House Renovations Are Put On Hold For Now

We spent nearly a year planning the renovation and addition for the house. The plans that Tim did are amazing. The kitchen that Suzi designed it exactly what we wanted. Unfortunately, we have decided that we will have to wait at least another year before we build. Cie Le Vie! But the project is shovel ready!!!

We did finish painting the outside. The house is in great shape and ready for whatever comes next. I guess I'll just have to focus on the gardens for now.

Finished painting  Spring of 2012

Here it is! The Old Purple House

We bought the house, sight unseen, when we first moved back to Henderson in 1998. Even though my husband had never seen the house painted purple, if anyone asked where we lived, he always responded "the old purple house". He had never seen the house painted purple until I brought this picture home this week. I found the picture in the files at the Kentucky Historical Society. They included it in the filing for  the Alves Historical District Application. I actually think it looks pretty good purple. It may be a good thing I didn't have this picture when I was picking out paint last year for the house.

724 Center Street in the 1980's

The Final Architectural Drawings

Nearly Final Drawings

We met with Tim Townsend today. He had the drawings printed on large architect paper. The project is beginning to feel real. It's hard to believe that we've been working, off and on, on these drawings for over two years. Horace went to the meeting with me and I was very glad. Tim spent most of the time explaining how the foundation and the floor joists and roofing systems were going to work. The span in the kitchen area, the hearth room and the portico are pretty large and without posts they will need some substantial beams, footers, etc. I am posting the next to the last drawings. We should have the final drawings soon!!!!!

Planning & Zoning Approves the Variance

Horace and I were in Washington DC touring a post revolutionary war mansion when we got the word that Planning and Zoning had approved our variance. Dennie said they not only approved it, but were anxious to do so. Dennie felt strongly that a large investment and life extension to a home like ours would be right up the Commissions alley. And he was right!!! We only had to make one change; make the portico a little shorter. Tim Townsend says that easy.

All we have to do now is get the kitchen design finished and priced and probably make some changes after we see the costs. Get the final drawings done and get prices together for that. And then find a bank interested in financing the project. Not to much. :-)

Renderings - The project starts to feel real

I called Dennie Branson today and like him immediately. I learned that he used to own an Italianate house up the street next to the funeral home. Sadly, it has since been torn down. But he clearly understood old house issues. He was great. He knew exactly what to do.  I quickly realized that Horace & I would be out of town when Planning and Zoning met next, but Dennie was confident that he and Tim could handle it. And after talking to Dennie I was confident too.


Dennie said we needed actual pictures of the house and computer renderings of what the addition was going to look like. This is when the project really came alive. The renderings took the flat drawings and showed you what it might really look like. After three years of imagining the addition I got a real picture. Now I had to control my enthusiasm, after all, we didn't have the variance, we didn't have the financing and even if we had both it is getting awfully late in the year to start such a large project.

The portico and driveway really made the project. Those two elements to me pulled the project together. Without them I think the addition would feel incomplete. And the convenience of a driveway after 12 years of parking on the street would make me feel like we were living in a new house.

Tim tied the portico in to the house so that there were two permanent parking spaces plus a circular drive. You could park and walk into the new side entrance. The kitchen would only be steps away.



   

Working with Tim Townsend to modify the design

The final plan for P&Z

Tim instinctively knew that the simple expansion wasn't going to give us enough room for everything Horace and I wanted in our new area. But the plans that he drew took too much space out of my garden, something Horace and I agreed was unacceptable. So one afternoon in the fall of 2010 I went to Lowes and bought engineering flags and tape and staked out my idea of how we could use the more of the side yard and less of the garden. It was basically Tim's design turned around a bit.

Knowing this is the last house we'll probably live in during our lifetime,we've spent a little more time making sure we've thought of everything. We wanted a bar area, expansive prep area, a cozy seating for two for dinner, a working fireplace, a den area, and a powder room. At least that's where the list started. Then  I realized I had the idea to add a driveway and a portico. Twelve years of parking on the street and carrying the groceries in the rain was beginning to get old.

After I got everything taped off I brought Horace out to the yard. He agrees it could work and goes back inside. I think GREAT! I call Tim and have him draw up the new ideas. The first drawing was short of what I had in mind, but the second on was right on. So I took the drawings back to Horace and he claims he had never heard this idea before. Geez! Men! Then I took him back out in the yard showed him where the tape had been several months earlier and showed him where he was standing when we discussed the changes. His memory was slowly coming back.

After Horace finally remembered how the drawings originated I told him the bad news. Tim says we'll have to get a variance because the new design gets a little to close to the street. This is where I am reminded that I am married to a former Chairman of Planning & Zoning. And tells me he thinks I'm making the project to difficult. But Tim's advice was sound. He said design the house you want and take the time and trouble to get the variance.

So I  ask Tim what do we do next. And thank goodness he knows the answer. He says call Dennie Branson. He's your go to guy. So I did.

A Kitchen Designer?

So Tim says upfront I am not an interior designer. He says that you can call a custom cabinet shop and they will help you lay out a kitchen. But I have a client whose wife is a Certified Kitchen Designer, so I call her instead. Her name is Suzi Brock and she is in Tallahassee Florida. I contact her first through Linked In. And that's how our long distance relationship begins. I had contact Suzi several months earlier but I wasn't in any hurry so we really hadn't made any progress until I contact her again this month.

I now have a pretty solid idea of the space we have to work with and I have my dream list ready to share with anyone willing to listen. I have collected pictures from kitchen design magazines for nearly three years. I don't know what I can afford but I know what I want.

The wish list I share with Suzi is pretty long:

• Commercial Grade Stove;
• A warming oven;
• A double drawer dishwasher and maybe a regular dishwasher;
• Two Islands;
• Two sinks;
• Lots of storage; and
• A wine captain.

Horace and I want to work in the kitchen together, but we have very different styles and need distinct space. We want to entertain and have plenty of seating area around the kitchen islands. I want a pizza oven but know they are prohibitively expensive, but I have seen counter height gas logs that create the same look. I want a hood over the range and a maybe a pot rack.

I think after I have shared all this with Suzi we'll have a drawing that works in no time. But Suzi is a professional and she knows there is a lot more to it than a wish list. Suzi, like Tim, proves sometimes you just need a professional.

So Suzi sends me a list of questions for homework:

• How high will the ceilings be?
• Melodie's height _______________, right or left handed
• Horace's height ________________,  right or left handed
• Grocery shopping - daily, weekly basis, in bulk
• Do you know yet what material you will use on the floor?
• Any children/others living in the house?
• Any pets __________, if so, where are they fed and do you know of any specific provisions you want/need?
• Where do you intend to eat daily meals; do you want a table in the kitchen or is bar/island seating sufficient?
• What entrance will you use to bring in groceries?
• When entertaining do you have a sit down meal or buffet? 
• Are there any physical limitations or dietary needs to accommodate?
• Do you use the microwave for cooking or simply reheating?
• Do you do any specialty cooking: baking, canning, pasta making, etc, with special equipment that needs to be considered?
• Thinking of your current kitchen, previous kitchens you've worked in and any friends kitchens:  what did you like, what did you dislike?
• Do you like symmetry or asymmetry?
• You mentioned a private garden off the kitchen ~ will that be behind the house or through the double french doors off the family room?
• Do you like having a pot rack?

The questions seem simple, we'll have to wait and see if this is simple.

Hiring an Architect

Horace and I had spent enough time dreaming about a new kitchen that we felt like we could do it ourselves. But we had never done a project like this  so we decided we needed an architect. I had never thought about hiring an architect before so I wasn't sure who to talk to.    And then one day I was telling my brother about our idea and he reminded me that a friend of his from high school was now an architect in Henderson, but more importantly, he had done an old house project right after school and currently lived in an old house. So I gave Tim Townsend a call. I knew immediately he was going to be a good fit. We spent an hour talking about how important maintaining the original design integrity of the house was. Basically, we wanted an addition that would look like it had always been there.

So I invited Tim over to the house for a tour. He took a lot of measurements and we talked about everything we would want to include in the addition. We explained that we wanted to square up the house, have a kitchen and sitting/entertaining area. It seemed simple. But a few weeks later Tim sent back a drawing that had the basic idea with a couple of extras. Tim explained that to get everything we wanted in the addition we would need a little more room so he added a hearth room. Horace was certain that the additional section was not in keeping with the style of the house. But I knew Tim was right about one thing, we needed the extra space. So we let the plans lay for awhile. Three or four months later we started talking about the plans again, but this time we did a little more homework. Turns out Tim had added a standard feature (with a twist) of an Italianate home that we were missing. Our house didn't have the tower, cupola or bay window. Tim's addition, actually made the house more authentic rather than less. With that settled, Horace was ready to talk to Tim again.

We were still struggling with the way the bay area of the house was situated. We have a wonderful side garden and we didn't want to loose anymore of the garden than we absolutely had too. So we talked to Tim and he came up with a few more ideas.