This is fabulous! I love that you've really honored the mid-century feel.

Beautiful! I know you will love it.

So often it is hard to renovate MCM and stay true to the spirit of the house, but you really improved on the original. Your new kitchen looks more at home in the house than the one that was there (which seemed oddly clumsy for a house that appears to have good bones.)

WOW! What a combination of vision and honor! Everything that you installed feels like it could be original, but with a gleam. You must be so proud and so relieved. Have you shared the remodel with the architect?

Thanks so much for the positive feedback! Yes -- "relieved" IS a very good word for how we're feeling (and contented :) We agonized for months over the design and details, wanting to preserve the home's historic style while still incorporating contemporary functionality, conveniences and details that were important to us. It would, for ex., have been more true to the home's origins to have replaced the original Formica with new laminate, but neither of us really loved the contemporary versions and my DH (a geologist) wouldn't contemplate the engineered alternatives. So we spent forever looking for granite slabs that we hoped would complement the fireplace, the original range hood and the stone we had picked out to veneer over the white brick oven surround (which was too damaged by 50 years of grease to restore.)

palimpsest -- I agree the original kitchen seems clumsy (although we liked the layout). The orange "puppet show" blinds and the stone benches attached to the brick island (which apparently were originally meant for live plants)certainly didn't help. :)

alabamamommy -- The architect passed away a number of years ago, but his son is currently president of the construction firm his father co-founded (which is now quite large and specializes in commercial construction) I'm getting up the courage to write to him in hopes that he may have the original blueprints. This was his boyhood home, so hopefully he will approve our updates. His father's office -- complete with the original drafting table, desk lamp, built-in blueprint drawers and chair -- was untouched when we bought the home. It's now my study (minus the drafting table put in storage) and was a great source of inspiration during the remodel.

MCMesprit - that is absolutely fantastic. I'm incredibly jealous. As I scrolled through the "before" pictures I was a little nervous - it was so great originally, I worried a bit about the after, but as palimpsest said, you respected what was there and improved upon it. Well done. I just love it. Love the cabinets.

For an architect's house, that was a pretty bad kitchen and bath. I guess he didn't cook.

Thanks for fixing it! Nicely done.

This is so beautiful! I don't know much about MCM but I really love what I've seen. What a tasteful way you've updated without changing the feel of the house! I am trilled for you.

Fantastic! I think you're going to hear a lot of the best compliment that a respectful renovator can get from guests: "This is gorgeous! Wait, was this here? No, it's all new. Isn't it? Wait."

It's sort of an idealized, fantasy version of what could have been there originally. Yet it's very now as well. Perfect choices.

My first thought was that the original architect would be thrilled with how you updated his (probably a "he") vision. You took a forward thinking older home and brought it forward while integrating it with the original panache.

I love how it looks like a newer, better, version of what was there and makes it what it was meant to be!

Bravo!

OY my gosh...what a great house to start with, even with the idiosyncrasies...wow. I'm beginning to realize I may never have a house like that, and that one fact is giving me a midlife crisis bigger than even a red Tesla roadster can fix.

Anyway, enough about my aching jealousy : ) -- as everyone has said, that's really wonderful, insightful work all over. My favorite little thing is the 45 degree boomerang shelves in that corner -- that's just inspired. How did those come about? I've never seen that before and it will be seared in my memory (and in my photo files : )).

And what was that tiled pony-wall-height thing in the original pics? Tiled in the same tile as the bathroom. Was it a Japanese soaking tub put in the middle of the kitchen, perhaps? Nuke-safe-bunker?

(and what did you do with the original dining set? If you're done with it... : ))

AWESOME! So glad you preserved that fireplace and chimney! It all looks as if it belongs...well done. I hope I do as well when we finally get a chance to do our kitchen. (I want to save it from its early '90's update...)

I really don't care for MCM.

I now realize I just haven't seen it done well !

You did a beautiful job. It's at once new and fresh, yet it is so restrained that i would believe it was original.

Enjoy your spectacular new space.

Ach, how could I forget: I'd love to hear anything you want to share about your pottery collection...and I also love how you found contemporary facing for the stove column that echoes the original fireplace! Excellent work.

Very nice job! You really worked hard to preserve the bones and ye infuse them with new life, and it shows. Looks terrific!

What a great restored space and with leaving so many of the original features you've definitely maintained the MCM tradition. The ceilings, the paneling, colours, - it looks great. Congratulations.

This is a real treat; a lovely job that is truly respectful of the home. I love it. Congratulations!

You've done a fantastic job. I knew a bit of what you were doing, of course. Scrolling through the befores was making me a bit sad to see what was essentially a cool kitchen, entirely of its period, looking so tired. You did an excellent job updating it. I kind of miss the intention of the old planter, but that was one of the features that, using Palimpsest's appropriate word, was clumsy. And the cushion makes me think it was a very long time since it had been planted, anyway. The tile on the oven column isn't authentic, but it sure looks good! And it does, like the other elements, preserve the intention if not the fact. And the table is gorgeious!!

I don't usually comment on reveals anymore, but you deserve a standing ovation for walking that tightrope between update and preservation so beautifully.

Kudos.

Thanks so much everyone for the kind words. It means a lot to hear from so many who "get" our house. DH and I are from the west coast, but here in the upper Midwest homes like these (despite F.L. Wright's Wisconsin roots) are much less common. According to a long time resident of our city (she's lived here since 1949), this was "a very controversial house" when it was built in 1959. When I asked her why, she replied (with a twinkle in her eye) "Homes in this town are square"

I've attached a few more photos of the main level(living room, entry hall and stairs to second floor) to give you a sense of what made us fall in love with the house as soon as we walked in despite the obvious need for renovating the kitchen/laundry/half bath. Very few updates in these photos aside from new carpeting, painting of the stair rail, and wood veneering of what we fondly call "the pennants" (an original design of the architect).

fori -- I agree the half bath was awful! The architect's wife obviously had a greater say in the master bath. Think classic 50s PINK. Everywhere.... We're keeping it :)

marcolo -- you're so right -- that would be the best guest compliment! We've haven't yet had many guests since the last work was completed but we've heard this from several. Others (including a few best friends) aren't sure why we moved from a newer home they liked much better: one reassured us upon leaving that the renovations WERE an improvement! Sigh.

flyleft -- we so much appreciate your eye for detail. We too love the boomerang shelves -- would you believe they were an oops afterthought? We had originally intended to leave that corner empty (partly for cost reasons) and simply reveal the fireplace stone. But when the original cabinets were removed, we discovered that the fireplace stone did not go down to the counters but ended 2 feet above it. The new cabinets were already completed but our cabinetmaker whipped up this shelving design in less than a day -- his genius not ours. The "tiled pony-wall-height thing" in the laundry is actually a dog bath/shower. Original. Reinforced concrete. Took our GC and his crew a day to demolish. The original dining set belonged, alas, to the previous owner who sold us the house. (The home was filled with original period style furniture when we first viewed it -- amazing.)

mtnrdredux -- Believe it or not, we weren't particular fans of MCM when we saw this house (at least, any more than we liked craftsmen bungalows, late Victorians or Tudors.) But the big windows and vaulted ceilings and all the cool angles quickly won us over....

A FEW SHOTS OF THE LIVING ROOM, ENTRY HALL AND STAIR RAIL

stair rail to upper level (it's a split level)

Living room seen from informal dining area in back

View of fireplace from entry hall

Entry Hall

pillog --just saw your comment after I posted the last pics. Thanks for the kudos! We used limestone on the wall surround to cover the (impossible to restore) white brick. We too love the new bar table. It is actually the SECOND table to be installed. The first was a casualty of the pendant lighting above it which fell during installation (fortunately without the glass.) Pockmarked the top terribly and we couldn't repair it because it was a veneer. Happy accident -- we replaced it with a solid top that is both more beautiful and durable :)

Congratulations on the wonderful renovation of your beautiful home! I'm sure that during the quiet of the night, you can hear your home giving a sigh of happiness with the changes you've made. Give yourselves a well deserved pat on the back for a job VERY well thought out and done. :)

I'm in awe. It's really beautiful. So 'right' for the home style, but so much richer, lighter, and more comfortable than the before. Do you, by any chance, have floorplans of before and after? I'm really trying to absorb what all changed and what things remained situated as they were.

Nicely done.
A true inspiration to all of us who believe in keeping
to the original design while creating more beauty to live
with. You must be so excitecd to just enjoy your space.
Thank you for your fantastic transformation.
~boxerpups

I've seen it said many times on GW, but this is the first time I've felt it: This house makes my heart sing!!! It has what is most intriguing to me about MCM: a beautiful blend of finishes, angles and the unexpected.

The only thing I can add is that if your town has a house tour fund raiser, you need to sign up immediately. If not, start one. Everyone should see this house!

Such a fantastic house and fantastic update. I'm a MCM fan and you did it right!!!

Nancy

Wow! Just wow! What an amazing remodel! I love how you kept that MCM feel, but made everything lighter and brighter. Love the boomerang shelves. Sad to see the doggy bath go(Just kidding!) Beautiful job on all counts. You must just bounce when you walk through those rooms.

Amazing renovation - ditto all the comments above. When we bought our home in Wisconsin we too thought we'd be looking at more Frank Lloyd Wright-ish looking homes but they were very few and far between. And I'm usually a sucker for a white, "traditional" kitchen but yours is one of my all-time faves.

Holy smokes, it is just TDF. You really have kept the integrity of the house while skyrocketing it to high end.

The original pics were fun to look at, so quirky with that patchwork tile and that island thing. I'm imagining very stiffly-postured guests sitting on bar stools on top of the stone threshold turning carefully to look behind to make sure they are not about to topple off. Or, very tall giantlike guests leaning across that threshold to lean on the bar. ;)

You have a beautiful home, and clearly, a great eye for design. Lovely!

Good grief...I think I would have fainted upon walking into that house, just from the entry fixture. You won the mcm house lottery for DARN sure...

And that *divine* room divider-planter piece -- just makes me weak at the knees.

And re the boomerang shelves: your cabinetmaker deserves MAJOR recognition for his outside-the-box thinking...literally : ) WOW. Good for him.

I laughed out loud reading about the tile dogwash in that prime real estate!! Just unreal. So carefully and decoratively tiled : )

I'm thinking you should send pics to Atomic Ranch, seriously. Not to speak for them, but I can easily imagine they'd love to do a feature on your house.

OH, I forgot: when you have time, I'd love to hear about your pottery...

And a side note re the furniture: did you ever consider bidding on it too? I would have : ) But maybe the owners were a bit attached to it themselves...

This house is very lucky to have had you take it on. You did to it what needed to be done. Brings me back to the best of the MCM homes of my childhood. Nice vision and nice work.

I'm not a fan of MCM, maybe because I just didn't know much about it. But if that's MCM, then I like it! You did an amazing job making sure every detail didn't stray from the spirit of the house. I, too, like those corner shelves. Your cab maker is very creative.

Congratulations on perfectly capturing the intent of the house. The kitchen looks like it's been there all along. Wow!

Yours is one I have been waiting to see. You definately didn't let us down. You and your DH did an amazing job at preserving the integrity of the home. I want to say that it looks more original than the original if that makes sense. It feels more in line with the home than the original to me. There are so many fascinating and well done elements and I love that y'all kept the original vent hood as well. Enjoy that great space. It is very welcoming.

Oh ... wow. That's a wonderful update.

I don't miss the puppet show at all.

It looks wonderful. I'm an MCM girl, too. Like Sochi, I was taken with the original so scrolled down with a bit of trepidation. But you did a great job keeping what worked, doing away with the truly obsolete, and adding new with an eye toward compatability with the style of the home. Bravo! When I saw the other pictures of your home, it made me smile. I would feel a little like Doris Day every time I walked in the front door.

I could cry, I love it so much!!

FANTASTIC!

Speechless... in a very, very, very good way!

Thanks again everyone. I just wanted to add that we definitely shared the "trepidation" some of you mentioned when we first contemplated renovating the spaces. I think in retrospect it was a good thing that the job of selling our previous house prevented us from moving into this home until a month before the demo began. I think if we had lived here for very long it would have been much harder to take on such a big remodel (and I can definitely relate to why the second owners chose to change nothing.)

We couldn't have accomplished this without our fantastic GC and cabinetmaker. Our cabinetmaker took our original vision and made it so much better. It was he who designed the shape of the bar table to match the angle of kitchen counter and designed almost on the spot the boomerang shelves when we discovered that the fireplace stone didn't go all the way down to the counters. His company does custom work at very reasonable prices -- if you live in the Twin Cities area, I can recommend them highly.

rhome410 -- below is the original floor plan. The home is a split level (the floor plan shows only the top floor of the split levels) The only structural changes we made were: 1) to eliminate the wall of cabinetry and shorten the half wall between the kitchen and dinette area; 2) lengthen the half bath by removing the doggy bath in the laundry area

{{gwi:1921889}}

ellendi -- great idea! in fact, our home will be part of a home remodeling tour later this summer

AngAx -- I agree that homes in WI are more standardized than we were used to (we are originally from the west coast.) However, after buying our home, we became more attuned to finding the MCM gems.... they are here and SO much more affordable than on the west coast. p.s. I love white kitchens too :)

flyleft -- your enthusiasm cheered my DH up amazingly! (He is overall very happy with the move and renovations but at times laments the year of our life dedicated to it :) Re: the pottery on the boomerang shelves, the vintage cannisters were a gift from a dear friend in France. The rest have been purchased from artisan potteries in France.

louisanapurchase -- "looks more original than the original" -- wow -- thanks so much. We couldn't have hoped for more.

javachik -- It sings to us too! Thanks!

WOW I love it! You did an amazing job. I'm SOOOO jealous. I would love to see your "pink" bathroom. My great grandmother had a pink and black one and it was always my favorite thing of her little house.

Just an amazing job and an amazing tribute to the integrity and style you chose to keep. You should both be soooo proud. I can't exclaim any more then the previous posters... they said it all. But, they are all so right... it's a spectacular renovation. Congrats and ENJOY!

remodelfla -- thanks so much!

As I mentioned a while back in this thread, we agreed to participate in a local remodeling tour to thank our GC, cabinetmaker and all the subs that made our reno possible (and kept us sane... :) The tour was at the end of August. Crazy -- 400+ plus people visited over two days. It felt like a GW marathon...especially when a fellow GWer introduced herself, saying she had seen this thread and had to visit!

What was especially cool was that about a dozen descendants of the original architect (who built the home for his family in 1959) came and shared their memories of growing up here, sharing the holidays etc.... They liked the changes too -- and that meant so much to us.

Just now found this page as we were deep in our own renovation when you first posted.

Cannot add any further praise. Your remodel should be featured in a magazine. It was above and beyond what most of us have on our plates (not that a regular remodel isn't difficult). You both showed remarkable sensitivity to the home.