Homeowners Harley and Ethan didn’t set out to buy a house that needed a lot of renovating. But sometimes you have to follow your heart, and do a lot of demolition, to end up with your dream home. With a toddler in tow and a second baby due, the couple found an 1893 Dutch Colonial Revival house that reminded Harley of the house she had grown up in. “I saw this look on her face when we stepped into the house to view it, and I knew we’d end up here,” says Ethan.
Both of them fell for the house’s architectural character including the graciously sized rooms and the gambrel roof—hallmarks of Dutch Colonial Revival houses from the late 1800s and early 1900s.
“The house isn’t ornate, but every room has an interesting shape, the ceiling height is great, we loved the fireplaces, and it was the only house we looked at that was easy for us to understand how it would work for our family,” says Ethan, noting that the original floor plan was mostly intact.
“I loved the details like the pocket doors into the living room, the beautiful dining room windows, and the original built-ins in many rooms,” says Harley. “We were excited about the possibility of making the house our own.”
Turning to architect Dan Kopec and builder Zack Dettmore, the couple will upgrade the house for today’s living but also maintain original character. TOH TV is documenting the renovation as part of its 48th season.
As purchased, the 4,300 square foot house includes a full basement with a structurally sound stone foundation and a total of seven bedrooms—five on the second floor and two in the attic—but only two full baths. Plans are focusing on a better configuration of bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as a totally rebuilt kitchen, family room, and rear deck.
“All old houses are unique,” says Kopec, “and it is always a question of how much do we preserve original integrity and how much do we solve current problems.” For example, a family room tacked onto the back of the house in the 1980s was built on a slab and will need rethinking; adjacent to the kitchen, it is also the room where a mudroom entry makes the most sense. “Our plans will ensure that the family room addition is better integrated with the rest of the house,” says Kopec.
To understand exactly what they were facing once they had bought the house—but before renovation plans were finalized—Ethan demolished the kitchen himself. A carpenter who is no stranger to building tools, Ethan suspected there were issues hidden behind the kitchen walls and found evidence of several prior renovations that weren’t of high quality. Once the room was demoed, however, it was easy to envision where the cabinetry, island, and built-in seating along the rear windows could be placed.
The homeowners want the kitchen to still have a door to the rear deck, but they also want the adjacent family room to contain a mudroom—a necessity in a family with young children—and a mudroom entry from the driveway. There is currently a level change of four steps down from kitchen to family room and the plans call for a slight relocation of those interior steps to make room for the mudroom. The rear deck will also be totally rebuilt as it is in dangerous condition.
On the second floor, a small bedroom next to the primary bedroom will be converted to a primary bath and large closet to give Harley and Ethan a full primary suite, thereby reducing the number of second-floor bedrooms from five to four. One of the two hallway baths will be converted to a laundry, and one of the second-floor bedrooms will become Harley’s home office; the other two second-floor bedrooms will be the children’s rooms, with little remodeling needed.
The two bedrooms on the attic level will be reconfigured to make room for building a guest bathroom, while keeping one guest bedroom, and remaking another room as a multifunction space.
Plans for the HVAC system include keeping what is there—an oil-sourced boiler and steam radiators that heat the first, second, and third floors and an AC unit in the attic that cools the second floor and attic—and adding AC for the first floor.
Throughout the house, the plan is to preserve as many original features as possible, including nearly all the windows and interior doors, as well as one of the house’s most impressive elements: the central stairway running from first floor to attic. The original handrail, balusters, and newel posts are in excellent condition, and the design of the handrail itself is unusual in that it contains a recess under one side that a person’s fingers snugly fit into when grabbing the handrail. “It’s one of those details you see in an old house that make you marvel at the original craftsmanship that went into it,” says architect Dan Kopec.
One original feature that won’t be saved, however, is the flooring, which is in subpar condition due to holes drilled over the years to accommodate different heating systems and other damage. “We will replace it with reclaimed heart pine flooring so the house will still have floors similar in age to the original house,” says Zack. “I love that the homeowners have such a good ethos about wanting this to still be an old house.”
As much as they loved the house itself, one of the most compelling factors in Harley and Ethan’s decision to buy the house was the backyard. A sizable .55 acres, it was nearly three times the size of the yard of their current house and will provide them with the opportunity to realize another dream: to grow their own fruits and vegetables and raise chickens. “We love the yard and it influenced our decision quite a bit,” says Harley, who also liked the house’s existing garden shed.
Overall, it’s the dream of an old house perfectly suited to their life today that is at the heart of Harley and Ethan’s renovation plans. “We want a house that still has its character but also feels like our home,” says Harley. Adds Ethan: “We fell in love with an 1890s house and we will honor what was there while also modernizing a bit.”
