A 1932 Colonial Revival House Remodeling

The best home remodelings sometimes are the most subtle.  This 1932 Colonial Revival home in historic Olde Beechwold (Columbus, Ohio) needed updating, but didn’t need a dramatic overhaul. The new owners moved from another home in the area, and already understood the potential of this Colonial Revival house remodeling.

The classic lines and symmetry of the home remained untouched outside.

The biggest change was in this room – originally the den as shown above – but a perfect place for a completely new kitchen, opened up to the living room.

My first sketch of the new kitchen showed a slightly different arrangement of appliances, and the dining room table between the living room and kitchen.  Later in the process, the dining area was moved to the old kitchen area.

Here’s the new kitchen from about the same view as the photo and sketch above.  The wide arch opens the two rooms to each other.

Another view of the old den shows the gorgeous bay window, which was one of the reasons I thought this would be much better as the new kitchen.

The new kitchen, seen through the new arch, and showing the bay window with a new upholstered bench seat.

This is the old kitchen, just after the cabinets and countertops were removed.  Note the door to the right.

That door was also widened with an arch, opening to the parlor to the right.  This room is now a dining room and bar, with a sink, dishwasher, and custom wood countertops.

This is the other side of that new arch, seen from the TV room, looking into the dining room/bar.

I don’t know who decided plaid wallpaper was a good idea!  This is the old cramped, chopped up back hallway, looking towards the half bath, before I redesigned it.

The new back hall (bath door at the right).  We opened up the hall to the living room/kitchen, and added a closet and two built-in cabinets for the owners’ everyday “stuff” – keys, phones, etc.

Making the new kitchen and back hall work properly required some structural changes, but most of the rest of the house only needed updating and repairs.  Here’s the old half bath – this lovely home deserved so much better!

The new bath is far more appropriate for this home, don’t you think?

The existing screened porch was already perfectly located – right off the living room, next to the kitchen – and only needed a little elbow grease and paint to bring it back to life.  Outside the screened porch is a new patio, part of a tremendous landscaping plan by local Landscape Architect Will Lehner.

Above the screened porch, a decrepit rooftop patio is accessed from the front bedroom.  A new permeable paver system from Azek was added over the old black rubber roofing, and after a little wrangling with the local historic commission, a new wrought-iron railing replaced the dangerously rusted original railing.

Also on the second floor, this window seat was built into a bay created by the existing flanking closets. The top of the bench seat is hinged to reveal storage space below.