l . a .  p a u l  &  a s s o c i a t e s

Culligan Residence

Victorian Restoration, Addition & Alteration

Exterior

Interior

Originally a small, one-story Victorian flat over a full, unoccupied basement, the existing 980 square feet, two-bedroom, one-bath house was more than doubled to 2,400 square feet by an addition and total remodeling to the entire house. The floor plan needed to be totally updated and reconfigured with four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, family room and home office for today’s families and lifestyles. All this for a $180.000 budget!

The interior was totally gutted and redesigned to create larger, more contemporary living spaces. The original “railroad flat” floor plan was transformed with a new formal entry, 28-foot-long living room, formal dining room, gourmet kitchen and home office/study/guest bedroom, all with new hardwood floors. The living room was doubled in size and the home office/study/bedroom opens onto it through double French doors. An elegant new powder room was added as well. The kitchen was completely gutted, rebuilt and expanded. Skylights were added for more natural light into the kitchen and a pass-thru breakfast counter to the new family room extended the space. New cabinetry, appliances, and granite countertops completed the gourmet touch.

A large, two-story addition was constructed to the rear to enlarge the house considerably. Although the addition was limited to the average of the two adjacent residences, it was stepped back from the side property lines to allow for windows to give it a detached, open and airy feel. The upper floor of the addition was designed as a huge, carpeted family room with connected to the kitchen thru the breakfast nook, and has ten-foot high curving, coffered ceilings and a sandstone-tiled fireplace. Large windows and French doors open onto a redwood balcony with a spiral steel stair leading downstairs to the private rear yard. The floor below contains a grand master suite with marble fireplace and French doors leading to it’s own private deck Walk-in closets and a large, marble-tiled bathroom flank the step-down entry to the master suite and create a noise buffer from the rest of the house.

The original basement was converted to more living space with two bedrooms, second bathroom, separate laundry room, storage and a two-car garage. The sloping floor was leveled, insulated and used to create a step-down into the new master suite addition. A new wood-banistered interior stair and a dramatic, volumetric, skylight-ceiling stair hall was added in the center of the house to tie both floors together.

The aluminum-siding on the front was replaced with wood siding and fancy trim and molding details to recreate a Victorian facade, complete with new front porch. The roofline was changed to a gable and new bay windows were added for heightened articulation. The new rear addition to the main house was designed in the same Victorian theme to enhance the rear yard. In the rear yard, an original two-story carriage house looked like it should be torn down. It’s value lie in it’s location in the required rear yard being “grandfathered” in, otherwise it couldn’t be built under today’s zoning regulations. Although initially, the owner only wanted to spruce it up, it evolved into an entire house remodel itself, as a labor of love. It’s value was considerably enhanced by total rehabilitation for use as au-pair/guest quarters, at-home office or play house, complete with bathroom.

The addition and remodeling were done on time and on budget and was so successful, it encouraged adjacent neighbors to fix up and remodel their Victorians as well.