It was an unseasonably cool weekend we had for the Tour of Remodeled Homes here in Louisville! From noon to 6pm August 10 and 11, 2024, guests visited– and voted on– nine homes recently renovated by seven local companies, including Bailey Design + Build.
Beautiful blue skies and temps in the high 70’s, low 80’s greeted design enthusiasts, future remodelers looking for ideas, curious families, and other attendees from across the region to homes scattered throughout the city. What a great time to visit each home remodeler as they presented their innovative design ideas, emerging home technologies, and solutions to homeowners needs.
Bailey’s entry for the year is a gorgeous two-story brick home in the Old Brownsboro neighborhood, purchased by the current owners in 2021.
This first-floor remodel included the kitchen, laundry, mudroom, pantry, sunroom, family room, dining area, and a powder room. The 1,100 square foot remodel involved refreshing the floorplan so that it made more sense to the family. We opened up the kitchen and took the laundry room out of the center of the house.
The owners asked us to honor the original design of the home, but to update the interior so it felt both timeless and modern.
Our award-winning design for the kitchen removed the dated marble countertops that required a lot of maintenance. We warmed up the room by replacing the old white cabinets with wood stained ones. And we redesigned the peninsula that was crowding the dining space and instead added an enormous quartzite island. This island has been a huge hit with the family and is used throughout the day. It’s a great space for dining, sipping coffee while reading a book, or entertaining– serving as a bar or a buffet or as a casual space to gather. The whole kitchen was fitted with new GE Cafe appliances, and above the range we added a shelf that has proven to be perfectly utilitarian and useful as a place to store cooking items like oils and seasonings.
We also added a much-needed pantry by co-opting an under-used dining room and turning it into more functional spaces for the family. The walk-in pantry has apothecary style shelving and vintage-feeling floral wallpaper, so it’s both beautiful and practical. The wallpaper was from the Eijffinger line #316055. The arched entryways to the pantry and mudroom/kitchen areas were a design choice by the client to add another element of interest to their everyday space. In general, arched doorways can add elegance, sophistication, visual interest to an opening, In the case of this home, they also offer a softness contrasting with the sharp angles of the vaulted ceiling at the opposite end of the room above the table.
Moving the laundry room into that old dining area also made more sense than having it right in the middle of the floorplan. It adjoins the new mudroom, the third space that was created from the dining room. The mudroom opens up to the attached garage.
The pantry, the laundry room, and the mud room, born from the under-utilized dining room, are now some of the busiest rooms in the house!
The remodel included adding new energy efficient materials like new windows and a mini-HVAC unit for the sunroom that previously had temperature-control problems. The sunroom was too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter and only being taken advantage of during select moderate times of the year. Now the family has all-season use of the room, which has gorgeous views of the home’s lawns and gardens, and it’s quickly become a favorite place for them to gather. Adding the bathroom off the porch was important for those days when the family spends their time in the pool or when they have a group of friends over to enjoy the outdoor space. It’s nice to not have to walk through the house but rather to have it convenient and accessible to those at the pool.
It was a great experience participating in the Tour of Remodeled Homes, as it is every year. And we were proud to debut this home alongside illustrious local builders and designers who belong to the Building Industry Association of Louisville. We hope you were able to visit us this weekend. And if you would like to know more about remodeling your own house please call us at 502-749-1586.