Stephen spent over two years renovating our Newport apartment, with help from our wonderful landlord, Paul. Stephen catalogued expenses, and we subtracted them from the rent. Also, the rent was significantly raised after we left... ($800 to $1350)
These are the before and after floor plans. (Red walls were removed.)
Many third floor apartments have funny layouts because they weren't designed as apartments! This was orginally an attic/servant's space went it was built in the 1850s. The footage was doubled in the 1920s, and probably converted into a boarding house at that time. You can see how the bathroom and kitchen were afterthoughts to make it an apartment.
Stephen worked on five major spaces: Bathroom, Kitchen, Public Hallway, Sun Room, and Living Room. (Ginger did all the painting.)
Bathroom
The first project was the bathroom. Stephen gutted it to clear out water stains and hired a plumber to re-pipe inside of the walls (where pipes belong.)
Next, Stephen re-tiled the floor making his own border design. He found deals on a new sink and toilet, keeping only the clawfoot tub which he painted black. To cover the heater (in left image) Stephen made a cabinet with vents, upper levels designed for display.
Kitchen
The original kitchen had a mishmash of homeless appliances and mismatched cupboards. We loved the old barn sized kitchen sink, but it didn't fit the small kitchen. Again, Stephen gutted everything and started over.
Stephen found black kitchen appliances from people who wanted to upgrade to stainless steel. He re-built and re-arranged a set of 60's cupboards from craigslist. This included re-facing the front of each cupboard with beadboard and a frame. He also used beadboard for a backsplash all around.
To fit the large refrigerator flush with the wall, Stephen built a niche (taking some space from the living room). Since he was also removing the closet from the living room, he created an alcove for extra shelving and drawers. Below: a painting guide for Ginger
Public Hallway
The house held three apartments, one for each floor. The shared entry hallway had both the most unappealing carpet and wallpaper. When we ripped off the wallpaper, the wall underneath was unfinished and not good for painting. Stephen and Paul applied paintable wallpaper to cover it up.
The entry to our third floor apartment was a door at the top of a narrow stairwell. Stephen borrowed real estate from the second floor to make a new entry and mud room. (below: white shows new construction.) This allowed the third floor to open up with railings instead of walls.
Under the ancient carpet was a lovely wood floor.
(After much scrapping, sanding, and polishing!)
Sun Room
The bonus room, despite beautiful windows, was painted dark purple. Ginger picked a pale green to lighten it. We used cabinets to make space and cover the distressed walls. The sun room became a dining room. Stephen also installed a glass pane door to keep out the cold in winter.
Living Room
Stephen combined the living room with the third bedroom to open up space. These two views are similar- wall on right was removed, also the wall around the stairwell was removed. (Closet door on left remains.)
The sitting room was Stephen's special project. He bought a fireplace, installed it into the old bedroom closet, and built a custom mantel. The cabinets and columns were handbuilt to replace the removed walls. The below left image is Stephen's computer modeled rendering. Right: the final product.
This view shows the entry way where the front door used to be (at the top of the stairs).
photos also available in a
facebook album.
