Living Room/Kitchen/Bathroom

Geoff MRT

This is a renovation/remodel I did in Sea Isle City, NJ back in 2005. The house is circa 1860's but had been trashed by renovations and repairs over the years and on top of it all the house was moved about 10 blocks to the "back bay" area (where it is now) in the 40's. It was never set well and a big flood on the island in the 60's undermined the center supports in the crawl and the center of the house settled for 20 years before it was stopped. Too little too late.

The paneling on the walls stayed because the plaster behind them (what's left) is crumbled and gutting the place would have just been throwing money at a house that isn't worth any more renovated than it would be a burned out shell. If the present HO sells it, the grapple would be sitting out front while the HO was at closing. It's par for the course down there. Why have a nice 19th Century house when a beautiful side-by-side with pressure treated decks could sit there.... The HO loves her house and is one of my favorite customers.

These three rooms were all in the same area of the house and the HO wanted the theme to carry through. We remodeled the entire first floor, these pics are just 3 out of the 9 rooms/areas they have. My favorite is the back living room we did the year before with a 12' slider and side lights that go out to the back porch that's right on the water. I couldn't live on these islands but, if I had to, this house would do.

The drop ceilings hid wires and heating pipes. The old "fan pole through the ceiling tile" worked until the fan became unbalanced and wore a gaping hole through the ceiling. The HO wasn't sure what to do but told me to get rid of the drop ceiling and never wanted to see one again...outside of Walmart.


We built a ceiling from 2X4's (no pic)to level out the belly and covered it with 1/2" plywood so we had a mountable surface across the entire room.


We built artificial beams from poplar (the other white meat) by making long, 3- sided boxes than attached to blocks on the ceiling. Before installing them, the plumber ran new flex lines along the blocks and the electrician ran the wires as well. In an emergency (and for a pile of cash) the beams could come down to get to the pipes without destroying anything. The boxes went up in one piece and we stacked multiple crown and bed moldings to tie into the crown around the top. The beams are made from 1X8 bottoms and 1X4 sides that meet at the corner with a 5/8" quarter round trim to give it a beaded look. The ceiling has the coffered look but, the beams are spaced far enough that they look like fancy summer beams. The beadboard is unfinished birch that was primed on both sides (it's on the water) and nailed to the plywood.



The ceiling fan was a surprise for me as the blades look like sails. She thought I'd like it as I'm a sailor and would often leave her job early on breezy days to go sailing. It keeps me sane...


I don't have any before pics of the kitchen but, take the before pics of the LR, make the floor slope 4-5/8" within 12' and add home-made, plywood cabinets with Plexiglas door glass and an old electric range. Add a bad 1950's linoleum and luan doors and the fan pole through the tiles.

She wanted hardwood floors throughout the remodel so she decided on Bruce maple, pre-finish, cinnamon. The cabinets are solid maple, factory painted with the ripple glass. (Not my thing because I'd have to keep it all organized)



Same beam effect on the ceiling. The range hood was made by a friend of the HO from stainless. She wanted to match her SS backsplash and he has a metal shop so he offered to do all of it. Something about a gifthorse...

The countertop is all Corian. I had to build a shelf to sit the bases on as the floor, like I mentioned, was 4-5/8" from the far corner to the door to the LR. When you walk from the sink to the stove the cabinets rise about 2-1/2". It took a little getting used to but the HO could have cared less. She had a new kitchen after 25 years of the other...thing.


The bathroom was for the most part a closet. We stole the closet from the next room and widened the room to 7 feet. I protested the hardwood floor in the bathroom but she insisted. Who am I to argue? Luckily her husband has a "man's bathroom" off the MBR to take a shower. Slipper tubs aren't the most spacious things. The entire house has baseboard heating. We made wood covers for them with an interior cowling that sends the heat out through the front screen.


There's a 3" plate rail through the entire bathroom. The ceilings are almost 9' so it helped with the beadboard being 8'. The room is still too small to get a full picture but, it's pretty much standard after that.

Magnettica

I love the way the new ceiling looks. Fantastic job. The claw foot bathtub (is that what it's called?) and old school shower liner hangar brings this house back to what it might have looked like in the 19th century. How anyone could have hung a suspended ceiling in that living room is beyond me.

Looks great!

And the wooden covers for the BB heat is also a real nice touch.

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