When Renee and Todd Pfeil moved into their Upper Arlington home two and half years ago, they knew it wasn’t fulfilling its potential.
They contacted Charlie Griffey, owner of Griffey Remodeling, and decided a two-story addition and remodel of their home was in order.
First on their to-do list was to change up the original full bath and add a master bathroom. Prior to the renovations, the Pfeils had only one full bath, which they shared with their son, Sebastian.
Griffey moved the features of the smaller bathroom around to add depth and privacy.
“When you walked up the stairs, you used to come straight into the bathroom,” Renee says. “You could literally see the toilet from the front door. It was terrible.”
This modification made room for a new master bathroom, which the family says is the most functional of all the changes.
Entering the bathroom, there is a curved vanity with furniture feet on the bottom. On each side, before reaching dual sinks, there are individual closets – one for Renee and one for Todd. Each has built-in shoe racks and shelves. After these, on the right, is a glass shower, complete with a marble seat.
“We cut a slot in the bathroom counter top where it connects to the shower,” Griffey says. “There’s counter space inside the shower. It’s an added place to set razors or any other bathroom supplies.”
Above the symmetrical bathroom is a vaulted ceiling with wooden beams – an idea Griffey conceived while bumping the walls and ceiling out for added space. This may have been the most difficult aspect of the entire project, Griffey says.
“We had to reframe it and add a new header,” he says. “It’s an everyday thing we do, but it’s the most challenging.”
Next on the list was to create a home office for Todd. The space, originally a four seasons room, lacked aesthetics, functionality and, most of all, security.
“That sunroom was a fishbowl, and we never went in it,” Todd says. “We could lock it up from the inside, but not from the outside. The office was my only personal request. I’m in sales, so I can work from home, and I’ve always wanted an office.”
The office transformation resulted in a change to the exterior of the home. Griffey added stone siding to the back of the house to match the front.
“This was all Charlie’s vision and it’s become one of our favorite changes,” Renee says. “The back was so ugly before, but now we like our little porch.”
Griffey added a back entrance to the home, so the family can walk from the detached garage straight into the house. He also added more space for a laundry room, successfully bringing the washer and dryer up from the basement.
The renovations took a total of five months and brought about some challenges for the family.
“We had to renovate in shifts,” Griffey says. “There was only one bath, and they lived here during the project. We built them a miniature shower in the basement. It was a little inconvenient, but we did the best we could to accommodate them throughout.”
“For a while, we had to shower in the basement, stop at the kitchen sink to wash our faces and brush our teeth, then come upstairs to do hair and makeup,” Renee says. “I thought it was going to be bad, but it wasn’t.”
The Pfeil family considered completing their kitchen project along with the rest of their home, but the process would have been too difficult to manage all at once. However, they plan to get their kitchen finished soon, with Griffey as their partner.
“The kitchen layout is very similar to one we’ve already done,” Griffey says. “We want to open the space up and add an island. We want to update it and make it match the rest of the home.”
To complete this round of updates, Todd installed a flat-screen TV in the living room above the new mantle and fireplace.
Griffey’s changes to the home have added not only aesthetics, but also functionality.
“The day-to-day is so much better,” Renee says. “Now we use every square inch of the house. It’s a world of difference.”
Stephan Reed is an editorial associate. Feedback welcome at laurand@cityscenemediagroup.com.
