Before beginning her next renovation project, Wilmette resident Margaret Martin-Heaton might want to jot down a quick memo to herself: “Beware! This process may be both habit-forming and expensive. Once I begin, I may find it hard to stop.”
Not that it will make much of a difference. Older homes such as Martin-Heaton’s, a brick three-story built in 1905, are known to be notoriously difficult makeover subjects. Rather than embrace the changes imposed upon them, many older homes rebel instead. Chief among their arsenal of tricks: plumbing issues.
In the end, it’s often the home itself–and not just the homeowner–that determines just how much renovation will be required. And what initially looks like a little mudroom project can suddenly start looking like a whole-house renovation.
The problem: In Martin-Heaton’s case, it all began with a simple kitchen makeover–cosmetic rather than structural. The plan called for putting in creamy white painted cabinets and honed black granite countertops around the perimeter; a backsplash of marble subway tiles and a stained oak island with a jade green marble countertop. But like everyone who has ever made an improvement only to find another flaw, Martin-Heaton soon realized she would have to do something about the mess of coats, hats, boots and backpacks that normally cluttered one corner of her kitchen. She decided to add a mudroom. But the problem was, how do you create a mudroom when the kitchen space is already maxed out?
The fix: Lacking the interior space to create a mudroom area, Martin-Heaton knew that her only choice was an addition. Like many of her neighbors, Martin-Heaton is the owner of a Crowe home (named after its builder), which features a small porch right off the kitchen. By watching her neighbors’ various rehab projects over the years, she knew that her only choice was an addition. Like many of her neighbors, Martin-Heaton is the owner of a Crowe home (named after its builder), which features a small porch right off the kitchen.
By watching her neighbors’ various rehab projects over the years, she knew that the porch could be easily transformed into a mudroom.
Because the old porch had a set of exterior stairs to the basement, Martin-Heaton decided the mudroom should have a new set of interior stairs leading directly into the basement. All the easier, she figured, to send muddy clothes right downstairs to the laundry.
While she was at it, Martin-Heaton decided she might as well finish the basement for the kids. Her son, a high school student and guitarist in a rock ‘n’ roll band, needed a place to practice.
Her 10-year-old needed a place to watch movies. And she needed a big sink for container gardening and washing the dogs. And that explains how one renovation suddenly morphed into another.
The challenge
Determined to fix up the basement without actually digging it out, Martin-Heaton came face-to-face with the realities of owning an older home: The expense of moving old pipes into the ceiling only to be left with 7-foot-high ceilings just didn’t make financial sense. The work itself would be at least–if not more–arduous than it would be to actually dig out the basement.
But the deal breaker was the fact that Martin-Heaton’s husband and son are both over 6 feet tall. Eventually, Martin-Heaton realized she had no choice but to sink another $30,000 into the project for a basement dig-out that would leave her with 8-foot finished ceilings.
And that music room for her son? Protecting the neighbors from the blast of a rock ‘n’ roll band was more complicated than Martin-Heaton initially realized. “We talked with friends who are musicians and finally got a hold of a company that specialized in soundproofing,” she says.
But even after two layers of drywall and special insulation in the walls, the room was still not completely soundproof. So Martin-Heaton and her husband came up with a simple solution. “We put weatherstripping around the music room door and that made a huge difference,” she says. “It turned out the door was the primary leak into the house.”
The details
– Once a step-down porch, lofty 11-foot ceilings give the compact mudroom a feeling of spaciousness.
– Knowing that open lockers look nice until they’re filled with a mess of jackets, Martin-Heaton opted to put doors on hers, so the view from the kitchen is always attractive.
– Space was left underneath the lockers to hide all the family footwear.
– Radiant heat in the mudroom floor dries off wet boots before they have a chance to make puddles.
– Downstairs, a spacious tiled laundry area isn’t just for washing clothes. It’s also a place for container gardening, dog washing and even messy school art projects.
– Even a closet can be a workspace: Martin-Heaton asked her builder to turn a basement hall closet into a workbench for all her do-it-yourself projects.
– Not every basement needs full-blown home theater. Martin-Heaton’s TV room is meant to be a casual place where her teens can entertain their friends.
The materials
Custom-made riff-sawn oak lockers impart richness–and even a sense of history–to the mudroom
The forest green slate mudroom floors and the subtle blue/gray paint on the walls play off the kitchen’s green and gray color scheme.
An antique oil lamp chandelier, purchased years ago in Evanston, proved to be the perfect finishing touch for the mudroom.
The burnt orange and gun metal gray color scheme in the music room was chosen by Martin-Heaton’s son.
The brushed nickel wall sconces in the music room, actually outdoor fixtures, were a better choice than overhead lighting, which would have leaked sound upstairs.
Instead of wall-to-wall carpet, Martin-Heaton installed easy-maintenance carpet tiles (by a company called Flor) in the music room and TV room. Dealing with stains and spills is as easy as removing the soiled tiles and rinsing them off.
The verdict
“The mudroom has changed our lives,” Martin-Heaton says. “We’re no longer on top of each other with our shoes, book bags and coats.”
And the basement?
“My son pretty much lives down there now,” she says with a laugh.
