syncopated architecture

1765 Oak Street

Architects make terrible clients. And, in this case, it was even worse because I was my own client and this is my sanctuary. It’s so easy for me to narrow down the options for my clients, but making decisions on my own project was a bear of a project.

I bought my home in 2008 thanks to the help of a family member. The unit had been tenant occupied for decades. The walls were yellow, and black soot rectangles stood out from the tenants use of the fireplaces without clean dampers. Every room was stuffed to the gills with furniture, making each space feel cramped and crowded. The kitchen and bathroom were terribly dated with horrible vinyl flooring and ugly wallpaper. A rear addition done in the early 1900’s didn’t make any attempt to match the historic trims, moldings, or even window heights/proportions with the remainder of this Victorian beauty.

As we say in the industry, this unit had great bones. Once I narrowed down my plethora of options and had enough money saved up to start renovations, the bathroom, kitchen, and rear bedroom renovations went very smoothly. As a designer, I love to use color. I so rarely get to in my practice, but in my home, I finally had the opportunity to follow my vision. I stayed very true to the historic character of this 1891 Victorian home, matching trim details, moldi

Credits

• Contractor:

  • Terence Keenan Construction
    Doherty Restoration
    dohertyrestoration.com
    415-695-1494

• Photographer:

  • Victoria Kait
    https://www.circumpunctstudio.com/

• 
• The first project I tackled was the bathroom renovation. The thick, putty quarry tile countertops and wall tile were replaced with Caesarstone, a clean white subway tile, and decorative glass tile accent at the shower. The sheet vinyl flooring was replaced with marble tiles left over from one of my client’s projects. The wood vanity with broken drawers was replaced with a beautiful semi-custom vanity, maximizing every single inch of storage space. I installed a double-hung window in place of the off-center jalousie window, and had the contractor match the door casing and wall base to be consistent with the rest of the house. The plaster medallion and crystal chandelier added the final polish to the finished project.
• Several years after renovating the bathroom, I was finally able to tackle the kitchen and the back bedroom. I love to cook and entertain, so the former kitchen was a nightmare for me. I only had about 5’ of counter space, many of the few drawers I had were broken, and the vinyl tile looked dirty all the time, even if I had just washed it. It was an absolute relief to transform this space into the stunning kitchen the unit deserved, and it’s made entertaining a breeze.
  
  By removing a water heater closet next to the stove, the space opened up, allowing room for a center island, tons of cabinet space, and a major improvement on the amount of work surface. One of my pet peeves as a designer is kitchen cabinets that stop below the ceiling. Here I took full advantage of the 12’ ceilings, running the cabinets all the way up, and installing a rolling library ladder rail to access the upper cabinets. I carried the same historic trims and moldings into this room so it feels original. The highest compliment I get on the space is when people think it was always this way.
  
  I was on a tight budget for this project, but I splurged on the appliances. A 6-burner cooktop was a must, and so was the double wall oven. One of the ovens is a steam oven. It’s hands down my favorite appliance.
• The rear addition at this house always made me crazy. The doors and windows were a different proportion than the rest of the house and set at different heights. The trims didn’t match any other part of the house, and the carpet was absolutely abominable. Also, the closet protruded into the room at an awkward area, making it impossible to center any furniture in the room. Even worse, there were a pair of doors to the rear deck and yard that were pushed too close to the adjacent wall, making it difficult to put a dresser or any other furniture at that end of the room. Right when I moved in, I tore out that nasty carpet and put in hardwood to match the rest of the house. But the full renovation had to wait almost a decade for me to save up.
  
  When people see this room now, they can’t believe it ever looked like the “before” pictures, but it did. Now, all the trims, moldings, light fixtures, hardwood, and even the ceiling medallion match the style in the rest of the house. The large windows face the rear yard, bringing in the morning light and view of the swaying treetops. It’s a tranquil, quiet resting place.