I'm not sure...
It has a definite urban vibe. It was built out as a completely separate unit, and is a pretty vast space at just over 5,000 square feet, so we kept it simple. Clean lines, minimal fuss.
Here it is on the day of our first walk-through. This floor just exuded charm. How could we resist?
The dropped panel ceilings with florescent lighting was particularly compelling. As was the lovely paneling.
Finally, some clean lines and minimal fuss. But, I need to know who on earth picks out that precise color of green paint. I see it everywhere in buildings of a "certain age", and I feel queasy every time. However, I love the pinky-peach folding chair, sitting there all alone...
I couldn't ever figure out the floor plan in this space. I was forever getting turned around. I suppose in over ninety years of the building's history, there were plenty of opportunities to rearrange and put up random walls. Places to hide the clutter.
Pay particularly close attention to the linoleum floor tiles. They will be important later.
This area was used for the actual church services, at the end. The congregation had dwindled down to a mere handful, and using the sanctuary for services seemed inappropriate. So they moved downstairs to a more intimate setting.
I will note at this point that there is another church of this denomination less than two miles from here. So, these parishioners were not left without a church home, they merely transitioned to the new one.
Here is the original kitchen, probably added in the sixties, where I imagine many a church supper was prepared. It cracked me up that the wastebasket was still here, with a clean bag in it. And the dishcloth casually drying on the sink, like someone would be right back to finish cleaning up.
In actuality, the building had been vacant for many years before they unloaded it on us we bought it.
So here we are after a little over a year of demolition and reconfiguring. All the dropped ceilings were removed and recessed lights were added. Superfluous walls were taken down, which added to the "loft" feeling.
Minimal.
The new kitchen is still somewhat of a work in progress. The upper cabinets were a result of measure once, and then order. And then order again, seemingly without measuring at all.
It will ultimately get corrected, but for the time being, we moved on.
The backsplash and island top will also be getting a makeover at some point.
Again, moving on.
But this... this is the piece-de-resistance. A favorite trick of Daughter's. Order two separate refrigerated units. One regular fridge, and one freezer. Put them side by side, and get the trim kit that finishes them off as one unit. Voila! Fifty-four cubic feet of space for a fraction of the price of SubZero™.
Genius. And I love the JennAir™ cooktop, too.
There is a small area right off the kitchen that was once used as the coal room for the heating system. We wanted to keep it intact, sooty bricks and all, so we had these wine storage units built to slide into the spaces that were left after removing the old bins.
The plumber will be cutting that pipe off at some point. So I hear.
And
"someone" will make a new window. Details, details...
Remember those linoleum tiles? Well, here's what we found when we had them scraped up. First we found out that 90 year old tiles are extremely hard to scrape up. Second, we found that whatever they used for glue back in the day was formidable to say the least.
But the other thing we found was that a very cool pattern was left when the tiles were finally gone. Kind of like a crocodile print.
We had the floors sanded a couple of times to remove the residual glue, then three coats of concrete stain were applied in a warm tobacco color. Finally they were sanded again and sealed. And because there is so much floor exposed in this space, it is the first thing everyone asks about.
And then they ask why no one lives here.
That's right, this space is not being used as a residential unit at the moment. It is being used by all of us as office and creative work space, and often by The Boy as a place to race office chairs on the polished floors. And sometimes we watch movies and eat dinner here just because there is so much room, and a calm and serenity about the whole place. Not to mention cool and dark, which has come in very handy in the Texas summer.
And during the day, the construction guys upstairs know they can find one of us down here. Then they drag us up two flights of stairs to ask yet another convoluted technical question that make my eyes absolutely glaze over. Okay, so that's just me. Daughter always has the answer. I often wonder exactly when she got so smart. And so construction savvy...
So that is why we can move on at the moment from finishing out the kitchen the way we really want to.
We do have bedrooms, though. Three of them, and three baths. They remind me of a nice hotel room, except there's not much generic art. Or any, really... but that's because, hello, no one lives here.
My sister and I did stay here for a few days a couple of weeks ago, and we would like to report that the beds are super comfy and the coffee maker rocks!
Four and a half stars! We had to deduct points for the lack of room service...
For those of you worrying that we weren't accomplishing much on our behemoth project, rest assured. It is coming along, and it is beautiful.
