial efficiency, a glass door refrigerator was used which we recessed under the stair. We had custom stainless steel shelves fabricated and used them instead of upper cabinets to hold every day items and to help the space feel larger. Some of the space previously occupied by the old bathroom was borrowed to build a large walk-in pantry. The rest of the space now holds the new bathroom and a small hallway connecting it to the kitchen. The new kitchen and bathroom have electronic radiant heated floors under slate tiles which we cut into strips.







The upper level of the house had two very small bedrooms, was dark, uninsulated and had a brick chimney from an old oil furnace running through it. We decided to turn the entire space into a master suite. In an effort to control cost, we determined early on raising the roof or adding dormers would be cost prohibitive for us. To open the space, we removed the chimney. The strategy we used to make the space as efficient as possible was to build everything in. We built the bed into one side of the room out of black walnut. Mirror runs around the base of the bed to decrease it’s visual size. Across from the bed is a long wall of storage shelves and TV behind sliding doors.







Operable skylights were used in the master bath both for light and ventilation, but also to increase the ceiling height in areas you might stand in (over the toilet and in front of the vanity). A two way mirror glass was used between the shower and the bedroom side to control shower splash, but also provide the only full length mirror on the upper level. Black walnut was used for the floating vanity cabinet and mirror was once again used under it to control it’s visual size in the space. Glossy black paint was used on the floor to make it recede and the walls and ceiling were painted white to maximize light.

http://www.seed-architecture.com/
See the floor plan here

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