Their program would require additional square footage, reworking the upstairs to provide 3 bedrooms with large closets and ample bathroom space with enough privacy for three girls, and updating everything.

A two main challenges to this project were fitting 3 usable bedrooms and a large bathroom into a upper level space which currently was unusable for anyone taller than 4’10 and the small kitchen could not be expanded due to the interior layout and lack of backyard space for a main floor addition.

The solution was to remove the portion of the upper level which was creating the height restrictions and replace it with a teenager suite – a space with soaring ceilings, which would add usable square footage, a private water closet, private shower, and areas for 3 girls to get ready and perform their make up routines simultaneously before school each morning.

We updated everything in this to-the-studs remodel & addition, along with all new insulation and fiber-cement siding (we hired professionals to remove the existing asbestos siding during an asbestos remediation project before we could begin).  Inside, we refinished the existing 100-year old oak floors and in the kitchen, where only plywood and vinyl remnants existed, we chose to install an espresso-stained, hardwood floor in a large-scale chevron pattern to create a feature since attempting to match the 100-year old floors would be more costly option.

A year later, when the homeowner left the city for a new job, he sold the house and profited by $75,000 – a 26% return on his investment!