Locale Design Build is honored to have been awarded a
2020 ROMA Award for our Remodel - Vintage Minneapolis.
Since 1982, Housing First Minnesota has presented the ROMA Award to remodelers to recognize creativity,
design and the remodeler’s ability to meet the client’s requirements.
Vintage Minneapolis
The starting point for this project was a creative couple with a beautiful 1930’s Tudor house in a quiet Minneapolis Neighborhood needed a new kitchen. They desired a more functional mudroom (the original was very cramped), a powder room on the main level, better access to the back yard and a new studio office space in the basement.
The solution was all about the details. The new kitchen’s vintage checkerboard floor, soapstone countertops, green cabinets and red stove all work together to create a unique and comfortable space that matches the uniqueness and charm of the rest of the home. The center island, with its stained wood top and seating for two, provides a nice workspace along with plenty of storage for root vegetables in drawers with custom screen panels.
Handmade, heated floor tile in the spacious mudroom provides a warm yet durable surface for winter boots and coats, while the peacock themed wallpaper gives a pop of color to the white tiled powder room. The new lower level studio space steps down to create a more spacious feel and we added high windows to fill the space with light.
Outside, a large new deck wraps around the addition, creating a covered stoop at the back door and connecting the dining room to the outdoors through the new pair of french doors. The new flat roof on the addition makes a great new rooftop deck right off the second-floor hall.
There were several challenges during this project. The most immediate was the overall height of the addition. The existing home had a small “Juliette” balcony accessed from the second level hallway and the homeowner wanted to be able to walk out in a similar fashion onto the new roof area. The existing home only had 2x8 floor joists. As a team we had to devise a solution that would be stiff enough to support the walking surface of the new roof, thin enough to allow the threshold of the existing door to remain as well as deep enough that we could get adequate insulation. The resulting “hot roof” with LVL framing and closed cell spray foam insulation as well as the additional sloped insulation on the roof allowed us to accomplish all of the goals.
A second challenge was to figure out how to get a comfortable new office space in the lower level. The existing basement had low headroom and very little natural light. The solution to this problem was to dig the new basement, under the addition, fourteen inches deeper than the existing. We created a structural ledge with concrete and rebar to avoid undermining the existing footing and to allow two steps down into the new space. We used steel studs and two inches of closed cell spray foam insulation on the interior of the concrete to add approximately R-14 to the R-10 insulation that had already been installed on the exterior of the foundation to create a very comfortable space year round. We also sized and located the windows in such a way to allow light to enter the space from two sides at all times of day.
All in all, this project is one that fits with the existing home but has allowed it to change as the owner’s needs have changed over time.
Locale Design Build is honored to have been awarded a
2019 ROMA Award for our Kitchen Remodel - Nokomis Kitchen.
Since 1982, Housing First Minnesota has presented the ROMA Award to remodelers to recognize creativity,
design and the remodeler’s ability to meet the client’s requirements.
Nokomis Kitchen
The starting point for this project was an aesthetically dated kitchen that was missing some key functionality and had become a traffic crossroads for people moving from one part of the house to another.
Our design eliminated one of three internal doorways to create a kitchen that is less pass-through and more destination. This gave the room more wall space and enabled us to move the sink to the perimeter, freeing up space for an island that is now a great workspace for the family that loves to cook together.
We simplified and enhanced the important connection to the family room with an elegant archway and centered the large kitchen island to give aesthetic symmetry and anchor the room.
Finding room for a desired banquette eating nook posed another design conundrum. The solution was to add a cozy corner bench to an underutilized niche in the nearby family room, creating a new favorite coffee and snack destination.
Photography by Spacecrafting
