“From the joining of two unexpected, seemingly opposite mates, great pairings can happen. How about Sonny and Cher, bacon cupcakes or Labradoodles?
Well the home design world is adding another great, albeit unexpected pairing to the list: historic home shells with über-modern interiors.” – Jason Buch, Express-News
I was interviewed this week to take part in a story that came out today called “Great Pairings”in the Express-News about local home remodelers specializing in pairing historic homes with modern interiors and features. As it turns out they were actually interviewing a realtor and another remodeler in the Historic King William area of town and they told him about what I’ve been doing for Mahncke Park and along the Broadway Corridor so they searched me out.
I was pretty excited to see who’s photos they used for the front page, especially when the meat of the story is really about another guy blending Contemporary architecture. As you can see our 1900 Arts & Crafts Bungalow built by H.C. Thorman dubbed Hat Trick House from last summer got the money shot. What made this house so special is the time we put in to carefully preserve the historic exterior of the home while gutting the entire interior, adding square footage, re-configuring the floor plan and offering a finish out to meet today’s most discriminating buyer.
While the article is promoting “uber-modern” interiors, we stayed somewhat true to the time period of this home with the renovation and material choices. This house got a lot of white ceramic tile w/subway pattern, White Shaker style cabinetry with seeded glass fronts and even a Farmhouse sink to keep the historic feel. While new materials like granite and stainless were still present, the kitchen didn’t look out of place after we were done.
Maybe Jason is trying to stir up his audience by using the terms historic and modern together because everyone hates seeing historic homes altered but at some point nobody wants to live in an antique either. If you want to see for yourself, here is the Contemporary Ikea kitchen in the other historic house referenced in the article. To check out the whole renovation video of my project with before and after shots, click here.
Your pictures and great homes show well. I imagine this won’t be the last time they need to see one of your homes.
Jason
Good for you Tom, getting some well deserved recognition! Always enjoy following your site.
Hello, Tom and team. I am a new in the field, and I have obtained an old 1930s home, it’s very similar to your Hat Trick Home, but its original 3 bed, 1 bath. I am debating on Extending the back bedroom 10 ft out, to add a master bath and walk-in closet. So far, so good I’m getting bids on architech plans, addition, roof and A.C.. My question to you is, what is a good deal on getting the home rewired, because the wiring is a must, also what is good bid on architect prices. The home is aprox right under 1300 sq ft. Thank you for your insightful website, it is inspiring to the new investor.
Hi Carlos,
Sounds like a good project. If it’s a rehab for retail sale, adding the second bathroom should pay off as long as you bought the house right and get good deals on contracting. You might want to talk to a realtor first to see what it would bring with the added bath but from experience, most people want second baths and they are hard to find in historic neighborhoods.
A good deal on complete new 200 amp electrical system w/ meter loop for your house would be around $5,000. We pay a little less but when the whole house is gutted its easier to run the wires. This price can fluctuate a bit depending on how many recessed can lights, 3 way switches and custom features. As far as hiring an architect, if you only want a floorplan drawing to show your framer and there’s not many changes you shouldn’t spend over $1,000.
Good luck with your project!
Where did you learn about this? Can you give me the source?