FOR YOUR HOME

Help! Our house needs a complete makeover!

Undoing prior bad makeovers and getting back to counter clutter by installing a Microwave Drawer by Sharp into the island. Black granite was selected for the surrounding countertops, and the new white Cristallo granite for the island. This is a beautiful replacement option for those of you wanting the look but not the maintenance issues of Bianco Carrara marble. Triton Stone Group has a great selection. The fabrication and installation was skillfully handled by Metro Stone and Granite, a regular part of the FYH Team. The backsplash was a combination of tiles from Daltile and American Olean, also installed by Metro. For sinks and faucets, Blanco had the best selection. I wanted a deep bowl stainless sink that could fit into a narrow cabinet base. I selected a more contemporary style faucet from their Culina semi-pro series. Matching pot filler in the cooking zone provided instant water for the busy chef. All About the Pipes did the install. Appliances are the heart of a well designed kitchen. My choice for this project was LG-Ones new Studio Collection of appliances. A large capacity, low profile, energy saving 4-door French door refrigerator with ice and water dispenser, a fully integrated steam dishwasher and a true convection electric range with oversized oven and cook surface completed the kitchen appliance package. For the laundry area an ultra capacity Steam Washer and Steam Dryer from LG-One will keep the family clean and tidy for years to come. In the end, the homeowners got a beautiful custom designed kitchen that exceeded their expectations. Our FYH Team enjoyed working through these rough issues and challenges. For me, well, Im busy looking for our next For Your Home project, but maybe well tackle a newer home this time. Keep those emails and requests coming. , Look for Vicki Paynes show, For Your Home, airing Thursdays on WTVI at 6:30pm. foryourhome.com basics is my expertise. After spending time with the homeowners, discussing their daily lifestyle and reviewing the surrounding spaces, I decided to enlarge the kitchen space by removing the wall between the kitchen and the adjacent laundry room. Removing walls is not for the faint of heart. Before you take a sledgehammer to that wall know what you are getting into. Marcel Papineau from Intelligent Design Engineering is our structural expert. He reviewed my plans and gave us the green light as well as the specs for the new ceiling beam that would have to be installed to support the load. Our lead carpenter, Bill Albritton, with the help of Joe Balich, handled it from there. After your GC, your lead carpenter is your key to a successful remodel. Working with Plain and Fancy Cabinets and their local dealer, Cabinets by Design, we created a new kitchen layout that would provide maximum storage and countertop space while keeping with the original style and integrity of the home. The new laundry area was discreetly hidden behind pocket doors. A study desk was designed so their son could work on homework while the stay-at-home Dad cooks dinner. Open shelves were perfect for storing cookbooks. The island was enlarged to accommodate six for

Pick Me, Please Pick Me!

TEXT BY VICKI PAYNE PHOTOGRAPHY BY GERIN CHOINIERE

For Your Home takes on kitchen renovation in older Myers Park home
EVERY DAY WHEN WE OPEN UP OUR EMAILS and retrieve our phone messages, we discover hundreds of viewers with home improvement issues, from What color should I paint my dining room? to Help! Our house needs a complete makeover! Its not easy deciding where the For Your Home Team and TV cameras will go next. Our standards are high. We only consider the ugliest homes. The homes that present challenges that represent a majority of our viewers issues. One of the makeover winners this season was an out-of-date kitchen in a Myers Park home built in 1939. Like a lot of older homes, this one had seen its share of badly done remodels and add-ons. The existing kitchen had been updated in the 70s and was completely worn out. Most of the drawers and doors didnt open and close; there were layers and layers of old flooring, paint and wallpaper; and the space was dark and confining. Just perfect for us!
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quick meals or family get togethers. We extended the countertop dividing the sink from the laundry area for additional workspace, folding laundry or for seating guests. We designed the kitchen with work zones in mind to achieve maximum functionality for a busy family. I kept the color scheme light. The homeowner was so tired of heavy dark wooden cabinets that she requested white all around. For interest I added a custom blue painted island base. Plain and Fancy is known for their ability to customize any color or cabinet style to fit any homeowner or designers dream. Keeping the cabinets neutral allows you to easily add color to the walls, accessories, artwork and stools. I elected to replace the four layers of old floor tiles with beautiful hardwood flooring by Mohawk. Flooring America came to our rescue once we discovered multiple flooring issues as we peeled back the years. They did a wonderful job, and the new flooring ending up being exactly the same height as all four of the transitions to the surrounding rooms. Remember my mantra, remove and return. Countertop work space is always in high demand when you are creating a new kitchen. We eliminated
C H A R LOT TE L I V I N G | 43

you are thinking about tackling a major project like this, dont even think about not hiring a qualified, experienced General Contractor. They are worth their weight in gold! Older homes present a unique set of problems. Our first was the potential presence of lead paint and asbestos. Any home built before 1978 is required by law to be tested for toxic chemicals. This can sound like an expensive and complex issue, but let me reassure you that it was pretty simple and affordable. Working with EL1, we learned there were both lead paint and asbestos flooring issues. Working with the same FYH Team, project after EHG/Demolition handled the material remediation and removal in just a couple of days, and the entire process cost less than a few thousand dollars. A successful remodeler has to take into consideration two key factorshow does the family use the space and how can I remain true to the original feel and design of the home.

project, gives me the inspiration and assurance to tackle a project like this. Team leader and General Contractor, Karen Mancuso, owner of I on Design, had led the Team on last seasons kitchen renovation featured in the September/October 2010 issue of Charlotte Living and had done an outstanding job. If

FOR YOUR HOME

THE CHALLENGES OF UPDATING AN OLDER HOME

Be prepared for the things you cant see.
Old homes present scores of behind the wall problems, and in this house we had more than our share. There is no replacement for skilled, knowledgeable and flexible tradesmen when you are tackling a project like this. Some of the issues we had to deal with that were beyond the norm would have been too much of a challenge for average homeowners or tradesmen. It also helps if you have flexible homeowners that realize there are certain things that just cant be done because of the age and condition of their home and checkbook. ELECTRICAL Nothing met code. It had been added to over and over again. MI Electric did a fantastic job. They rewired everything including moving and upgrading power boxes and brought the home up to code so it could pass inspection. PLUMBING A mixture of copper and plastic piping mixed with homeowner do-it-yourself disasters had to be replaced and all brought up to code. All About the Pipes did a fantastic job. FLOORING Layer of old tiles, plywood and weak subfloors required Flooring America to completely rebuild and refurbish the subfloors before they could install the new hardwoods. WOODWORK Keeping true to the original homes design required custom wood moldings created and installed by lead carpenter Bill Albritton. A four inch variance in ceiling height from one side of the room to another would have been a challenge for anyone else but Bill. DRYWALL Getting 70 year old walls to look like new takes true craftsmanship. Chiodo Custom Paints smoothed out all the problems we could discover, and believe me, there were lots. A finished paint job is only as good as the drywall preparation, so dont skimp on this step in the process. PROJECT TEAM Albritton Custom Carpentry William Albritton, Joe Balich 704.607.3607, albrittoncustomcarpentry.com All About the Pipes Plumbing, Inc. Christopher Vigna 704.559.5288, allaboutthepipes.com All My Sons, Chris Bournias 704.344.1300, allmysons.com/charlotte/ Blanco, Christy Emens 800.451.5782, blancoamerica.com Cabinets by Design, Ann VanDyke 704.339.0222, cabinetsbydesignllc.com Chiodo Custom Paint, David Chiodo 704.408.6619, chiodocustompainting.com EHG/Demolition, David Brummitt 704.280.4010, ehgllc.com EHG/Demolition, Jonathan Ervin 704.506.4012, ehgllc.com Ei1, Lars Aamoth 704.593.1146, EI1.com Green Apple Painting, Ray Akers/Evie 704.843.2733, gogreenapple.com Habitat for Humanity, Gerald Beiersdorf 704.560.0910, habitat.org I on Design (I), LLC, Karen Mancuso 704.858.1324 IDE (Intelligent Design Engineering) Marcel Papineau 704.634.3328, IDECharlotte.com

KITCHEN RENOVATION RESOURCE GUIDE

Metro Stone & Granite, Angie Romano 704.283.3041, metrostone.net MI Electric, Marc Lovisa 704.280.6595, MI-Electric.com The Flooring Pros, Arlo Rice 704.889.2591 theflooringprosflooringamerica.com PRODUCT GUIDE Cabinets Plain & Fancy Cabinets, plainfancycabinetry.com Lighting Kichler, kichlerlighting.com Appliances LG Studio Series, lg.com Queen City, queencitytv.com Sinks & Faucets Blanco, blancoamerica.com Flooring Mohawk Flooring, mohawkflooring.com Countertops and Tile Triton Stone Group, tritonstone.com Metro Stone & Granite, metrostone.net Daltile, daltileproducts.com American Olean, americanolean.com Paint Home Depot, homedepot.com Plumbing Supplies Ferguson, ferguson.com Special thanks to Home Depot

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