After 200 days of construction and two weeks of decorating by Better Homes & Gardens magazine, my extensive renovation of a 1926 Tudor-style home, known as the Kuppersmith Project for the former owners, is finally complete.
Watch this video as I take you on a top to bottom tour of the finished home, including:
- Entry hall with built-in bookcases.
- Living room with refinished heart pine floors.
- Opened up staircase with landing.
- Upstairs bedrooms with remodeled bath.
- Dining room with corner display cabinets.
- Expanded kitchen with new cabinets and countertops.
- Family room addition with view of backyard.
- Newly added back porch with retractable screens.
- Master suite bedroom and bathroom addition.
- Paver patio and landscaped yard.
- New garage with storage system.
Further Information
- Before and After Tour of the Kuppersmith Project House (video)
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
After 200 days of construction and two weeks of decorating, the Kuppersmith home is complete. If you’ve been following the project for the whole 13 weeks, it’s finally time to see the results.
Behind the rustic charm of our custom front door waits the entry area Joe created with his wood and glass partition. The window seat and informal hanging space for coats and bags is the first clue that this is a home to be lived in, not just looked at.
Beyond the partition, the living room is slightly more formal but still very comfortable. The fabrics, furniture and accessory that Joe chose for the room worked wonderfully with the warmth of the wood floors, and the natural light offered by all the new windows. Of course the centerpiece is that fireplace mantle we worked so hard to preserve. We knew it would be worth it and obviously it is.
The stair hall in this home was one of my favorite features from the beginning, and now that it’s opened up I like it even more. At the top of the stairs, the two smaller bedrooms seem larger than they are, thanks to plenty of daylight streaming through the windows.
The refinished wood floors add plenty of warmth, and the new woodwork we created in the home’s traditional style could make you swear it was the original. The larger upstairs bedroom was once the master, and it could be again, if not for the fact that it shares the single upstairs bath.
I’m glad we were able to save this fireplace because it’s a great compliment to this room and the nook created by the dormer is a perfect spot for this reading chair. The Jack and Jill style is modest in size but very well laid out, with a double vanity in the walk through space and the shower and toilet behind a separate door. And if you thought the view of the staircase from the first floor was beautiful, it actually gets better up here from the kids vantage point.
Back downstairs the formal dining room has all of the elegance you would expect in a home of this age. The splashes of color we added in the china cabinets and with the wallpaper panels are set off wonderfully by the light pouring in from the bay windows.
Next door the kitchen continues the traditional theme with simple, clean-lined cabinets, and acres of antique heart pined floors. But mixed in with the old are splashes of new with the contemporary vent hood, appliances, and fixtures.
The kitchen is wide open to the family room. This area is light and bright. The massive sliding doors to the back porch get some credit for that, but the colors and materials used here amplify that natural light several times over. The room gives you a calm, peaceful feeling, something most family rooms could benefit from.
The recessed entry to the master suite offers it some privacy and the bedroom itself is exactly the relaxing retreat it should be. Views of the backyard and access to the deck add to the open feeling we gave it with the raised ceilings. And the furnishings look so comfortable, they make you just want to take your shoes off and stay.
Down the short hallway, the master bath has ample room with its double vanities and vaulted ceiling, but doubtless the most popular features will be the Bain ultra vessel tub and the oversized shower with the Moen ioDIGITAL controls.
For outdoor relaxing the back porch will be hard to beat with the new patio furniture Joe picked out, and the motorized screens and skylights will ensure it’s the comfortable place in almost any kind of weather. The paver patio makes the perfect transition from the porch to the beautiful back lawn. And the sound of the flowing water in the fountain adds the perfect soundtrack for relaxing.
Garages are meant to be functional by nature, and this one can do a lot more than just house cars. It’s a good size to start with, but it’s also well organized to maximize the available floor space, and it looks good to boot.
The outside of this home stays true to its roots. Lots of cool angles and different materials put together in interesting ways. But because those materials are low maintenance, it should look this way for years and years to come.
