Houzz Tour: 1960s Ranch Redo in Denver
This sibling team balanced their renovation budget by spending where it counts, and turned their Colorado childhood home into a showplace
Becky Harris
August 10, 2012
Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected."
I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia.
Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe... More
At first, a brother and sister could not imagine how to update their inherited childhood home. But by the time this whole-house renovation was complete, they knew they had to sell it to avoid a feud over who got to live there.
The house sat in a great location with a big, beautiful backyard but the siblings' attempts to get it sale ready (fresh paint, new carpeting) were not enough. "If you hit the right places and work creatively within a budget, often you can double your investment," says designer and general contractor Jonas DiCaprio of Design Platform, an architecture and construction firm. In this case, the home was worth $240,000 before the renovations, the renovations totaled between $70,000-$80,000, and the house sold for $370,000.
Houzz at a Glance:
Who lives here: New owners. During the renovations, the home was owned by a brother and sister who inherited their childhood home from their parents and wanted to get it ready to sell.
Location: Southeast of downtown Denver, Colorado, in the Bible Park neighborhood
Size: 2,639 square feet; five bedrooms; three bathrooms
Scope of the project: Full house, including gutting the kitchen and bathrooms, adding hardwood floors, opening up the floor plan, cosmetic changes to all of the bedrooms and transforming a basement workshop into a rec room.
Year Built: 1967
The house sat in a great location with a big, beautiful backyard but the siblings' attempts to get it sale ready (fresh paint, new carpeting) were not enough. "If you hit the right places and work creatively within a budget, often you can double your investment," says designer and general contractor Jonas DiCaprio of Design Platform, an architecture and construction firm. In this case, the home was worth $240,000 before the renovations, the renovations totaled between $70,000-$80,000, and the house sold for $370,000.
Houzz at a Glance:
Who lives here: New owners. During the renovations, the home was owned by a brother and sister who inherited their childhood home from their parents and wanted to get it ready to sell.
Location: Southeast of downtown Denver, Colorado, in the Bible Park neighborhood
Size: 2,639 square feet; five bedrooms; three bathrooms
Scope of the project: Full house, including gutting the kitchen and bathrooms, adding hardwood floors, opening up the floor plan, cosmetic changes to all of the bedrooms and transforming a basement workshop into a rec room.
Year Built: 1967
"The house had a lot of ugly maroon and green on the facade," says DiCaprio. "We needed to work with the brown roof and golden brown brick, so we went with a simple black and white palette." The architects also added a bright orange door to grab attention, and added the decorative concrete border to widen the very narrow driveway.
BEFORE: Inside, an entry closet cut the living room off from the dining room, creating chopped-up, dark spaces.
AFTER: The designers eliminated the closet, moved the kitchen into the former dining room space and added a large beam. Now natural light spreads from one side of the house to the other.
The designers saved money in the kitchen gut renovation by using black Ikea cabinets and then adding custom details. "Ikea cabinets are great quality and they cost about a third of the price of custom or semicustom cabinets," says DiCaprio. "While you can't refinish them, you can simply replace the fronts very inexpensively if you ever want a change." They swapped in higher-end modern Sugatsune pulls and handles.
The wall-mounted cabinet to the right of the range is also from Ikea. "It's shallower than a standard cabinet, so it doesn't affect the window," says DiCaprio. The backsplash runs up to the base of the cabinet, reflecting the light.
Glazed ceramic tile in architectural gray: Daltile
The wall-mounted cabinet to the right of the range is also from Ikea. "It's shallower than a standard cabinet, so it doesn't affect the window," says DiCaprio. The backsplash runs up to the base of the cabinet, reflecting the light.
Glazed ceramic tile in architectural gray: Daltile
The designers dressed up the cabinets by adding rift white oak details, wrapping the ends of the pantry, cabinets and island in the wood, as well as creating a custom rift white oak refrigerator surround.
BEFORE: This before shot was taken at approximately the same angle as the previous picture. The former dining room was transformed into part of the open kitchen. Look to the far left and you'll see the fireplace shown in the next picture.
BEFORE: DiCaprio moved the dining room in order to take advantage of this fireplace — well, this fireplace with a really dramatic makeover, because this one is not very appetizing.
AFTER: The new dining room takes advantage of the formerly outdated fireplace, which underwent a significant facelift.
"We covered the immediate existing surround in black grill paint that is fire-resistant," says DiCaprio. "We then covered the facade in El Dorado stone, which is a veneer. We finished it by trimming it out in rift white oak, which we also used in the kitchen.
"We also used 4-inch rift white oak on the floors," he adds. "Oak is a common ranch detail, but usually red oak. We chose rift white oak to freshen things up; it casts more brown tones instead of the typical ranch red."
"We also used 4-inch rift white oak on the floors," he adds. "Oak is a common ranch detail, but usually red oak. We chose rift white oak to freshen things up; it casts more brown tones instead of the typical ranch red."
DiCaprio knocked down more walls and created an open floor plan. The dining room and kitchen open into one another, which lightens everything up and lets the person cooking visit with family members and guests.
BEFORE: The guest bath and its salmon-colored countertop were, quite frankly, depressing. "I don't know why most of these ranches have those built-in soffits with the awful lights," says DiCaprio. The room had a blue bathtub, which he was able to reglaze and keep for just $300. "It would have cost at least $800 to replace the tub with an inferior quality fiberglass tub," he says.
AFTER: "By adding subway tile from floor to ceiling, we brightened up the space," says DiCaprio. The vanity is from Ikea; DiCaprio splurged on the custom-built medicine cabinet.
AFTER: DiCaprio borrowed a little space from another room to expand this bathroom. This allowed for a long, curbless open shower that doesn't require a shower door. The use of clear glass makes the room look much bigger.
Tip: Placing the faucet handle away from the showerhead, as you see here, makes it easy to switch it on without getting blasted by cold water.
"It's funny, we get some projects where the sky is the limit in terms of budget, but somehow working within a budget can spark more creativity," says DiCaprio.
More:
My Houzz: Rejuvenated Ranch
Houzz Tour: Cozy and Family-Friendly Space
Tip: Placing the faucet handle away from the showerhead, as you see here, makes it easy to switch it on without getting blasted by cold water.
"It's funny, we get some projects where the sky is the limit in terms of budget, but somehow working within a budget can spark more creativity," says DiCaprio.
More:
My Houzz: Rejuvenated Ranch
Houzz Tour: Cozy and Family-Friendly Space
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Awesome work I have a 60's ranch in Atlanta I would like to renovate and retire in.
That looks wonderful!!! Great renovation!