June 2024 Home of the Month
By Jason Teel
When my husband Philip and I purchased our home in 2021, we were looking to downsize or as I like to say, “rightsize”. We were ready for a challenge and our intentions were to do a light remodel and then move into the house while doing periodic major updates. We quickly realized that wasn’t going to be possible with our desire for a modern and open layout.
As a real estate broker of more than 28 years, I’ve assisted in many home renovations for clients, aided in the designs of new construction homes and have personally renovated 12 other homes of my own. Our goal was to work within the existing exterior walls and to keep a mid-century feel while using clean modern materials.
Our interior square footage grew from 1,813 to 2,333 with the conversion of the attached garage. This allowed us to create a new kitchen, walk-in pantry, a small home office, powder bath and a large storage closet. Reconfiguring the existing layout and eliminating a central hallway provided space to enlarge the primary bedroom, ensuite and closet. A large laundry room is now where the original kitchen was and a wet bar with my must-have ice machine has taken the place of a small breakfast room. We created a home that is filled with natural sunlight throughout with the removal of several interior walls, enlarging many windows, adding five sets of French doors and two large sliding glass doors. To eliminate road noise and create privacy from Peavy Road, we added the front courtyard with an elevated deck that takes advantage of our seasonal lake views.
We are thrilled to share our story and are honored to be the inaugural home of the month. We feel that we have created the perfect home for living and entertaining alike. The result is a beautiful new home within the original exterior walls of our 1950s ranch. My wish is that more people would consider a renovation of this magnitude as opposed to bulldozing and building new.