Plaza Midwood / Club Road Project

We finally got around to uploading photos of this 2013 renovation in Plaza Midwood just as we heard the lovely homeowners are leaving the state and have put their house on the market.

Last year, this bungalow on Club Road got a new second story with master suite and office area, updated kitchen and new laundry/mud room last year. Check out the real estate listing here.

Club Road: After

Club Road: Before

 Thanks to Poprock Photography for these images.

Before & After: Dilworth

As with most of our projects in historic neighborhoods, the front of this Dilworth project on Buchanan Avenue doesn't show much change. That's intentional. We love for most of Charlotte's old houses to keep contributing the same curb appeal to their wonderful neighborhoods as they always have. But houses need updating, and modern familes want amenitiies and space that old houses don't always include. We enjoy the process of designing interior and rear upfits that provide those modern renovations without sacrificing the architectural integrity of beautiful communities.

Buchanan Avenue: Front, Before and AfterBuchanan Avenue: Rear, Before and After

And here is what happened inside: (see full photo gallery here)

Small Addition, Big Improvement

Even a newer home sometimes needs some reimagining. This recently-built Chantilly house lacked storage space and a small screened porch off the kitchen wasn't being fully utilized.

By adding some additional square footage in place of the porch, we were able to add a new space beyond the kitchen with a breakfast nook, powder room, bookcases and cabinets for mud-room-type storage, and a mini-fridge for easy patio party service.  The renovation also allowed for a new closet downstairs and a large walk-in closet upstairs.

The result is a smarter space that feels much larger than the square footage added.

 

Before and After: Southpark Kitchen and Outdoor Spaces

Thanks to Poprock Photography, we finally have some pretty pictures of a pretty renovation we completed last year off Carmel Road.  See the entire album here, but first, how about some Before-and-Afters? 

Homeowners Sasha and Carl Trosh had a great home in a great South Charlotte neighborhood, but the kitchen was showing its age and their kickin' backyard needed a better perch from which to enjoy it.

Enter kitchen designer Michelle Sutton.  She redesigned the layout, rearranged the flow of the space, making the room feel much larger.

The breakfast area of the original eat-in kitchen was modified to add a new doorway to the new back deck, and bulky furniture was replaced with built-in cabinets and a built-in bench to serve as a mud-room area for coats and bags.

Before: Breakfast Nook AreaAfter: Built-in Cabinets and Bench, New Door to New Back PorchThe previous kitchen layout had big, heavy appliances and cabinets on the interior wall, leaving behind it a dark hallway.  In the new layout, the door to an adjacent dining room was shifted and enlarged, and an opening was cut into the wall to let light into the hallway. 

Before: Interior Wall with small doorway to dining roomAfter: Interior Wall in new layout features a larger door and opening to hallwayAs for the rest of the kitchen, it's just lovely now, isn't it? Great workspace, great new island for casual dining, and loads of beautiful finishes.

Before: Original Kitchen Layout and FinishesAfter: New Kitchen (hubba, hubba!)One other kitchen detail we must point out... the amazing island!  Michelle was visiting the shop of our cabinet vendor when she spied this beauty, a remnant from a bigger project, perfect as a centerpiece for this kitchen.

 

The old dining room got a facelift with new paint and hard wood floors.  It opens onto a stunning renovated screened porch.

Before: Dining Room, dark and carpeted, in use as computer room.After: Dining Room, in use as dining room, wth shiny new hardwood floors; Great opening to screened porchOh, that porch!  We could happily spend the rest of our lives in this cozy screened room or the open-air deck that connects it to the kitchen.

We are feeling more relaxed just posting photos of that deck, imagining it on a cooler day than today's record temps.  Sweet tea, anyone?