"After" photos courtesy of Zach Gibson
GIVEN THE POPULARITY of open space in modern home design, it’s fairly commonplace to see remodel projects that entail the removal of a wall.
Decidedly less commonplace: remodels that entail removal of all the walls.
Nevertheless, the total eradication of interior walls was a pivotal part of this six month renovation by Nicholson Builders. The owners of this Hilliard home were dissatisfied with the odd shape and enclosed nature of their first floor. They liked the huge windows on the house’s front and back walls, and the natural light those windows let in – but didn’t like the short distance that light was able to travel before encountering obstructions.
Moreover, the rooms just seemed cramped. Even the vaulted ceilings didn’t help, due to a series of dropped faux beams that reduced the overhead clearance to eight feet.
Before
The goal, then, was to enable the natural light to make it all the way through the first floor, turning it into a more contemporary and dynamic space. A more open floor plan would also bring more visibility to the impressive outdoor views. But because of the bizarre layout and limited spaces, achieving these goals proved challenging.
“None of that light got past the large rooms,” says Jeremy Little, the Nicholson design consultant who oversaw the project. “We really wanted to bring that light all the way through the house.
An Alternative Wall
The designers at Nicholson found, to their benefit, that the roof structure was all clear span trusses, so very few of the walls enclosing the space were load-bearing. Still, one crucial wall was load-bearing – and inconveniently positioned smack in the center of the first-floor space.
Nicholson’s solution: a custom slatted wood wall, designed to let light through and display pieces from the homeowners’ art collection in the process. The once-dreary kitchen and dining area were thus transformed into a vibrant space awash with natural light and highlighted by meticulously chosen décor, with the cherry wood of the new wall helping to define the space.
The wood wall incorporates two preexisting structural columns, wrapped in black to make them fit into the ambience. An additional structural beam is concealed in the ceiling.
The Kitchen and Dining Area
Little wishes he could take credit for the eye-catching light fixture over the dining area, he says, but that was all the homeowners. They found it on their own and sent him a picture from the store.
“Immediately, (our) response was, ‘Yes, it’s as if it was made to go in here, buy it now,’” he says.
Right next to the attention-grabbing dining area is a kitchen with vastly expanded storage space. Tall pantry cabinets are equipped with rollout shelving and drawer organizational systems, while the brand new island – with traditional storage on both sides and an open shelf for more art displays – brings ample counter space as well as additional storage.
“It seems like we can fit more and more into less cabinetry anymore,” Little says.
Nicholson also replaced a three-panel kitchen window with a single large window to maximize the river view. Additional countertop space along the exterior wall, floating shelves and a deep bay window fill out the kitchen area.
A Glassed-In Office
The first floor also contained a bedroom that had evolved into an office. The walls separating it from the rest of the house were removed, too, but to create some separation – for phone calls and uninterrupted work – Nicholson replaced them with full-height glass partitions. Now, they allow for an uninterrupted view of the backyard riverscape from the front of the house to the back.
“We could have just taken the walls out and opened that area up to have open flow into that front room, but owing to privacy concerns and noise, being able to close that down was an element the homeowner was very interested in,” says Little.
Little has used similar steel glass partitions in commercial office spaces, he says, and was excited to use it in a residential setting. The black color scheme made it easier to coordinate other elements of the design. The office space also sports unique cork flooring with a fine grain texture, perfect for the warmer wood tones of the wall.
Getting the Details Right
Another key aspiration of both the homeowners and the designers was that no element of the overhauled space would seem out of place. The amount of work put into ensuring the continuity of design elements was immense, Little says – starting with the brand new walls and distilling down to the door handles, drawer pulls, tile accents, fasteners, plumbing fixtures and deck railing.
On top of that, measurements had to be extraordinarily precise. With no opportunity to cover material intersections of the slatted wood wall with trim, nor any ability to conceal the movement joint at the bottom of the glass partition, floor and wall intersections had to be impeccably accurate.
The fireplace underwent an upgrade as well, with cues taken from other elements in the remodel. The new mantle has a cherry color to match the wood slatted wall, with enhanced thickness and asymmetrical design to boot. Black soapstone around the fireplace itself makes it stand out more, with a contemporary gas burner to round it out.
“It really makes a dynamic movement out of the fireplace,” Little says.
The project won multiple Contractor of the Year awards from the National Association of the Remodeling Industry: a local award for Residential Interior $100,000 and Over, and a regional award for Residential Interior $250,001 to $500,000.
Garth Bishop is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
